I've inherited well over 50 (1970's)different tuners, amps, tape decks, and turntables, mostly JVC and Marantz. Dozens of Bose speakers. 901's, 501's and 301's 201's I've slowly been restoring the speakers and am afraid to start on the stereos. I'm glad I found your channel, I need a lot of help. lol
@@vintageaudioaddict They are all complete and most are in very good cosmetic shape. Most are worth saving. Currently, I'm replacing capacitors in the 901 Series IV and VI equalizer modules. This is where I'm gonna learn to "desolder". This all belonged to my brother , he passed in 2020. I even have his first stereo he bought in the early 70's. MCS Receiver. (JC Pennies Brand) lol It's built nice, has some crackling in the knobs for starters. I'm sure I will be contacting you for guidance when I run into a problem. Sorry a head of time! lol
I just paid $900 to repair my Marantz 2245. The repair costs have doubled in 4-5 years and its getting harder to find people who can do it (and I'm in Los Angeles). The shop I went to gets units from all over the world sent to them because the demand is so high and so few are well trained to work on super valuable units. This has made me want to learn how to repair these myself, and seriously considering getting into the repair trade. I know I'll have to review this video again, but it really help paint a picture of the world I'm headed into. This was very accessible and a great start-off point, I truly appreciate it.
WOW, $900! I've been a truck driver for over 30 years, and am ready to throw in the towel and looking for something else to do. So, I am getting the gear together to start repairing my own equipment. I'm in the Detroit area, and the wait to get into a shop can be months, to a year or even more. And that is just to get your gear into the shop on the shelf. And then the prices to repair or simply clean a few pots, unreal. Cleaning up a unit is pretty cut and dry like was stated in the video. The rest, it looks like simple commonsense, just need the right equipment and tools. I can rebuild a diesel engine, rewire/plumb a house, carpentry, work on computers and such, so this is just another skill to learn. A skill that looks to be quite interesting.
Anything to help train the next generation of audio techs. I live in a city of 6.5 million people and yet we only have a single audio repair tech, cash only 6 month backlog minimum. These videos help me take matters in my own hands! Thank ya.
Your very welcome and good luck with your projects. You are so right about finding a tech for the vintage gear. They are getting harder and harder to find.
@@vintageaudioaddict It may be a result of all the tutorials on TH-cam! Hell,I’ve built 30 tube guitar amps in the last two years(I get better with each build) with the help of TH-cam channels (Uncle Doug ,The Guitologist,Psionic Audio ,etc.) and some books that go further in depth. I just found and subscribed to your channel.
@@vintageaudioaddictI am a retired mechanic. Getting hard to find a good repair tech for just about everything. Mechanics are parts replacers these days. Anything electronic, if it is not working just toss it and get a new component. Started with diapers and throwing the shit away.
Probably the best training/educational video I’ve seen on TH-cam. I restore/repair 8 track players for about 10 years but only the mechanical portion…the easy stuff. IC board stuff is way out of my league. Thank you and it is sad to see all of our skilled professions dying and gone.
Thanks for the informative video--very useful. That tool for the springs is called a "Spring Hook" -It was a standard tool for all the Field Mechanics who worked on adding/accounting machines in the 50's-60's-70's-I was with Burroughs for 8yrs and used one often--very handy little implement.
Hello folks. I call this set of tools. A pick set. I seen them even in a few dollar store and the Snap'-On truck. This set I use a lot on so many repairs for the task at hand. The most use tool beside philips screwdriver cutter. The multi meter. Nice tip.
Excellent video! Now that I`m fully retired at 60 yrs old, I have time to play around with my vintage gear. This is very informative, thanks for posting!
This is a great video. One tip, HiFi Engine hasn’t been accepting new accounts for almost a year. I don’t know what is up with that but it has made getting ahold of service manuals a big pain in the neck.
I believe there is a statement in the FAQ section that spam bots ruined it for the rest of us. Im a Vinyl Engine subscriber and still can’t get into HiFi Engine
That “mystery” tool is called a spring hook. We used them on repairing teletypes. The “hook” side is the spring hook, the other side is a spring push. Still wish I had mine!
I have been a hobbyist for over 20 years but was interested to see how other folks approach it. Very nice video, novices should watch this. If you are working on tube gear, they are simpler but much more dangerous. I suggest seeking other videos on safety.
Priceless training video for new and old techs. Even us old guys really appreciate this excellent training tool and inciteful information. Thank you, Sir!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I’m ready to dive into my sx1050 for the first time(L channel distortion, then the protection relay opens for several seconds) I’m much more confident I can diagnose it now.
i'm just getting into stereo equipment and wanted to learn how to repair it, this really helped me on weather i could do it or not. Thank you for the great video.
Absolutely outstanding learning video. It truly inspired me. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with all of us. One cannot put a price on the knowledge gained. Thank you once again.
Genius advice about turning off the unit then make your connection..turn back on ..get your measurements..bingo..! Can't believe I never thought about that b4
Amazing video! I did a Teac BX 300 amplifier. Speakers kept making popping noise, so a lot of work later its a truly wonderful amp! Tons of crud in the switches, bad caps, bad solder joints.
Great, really helpful video. Thanks v much. I started repairing broken amplifiers 4 months ago. Your video has so much practical information and tips from your years of experience. It consolidated what I have learned from hours of Googling and hands on repairing several amplifiers is what experienced repairers do, plus lots of new practical help. A practical video on tracing an audio signal with oscilloscope with reference to the schematic and safety issues would be really helpful for those of us just stating.
WOW,what an amazing video. I am a novice but you have inspired me to take up vintage audio repairs. Awsome straight forward instruction. Thank you. All the best from sunny Wales😊😊
Thank you for the information you worked so hard on to help your viewers, and point them in the right direction with troubleshooting their audio problems..You are helpful without expecting payment for sharing your knolege, and that is most kind of you!!!
Thank you so much for this video. I appreciate what you do and share your experience and expertise in restoring and repairing vintage audio. I seldom make comments but I watch every single video of yours whenever have the chance in my spare time. I am an avid fans of your channel. Keep it up and God bless. Looking forward to your next video.
Thanks to you, I feel confident in setting up a work shop in the corner of my basement .Am no longer terrorify on getting started on fixing my equipment.Thanjk you so much . You are a terrific instructor. Learn so much in such little time.
I recently bought a ProsKit SS-331 desolder station for around $200 dollars and it works a charm so far. Easy to use, easy to clean, and seems to be made of quality.
When I was 16, I acquired an old Heathkit oscilloscope which had problems. While working on it, I accidentally got across the 4KV HV supply. It felt like being punched hard in the chest, and the muscle spasm knocked me across the room. I learned the wisdom of the TV technician's old rule: When working around HV, keep one hand in your pocket! Later in life I was a radio/TV engineer, and worked on a Harris MW-50A 50KW AM xmttr...that thing had a 24KV plate supply. You DON'T work on a beast like that, power-on!
I wonder how many reported deaths by CRT television there have been from 1980 - 2010. I'm sure the numbers are much lower, but im sure SOME goofball scrapper got himself bugzapped lol
About those jumper leads with alligator clips. One time I was using some and getting weird measurements. So out of frustration I tried ohming out the jumpers themselves and, alarmingly, I was finding resistances all the way up to 20k!! It turned out that the dissimilar metals of the clips and the wire, being merely crimped together, were developing a layer of corrosion in between. I took every jumper I had, pushed back the insulating boot, hit the crimps with flux, and soldered them.
Yep! That is especially a very common issue with the cheaper test lead sets that you get on Amazon, Ebay, or even at your local Harbor Freight tool store, etc., as those cheaper test lead kits are all made in China to very low quality standards, and they are oftentimes very poorly assembled, (you get what you pay for, I guess, lol!), but if I ever do buy any of those really cheap test lead kits, as soon as I get them home, I immediately check each individual test lead with a multimeter in ohms mode to see if they're all at least under about 0.2 ohms or so at most, (MANY are NOT!), and so I will also then just take all of them and properly crimp the ends, and then I also solder them also, which always brings ALL of the leads down in resistance to basically just the resistance of whatever size and length of wire that makes them up, and that specific resistance, (i.e. what it SHOULD be at a maximum), can be gotten from an online chart or table, or an electronics book that shows wire guages and their respective resistances... For truly GOOD quality test leads, that ALSO have really good connections/joints on each end that connect the wire itself into the alligator clips or whatever termination end they have on them, the OVERALL TOTAL test lead resistance should ideally be no more than about 0.1 ohms or so... But in order to actually check that jumper lead resistance value *properly* though, you will have to first eliminate the actual test lead resistance of your multimeter leads themselves from the total resistance first, (which will add about another 0.1 ohms or so to the total reading you get on your meter's display), by first shorting your ohmmeter or multimeter's test leads together and "zeroing out" the display reading, using the "relative" function in ohms mode, (if your meter has that feature), otherwise you'll just have to make note of the meter's own test lead resistance in your head and then subtract that from the total meter display reading when adding in the alligator, etc. test clip leads for testing, that way you can get the actual test clip leads' true, actual resistance value. If you do this procedure to every single test clip lead that you have (AND any that you ever get in the future, even if brand new), then you will have MUCH more reliable connection test clip leads for your bench testing and/or circuit experimenting purposes!
Outstanding video. Thank you from a Tech expanding from RF Transceivers and SMT to old audio just for something different. Found an old SX-720 as my first restoration project and just got the first bag o caps and transistors in the mail. Kind of excited to use my bench and skills anew. Anyway, I appreciate your emprirical advice more than you know. I too try and pay it forward. PCB level diagnosis and repair is becoming an endangered species.
Listened from word to word, although I'm working with all kinds of electronic this video was helpfull for me just by giving perspective on some points. Great work and much appreciated 🙏
I been working on all kinds of Audio for 30 years, you nailed it in so many ways! Thank you for making this video. I as well agree digiKey for parts they are extremely helpful for crossreferncing, example Speaker relay for a Carver TFM-35x made in Austria and so on. Again thank you
Hi Chris, Thanks for making this video and sharing your knowledge. Like you mentioned, I'm also not formally trained and have taken up vintage audio equipment restoration as a hobby. It's very inspiring to watch others do this stuff. I've been able to restore a reel to reel and cassette tape deck and seeing how you approach things is very helpful. I wish I knew where to find likeminded people like you to meetup with and exchange knowledge with locally, but I'm glad there's a big online community of hobbyists like us.
Hi Raph, You can read my comment 4 comments newer than yours. My ability so far has been maintenance related work on 1970's Dual turntables. Not much electronics in these turntables, but a place to start. Are you in California?
Your welcome and thank you for watching. Sometimes there are local electronic clubs in an area. Many folks who are into older electronic gear in general, like ham or cb hobbyists also are into vintage audio. Just do some google searches and see.
@@Dthebeatsmith, Northern Kali. Would be nice to find someone who works on stereo gear in their garage or basement who charges reasonably. I look around in the internet once in a while, but nothing. I have enough stereo gear to keep me going for a good while as long as receivers don't all crap-out. I'm pushing 70, so it might not even be a real issue.
Thank you for just being you ! I’ve learned so much from your videos and please please keep them coming. Love the basics on how to and your approach on diagnosis.
Thank you so much for making this video!!! I’ve been searching for a video like this about general troubleshooting and I learned a ton from this. Best video I have seen on this subject. I will definitely subscribe. All the best and take care!
This is, in my opinion, a very good video on the subject. You provide the interest on the topic and VAA provides, in a way that keeps your interest and wanting to watch more, the expertise. I liked the narrative, examples, anecdotes... I thank the shared knowledge. Thumb up.
👍🏻😎I like your approach to the restoration process. My gear is approaching the 40 year old mark and is getting near the restoration point. All of my gear is still like new in appearance inside and out and I don't plan on replacing any of it. I have what I have because I still love it. Thanks for the videos and advice.
I have an old beast akai AA 1200...The protection that you talked about at around 1:07ish explained alot. Mine doesn't come on, but after awhile it clicks on and off.... I have absolutely no knowledge of this genre so I won't be tinkering with it but I definitely want to get mine worked on.
Thank you for this. I've acquired a pioneer SA-8100 as a project and wanted to know what I was getting into. Seller plugged it in and showed me it was stuck in protection mode and would need to diagnose to get it going. I have recently acquired a bench multimeter and still need a variac or bulb dimmer to start diagnosing issues. A oscilliscope would be a great gift request for Christmas, thanks for the tips.
Techspray Prowick #4 desoldering braid is INCREDIBLY effective. It’s NOTHING like the run of the mill braids. It has a ton of flux in it and soaks up solder like a sponge. It’s worth every penny of the $7 it costs for each spool. A tube tester isn’t vital. Most tube testers aren’t reliable anyway. The best tube tester I’ve found is a Fender champ. Just measure the current while the tube is working. Most tube sellers seem to be fairly honest about the quality of the NOS tubes they sell. And new ones are still sold if used or NOS tubes make you nervous.
Sir, thank you very much for this beautiful, informative video! The hook like instrument that you have shown in this video is a Surgical probe. This kind of probe is being used in different types of surgergical operations viz. ENT, Cardio Thoracic, Dental surgery etc. You may please advise your followers to visit a Surgical Instrument dealer in his/her respective city & buy this kind of instrument. This is indeed, a very useful tool!😊
Your comment on safety working with 120/240 volts +, work with one hand behind your back and make sure not to lean on any component where you become a ground circuit. In addition to 2 mechanics tickets, I also picked up an instrumentation ticket. I got sent out with a young lady apprentice to perform calibration checks on an oilfield pumpjack installation. The instruments function on 12V or more likely 24V and 4 - 20mA current. To do our job we shut the electric jack down, some use a one lunger gas engine. She pulled the wiring out of the instrument, which grounded and blew the fuse. When she put it back together the device was not reading, so we found and replaced the 250mA fuse. When we tried to restart the pumpjack it would not run. Now inside the panel is the fuses for the 4800V motor. Some I had a little discussion with her on procedure to avoid being shocked. That voltage will do much worse than light you up. The Fluke meter is good to 600V so you can not test for the 4800V. I popped the fuses out to check continuity. One fuse was blown. How that happened I have no idea. I tried phoning our electricians, the operator and our electrical foreman. Nobody would answer the phone. Closed the panel up and drove to town 1 hour away and rummaged for a fuse. We did not have the proper one, but I found one the next amp rating up. Went back to site and installed that fuse and got the pumpjack operating. In the morning I told the electrical foreman the story and handed him the blown fuse so he could get the proper one and replace the over size one. I got my backside chewed by him and the manager for being in the 4800V area, as instrumentation I should not be touching anything because of the danger. I related how I had instructed on using only one hand in the cabinet to prevent being shocked and not trying to measure the voltage, but to safely remove the fuse and test continuity. An interesting bit of knowledge is the ignition coil on older cars is a transformer. When the points open the coil outputs 10kv to 50kv to the distributor rotor. Measure the voltage at the battery connection on the coil and it will read 200v to 300v while the engine is running. Backwards induced voltage in the primary.
@VintageAudioAddict you have a gift for teaching! This topic so fascinating and like many, I am thankful for your videos. Do you have any videos on big picture view of how an amplifier works and what all the tiny electronics pieces are and what they do?
Thank you, Vintage Audio Addict, for a nice explanation of the Pioneer SX-1250 regarding its different boards, etc.. I recently have purchased 3 different Radio Shack Realistic AM/FM STEREO RECEIVERS including the: STA-117, STA-700, & a STA-2150 from the late 70s to early 80s. All 3 of these Realistic receivers work well but perhaps all of them would benefit from recapping possibly?
New subber. Love your very matter-of-fact/common sense approach to your passion. I’m a long time guitar amp fixer, albeit never for a living. For that, I’m a Electronic Calibration lead metrologist at one of the NASA Centers, and just came into 2 SX-1080s. One’s running fine, the other taking me down a few rabbit holes so far. Got most of the repair equipment I need, but my old reliable 465 scope lost it’s vertical. I’m also an amateur Extra, so theres Collins rigs in use as well. Tube gear everywhere. Great channel. 👍
Well, 5 months later... fixed the Tek scope and the SX-1080. It turned out to be a beautiful piece, and I gave it to my brother-in-law, because he knows his Pioneers and would appreciate it the most. After that, I totally overhauled a 1979 Twin Reverb. That one was a journey. Not sure what's next.
Wow! This was/is the absolute BEST and definitely THE MOST thorough video that I've EVER seen anywhere about this specific topic! Very interesting, informative, AND helpful! (And since your video was long, and you gave people "fair warning" about its length in the very beginning of it, I will do the same here and say that this comment will most likely also be quite long, based on how many questions I made note of to ask you about while watching your video, so here goes...) Me being an "electronics nerd" myself, I really wish that I personally knew someone just like you in my own town, that I could just talk electronics with, and visit anytime I wanted to "collab" on a project or get help with something I'm working on, share info I know, etc... On that last note, there is a few tips and things I would add to or further expand on about your video here, along with a few questions I thought of while watching it... One of the very FIRST things that I do when looking at and attempting to service any piece of used audio equipment is (right after taking the cover off, but before even powering it up and testing it), is to take it outside and blow any/all of the dust and dirt out of the entire insides of it using an air compressor and blow nozzle, that way you can also see better if anything is obviously wrong with it before ever powering it up. (like loose wires, obviously physically broken or blown components, etc.) I absolutely MUST add a good quality desoldering gun or station to my workbench tool arsenal, as that specific thing, (i.e. desoldering components, especially from circuit boards, and especially from "double sided" circuit boards!), has been a major frustration of mine for WAY too long already! I just need to break down and finally *invest* in a good quality desoldering gun like that HAAKO one that you have there, even though the truly good quality desoldering guns like that one, and especially all of the good quality desoldering stations, are quite expensive! (That's why I've put off buying one for so many years!) And even though I've gotten quite good at utilizing that "desoldering wick" stuff, I go through it too fast and I'm always having to buy more of it, plus I know it's still not nearly as fast OR EASY to use as a really good quality desoldering gun or station would be! While on the subject of tools needed for this type of work, I luckily already have a few of the more expensive things you mention... I already have 4 Fluke multimeters, one Model 189 multimeter, two Model 289 multimeters, and one Model 867 graphical multimeter, (ALL of which I've bought used over the years for really great prices!), so I've got THAT part covered at least, lol! Along with my multimeters I also have a very nice Fluke test lead set that includes REALLY sharp pointed NEEDLE tip test leads, that will literally instantly make you *bleed* if you accidentally touch the tip of them, but they are really awesome for very securely and safely testing individual solder joints or test points on circuit boards, or individual component leads like on ICs and such, without accidentally slipping off or shorting out another adjacent terminal, etc. They are awesome because they don't ever slip off of terminals or joints because they dig into them slightly. They also fit into the tightest and tiniest of places on a circuit board because they are slightly smaller and more of a slim profile than the typical/normal test leads that you get with most multimeters. It looks like you could actually also use some of THAT type of test lead yourself! I also got extremely lucky and I recently acquired an O-scope that is VERY similar to yours in this video. I now have a Tektronix Model 475 oscilloscope that, believe it or not, I *found for free* in a "recycling" dumpster not too long ago! (It's amazing what some people throw away!) It appears to work perfectly fine after I cleaned all of the switches and controls on it, but since I've never been able to afford or have an actual o-scope before, I'm still learning how to actually use it, lol! I also recently found at one of my local thrift stores for $15(!!), a VERY nice "vintage" Hewlitt Packard Audio Frequency Signal Generator with a nice, large dial on the front of it for very fine, precise frequency control. It has an output range of 1Hz all the way up to 1MHz, so it works for pretty much ANY audio testing I need! (except RF frequencies of course) Now, as far as places to actually still buy good quality individual electronic components go, I agree that Mouser and Digi-Key are two of the better/best places to buy those components from! Thank goodness we still have those two electronic parts distributors at least, because more and more electronic parts stores and distributors seem to be going totally out of business every single year, because most average people nowadays don't even care to fix or work on anything anymore, they just throw it away and buy a brand new one, which is a major waste of resources IMO!... Anyway, for the few of us who actually still DO care about fixing/restoring vintage audio gear, and realize that when working properly, most all of it is better quality than most new stuff is, at least Mouser and Digi-Key are still around to supply (most of) the parts we may need to fix said vintage gear! Both of those parts distributors are very reputable, long lived companies, that directly source their components from reputable manufacturers, so you at least know that anything you buy from them is of a good quality, and is backed by their guarantee of that if there's ever any issues with what they sell... Unlike what you get from buying rather "sketchy" quality stuff from unknown reputation sellers on Amazon or Ebay, lol! (I just wish that Digi-Key and Mouser's PRICES were as cheap as the electronic parts are on Amazon and Ebay!... But I guess this is a place/topic where the saying "you get what you pay for" really does apply, because many of the electronic parts that are sold on Amazon and Ebay are really cheaply made, low quality, *imitation/fake* parts, and/or "seconds" or "factory reject" parts, which usually either don't perform up to specs, and/or totally fail prematurely when put into use, which is extremely annoying to deal with when trying to repair something!) On that note, where do you recommend buying truly GOOD quality, very LARGE value, (>10,000uF), power supply filter capacitors for a still reasonable price? The only kind of those types of capacitors that I can find online are either EXTREMELY expensive, or else the more reasonably/affordably priced ones seem to just be of total *garbage* quality that either immediately blow up or leak really bad as soon as you put their "rated" voltage across them! Any serious suggestions here would be a great help, as I have a few vintage amplifiers that need new power supply rail caps, I just don't know of the BEST place to get them, and before I invest tons of money in the expensive ones, I'd like to know if you, (OR anyone else reading this), knows of a good, reliable place to buy truly GOOD quality filter caps from for a reasonably affordable price first! Now, as far as getting service manuals and such goes, (and I totally agree that having the actual *service* manual for any component that you're trying to repair, is absolutely *essential* to doing the job *properly* , because it gives you proper adjustment values and voltages, etc.!), I HAVE already at least HEARD of/about "Hi-Fi Engine.com", but I've never bothered to set up an actual account with them yet, but after hearing from you more specific details about what all that they provide on that site, it sounds like I really SHOULD/NEED TO set up an account with them!... I'm also gonna definitely have to check out that other site you mentioned; "World Radio History", because that site sounds totally awesome! I've never heard of it before now, but it sounds like a VERY valuable info site, so thanks for mentioning it in your video! (This comment got "too long" to post, so I had to put the second part of it below, as a "reply" to this one...)
As far as actually servicing vintage audio equipment goes, the following three things I noted while watching your video... You can also spray contact cleaner into those common style pushbutton switches by spraying it directly into that little hole on the top of them with the cleaner's straw, rather than only by the front of it where the spring is. I've found that the cleaner seems to penetrate the entire insides of the switch better, and with less "overspray" by spraying it directly through/into that tiny hole in the top of those switches. You can just fill the inside of the switch up through that tiny hole in the top of it until you can actually see the liquid of the cleaner inside the switch itself because the top part of the switch usually either changes to a darker color, (if the top is phenolic), or at least the cleaner starts to squirt out of it when the switch is full of it. Then move the switch back and forth, in and out a few dozen times, as you mentioned in the video... Also, an important thing to add is; after *cleaning* the switch contacts with that "De-Ox-It" stuff, don't forget to also then use their spray *lubricant* to re-lubricate the internals of the switch, otherwise if you ONLY use the cleaner spray and NO lube spray afterwards, it tends to dry out the switch sometimes, making it not work properly physically, after the cleaner fully evaporates out of it. For one GOOD channel vs. one BAD channel comparisons of an amp's circuit board(s), I like to always first compare individual component values, (resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc.), between the two separate channels with a multimeter FIRST, BEFORE actually powering it up and testing for audio signal and voltage differences, etc., that way if you can actually find any noteable differences and issues *without* it being powered up first, then there's MUCH less of a chance of accidentally shorting something out by touching (LIVE) terminals together with your meter probe tips, etc. (Again, an important reason to have some actual NEEDLE tip test leads, as mentioned earlier!) Voltages on/at designated "test points", as stated in the service manuals of vintage audio components will almost always be at least slightly different, (up to about +/-10% or so different before there's a serious issue, as you stated in the video), than what is stated in the service manual at that point, and the voltages are almost never *exactly* as what is stated in the manual, simply because of variances in the *tolerances* of individual related components, (resistors, capacitors, etc.), especially on OLDER components, because as individual resistors, and especially capacitors, age through the years, their values can change quite significantly, especially electrolytic type capacitors, and especially in hot environments, as you stated in the video of reasons why those types of capacitors have to be replaced after about 30 or more years. They also can significantly affect the voltage readings that you are supposed to be getting at any given circuit point! Anyway, I know that you are already aware of all of these things, but maybe this info can even further add to the helpfulness of this video for someone not quite as experienced as we are in vintage audio repair and restoration... In this modern day and age of no more service techs and repair shops, and less and less places to find out valuable, truthful, reliable, useful, and actually *helpful* info about vintage audio equipment, (which is making a "comeback" among today's "throwaway" society, which is really cool, because most vintage audio equipment was built to a MUCH higher quality standard than today's crap gear is, so vintage audio gear is definitely worth investing some of your time and effort into restoring it to its full, original performance levels, because if you do, you will be really happy with the sound quality that you can still get from most vintage audio components!), (so), we are all at least lucky to now have the internet, because as you mentioned in this video, we at least still have access to online, almost all service manuals, instruction/owners manuals, and individual product literature that was ever printed in the past, as long as you know exactly where, (i.e. what website), to look for it on, so that fact is awesome at the very least! OK, I will end this "book" here! I hope this info and especially this video helps out as many people who want to restore a piece of vintage audio gear as it possibly can! Have a great day, and have a FUN and enjoyable experience working on your own audio gear, whatever you may come across over the years!
Thank you so much for your kind words and for commenting at such length! I'm sure that your comments/suggestions will help other hobbyist's. As far as your question goes about the sources for larger value capacitors I've found both mouser.com and digikey.com has them most of the time. Sometimes it takes some searching of those sites but there is usually something on those sites that you can use as a replacement for your vintage capacitors. The cost??? Well, they are not inexpensive. Many times just the replacement of the filter capacitors in vintage audio equipment will cost more then all the other components needed to complete a total restoration.
@@vintageaudioaddict Yeah, I was afraid of that! :( That's why the amps that I have that need new main rail filter caps have not been fixed yet and are still sitting around just collecting dust. I was just hoping you knew of a cheaper place to buy them... I really wish I knew of a way to tell (before buying) which ones, (IF even ANY), of the "too good to be true" sounding "deals" on Ebay, Amazon, and various "electronic parts surplus" stores online actually were/ARE good deals, and which of any of those sellers actually had genuine, good quality capacitors like that, because the prices you see on those sites for large value caps are VERY tempting to try them just to see if they actually work... (Price differences of 20+ to 1 ratios are quite common online for seemingly the exact same part(s)!) I also wish there was a good, reliable way to look at a picture of a capacitor's labeling and know whether it was a genuine branded capacitor from a reputable manufacturer, or if it's just a cheap quality, "fake" knockoff, "copy" or "imitation" branded one, because the "fake" capacitors online are getting extremely good at imitating the exact look of the truly genuine brands' logos and name font printing and such! It's really quite disgusting that it has even come to this in this modern day, where there is actually more FAKE electronic parts available online nowadays than there is 100% genuine REAL ones! It's just SAD! How are the companies that make the cheap copies of stuff even allowed to do that? It really seems like there should be some kind of industry-wide regulations or laws against that crap in the industry!... But I guess that since there's seemingly no regulation of that, and everyone online seems to just be all about sheer maximum profit and not about any kind of useful quality levels anymore, then now it's a total crapshoot buying stuff online! (That's why I hate it!) I really miss physical "brick and mortar" electronic parts stores that you could actually walk into and talk to real people about the products you're interested in buying and find out any specific details about them that you might want to know, and then also have your purchase backed up by either the store's and/or the manufacturer's warranty against defects, etc.!... I guess you can still get that (sort of) from reputable online sellers like Digi-Key and Mouser, but I just wonder how much of a "middle man markup" that they have on the parts that they sell, because when a certain large value filter capacitor on one of their sites for example, costs around $100 EACH, (sometimes even more!), then you go on Ebay and/or Amazon and find literally HUNDREDS of listings for seemingly the EXACT SAME BRAND, VOLTAGE, AND CAPACITANCE RATING VALUE capacitors for around $5 each, some even less, it really makes you wonder why there's such a HUGE price descrepancy!... You're thinking "OMG, they can't possibly ALL be total fakes, can they??!"... or "Surely there's *someone* here (on Ebay/Amazon/surplus stores, etc.) that has truly genuine "New old stock" capacitors that I can get a really great deal on!"... I just wish I knew of a reliable way to find those deals, because I'm definitely not rich, money-wise, and I simply cannot afford to spend literally hundreds of dollars on just 1 or 2 capacitors! That's just insane IMO! :(
@@mohammedisaa9952 Yeah, that would be REALLY cool, if I could actually make money at repairing vintage audio gear, however, I have NO money to actually start a business in an actual physical store, NOR do I have ANY knowledge about how to, (or any kind of camera, etc, gear to), start an online video stream business, like here on TH-cam, etc., but IF I knew how AND I had the means/money to actually do that sort of thing then it WOULD be awesome!... As of rn, I ONLY work on stuff for myself and for my own personal stereo system, and only as a "hobby" that I "dabble" in. Even though I understand and know quite a bit about vintage gear, (through my own experience and "trial and error" experimenting over the years), and in servicing electronic stuff in general, (through hole circuit boards, soldering, etc.), I DON'T have ANY kind of "formal" training in this field, so actually attempting to do repairs and restorations "professionally", as a business, would most likely get me into big trouble, where I would get quite a few pieces of gear that I didn't really know how to fix properly. I do what I can, with my OWN personal electronic gear, of which if I break even further while trying to fix them then it's just simply a learning experience, but NOT a liability, lol! And about capacitors... I HAVE tried using other used capacitors from other (thrift store, etc) used gear, (thrift stores are actually where I find most of my electronics gear that I own!), but as with ANY gear that's older than about 30 or so years old, the electrolytic capacitors in pretty much ALL gear of that age or more are usually rather dried out and usually now of a much lower uF value than they should be as a result, especially among the larger value caps, as in power supply main rail filter caps and such, therefore most of the other used gear that you can find for cheap (at thrift stores, etc.), are pretty much ALL in need of similar repairs, and therefore are NOT really a very good place to find still totally GOOD parts, especially not large value electrolytic capacitors and rubber parts like belts, pinch rollers, etc., (like for tape decks, etc), because rubber ALSO dries out and either hardens, rots, or cracks after about the same number of years as the electrolytic capacitors fail at. (Unfortunately!)
Is like a Class of electronic, in my experience i found a Peak Electronic from england, have a capacitor tester ESR70Gold, a LCR45 test components, and DCA75 semiconductor tester; are lightweigt, portable no cheaper but good have a "swiss" precision and hard like a rock , best regards from Santiago Chile, in the corner of the world.
Fantastic vid. You're so thorough and I'm glad i subscribed some time a go. If you weren't a teacher, I think you should have been. I collect and purge when I need too, Just love audio, both vintage and modern. Keep up the great work.
This is a fantastic video. I use exactly the same process. Some capacitors and transistors (ahem..germainium), and tubes are ridiculously expensive, so in some cases I may restore, while in others I just repair.
Hey my friend. Just sub’d your channel as we are all about vintage Audi too. Leak Point One St.20 amp and Varislope line stage. Goodman’s 301 drivers in original factory built cabinets circa 1955. Marantz 240 power amp etc. We went through catastrophe level floods here in Oz this year and like most we lost nearly everything we owned inc the 240 which needs a transformer now😳. BUT just this week I powered up a recently purchased Denon receiver bought for better digital sound and it pretty much worked. I say pretty much because at first we couldn’t get signal to the speakers, Then after removing the top casing and spraying the boards and everything else in sight with a generic contact cleaner/rust remover the sound thru the headphone jack worked. So I got hold of a specialist electrical board cleaner and sprayed the by heck out of it left it to dry and now speakers are functioning fine. Same with the remote. Not functioning at first then a pretty hefty spray with the same cleaner and it appears to be working quite well. I’m listening to Nirvana via Spotify thru Apple TV and that receiver as I’m typing. My question is should we do anything else going forward, or leave well enough alone? The only hiccup with the receivers functionality is that the on screen setup won’t load past language choice. It just keeps cycling, however there isn’t a problem exiting “Setup”. I’ve tried a factory reset which seemed to work yet the setup problem continued next try. Any ideas on this? Denon DRA-800-H. Apple TV HD. Panasonic tv with hdmi but no CDC or app function so pre “SMART” I guess. Thanks in advance for your thoughts. God Bless 🌞
One thing I would like to add , before you start to repair, be sure you turn the unit on unplugged to be sure any electricity stored in the capacitors or transformer is drained. I'm not a electrician, but, I'd do it a day prior. Better safe than sorry.
regarding solder suckers, I have one that is similar to what you have in the video. I really don't use it anymore, its too heavy and cumbersome and I would occasionally would accidently push the button while trying to remove solder. and when upgrading myriads of capacitors, it can be challenging.
Hi Enjoy learning from your video on noisy transistor. I have a Pioneer A400 with noisy transistor on the Right channel. Usually happens after an hour or so. Can be intermittent and reappears. Happens on all inputs. The sound of the popping / crackling is Not affected by the volume pot. I have already cleaned all the switches n pots thoroughly. Hoping you can point out which transistor to replace. Thank you for reading. 😉😉
Very good video. Thank you! one question - where do you connect black lead of multimeter? I only see you use red. Does black go to some central "ground" on the amp?
most important technical knowledge is having a basic understanding of electrical, and electronics background, because with out it you can not service anything. I been fortunate to have a skill trade background in Hvac/R and some electrical so that being said it very important to have that. There not too many schools that teach this it more, but my former school Mckim technical Institute in Akron, Ohio did, but they been close over 30 years now .
Thank you, really enjoyed this video! I'm a real amateur with old hi fi, have an old Sony and sounds like the speaker relay clicks on and off during use, I'm trying to work out what to do to fix it! Nothing changed in my set up but suddenly began, would love any ideas from you folk! :)
Hi and thanks again for a great video I am just starting out in this field in repairing apps I am very much like you to repair apps back to 100% back I have just got hold of a Sony STR-11L all the channels seem to work okay all but the phono channel it’s got really bad distortion it sounds overamplified I think the first step is changing all the caps because I’m new in this field I repair a lot of other equipment but this is my first amplifier do you think it’s wise to change all the caps first and clean all the pots first before changing the caps which steps do you think is best to start with this is like a hobby for me because now I can’t work anymore because I’ve got pancreatitis and other illnesses as well this is why I get into this world to keep me busy mark
think the tool may be an o'ring pick. or at least very close to one, as the set of those I have resembles it but that one is nice and slim. nice tips and info here thank you !
Thanks for the tips. 2245 Marantz. Went through Ian, salt water..3'drop. thought I had it with deoxit but just clipped out with no return. May not be easily fixed. But hope I can.
I suppose you mean "solder", NOT "soldier", but he briefly touched on that topic in the video if you go back and really listen closely, but in any case, it should just be solder that is made for electronics, with a rosin core flux built into it, because just trying to use ANY kind of solder, (like the kind that is made for copper water pipe brazing for example, which does NOT have a rosin core), that other kind of solder will NOT stick to electrical connections on circuit boards very well, if even at all. Using a solder that has a rosin core, and is made for electronic work, is essential to making good solder joints on electronic equipment and circuit boards! I personally also have Kester brand solder on my electronics workbench, as does the guy in this video, however, the actual BRAND NAME of the solder doesn't really matter, just make sure that it's electronic solder that you use, with the rosin flux core in it, and you should be good to go... For electronics I also personally prefer to use only solder sizes under 0.050 inch diameter, preferably even 0.032 inch diameter size, that way it works better with very small terminals on components like small transistors and especially I.C.s... I also personally like to use a 63/37% ratio leaded solder for electronic work because that type just "flows" much better into the joint than "lead free" solder does, but that type of solder, (containing lead), is NOT "ROHS compliant" for commercial use anymore, and it may be somewhat hard to find nowadays, so you can only get what you can get... Most importantly, you have to find whatever size/diameter and type of solder that YOU like to use, based on whatever type(s) of work that you typically do. But no matter the diameter size OR type, (leaded vs. lead free), of solder that you get, as long as it is intended for electronic work and it has the built-in rosin flux core, then you should be OK for electronic work. I hope that info helps you to find a good solder that works for you!
You do not want to use lead free solder. All you need to know about lead free solder is that it is illegal to use on medical equipment, aircraft, or spacecraft. Nuff said? In other words, if you really want it to work, don’t use lead free solder.
I have found many excellent quality tools at flea markets and garage sales. If you know what you are looking for you can find that Fluke multimeter etc. for $3.00.
I've inherited well over 50 (1970's)different tuners, amps, tape decks, and turntables, mostly JVC and Marantz. Dozens of Bose speakers. 901's, 501's and 301's 201's
I've slowly been restoring the speakers and am afraid to start on the stereos.
I'm glad I found your channel, I need a lot of help. lol
I'm glad that you are working on the old gear. Most of the 70's equipment is worth saving.
@@vintageaudioaddict They are all complete and most are in very good cosmetic shape. Most are worth saving.
Currently, I'm replacing capacitors in the 901 Series IV and VI equalizer modules.
This is where I'm gonna learn to "desolder".
This all belonged to my brother , he passed in 2020.
I even have his first stereo he bought in the early 70's.
MCS Receiver. (JC Pennies Brand) lol
It's built nice, has some crackling in the knobs for starters.
I'm sure I will be contacting you for guidance when I run into a problem.
Sorry a head of time! lol
Good video,were do you get your diagrams from.bcos and buzzy bringing a wharfedale and wh-va 3447
I just paid $900 to repair my Marantz 2245. The repair costs have doubled in 4-5 years and its getting harder to find people who can do it (and I'm in Los Angeles). The shop I went to gets units from all over the world sent to them because the demand is so high and so few are well trained to work on super valuable units. This has made me want to learn how to repair these myself, and seriously considering getting into the repair trade. I know I'll have to review this video again, but it really help paint a picture of the world I'm headed into. This was very accessible and a great start-off point, I truly appreciate it.
WOW, $900! I've been a truck driver for over 30 years, and am ready to throw in the towel and looking for something else to do. So, I am getting the gear together to start repairing my own equipment. I'm in the Detroit area, and the wait to get into a shop can be months, to a year or even more. And that is just to get your gear into the shop on the shelf. And then the prices to repair or simply clean a few pots, unreal. Cleaning up a unit is pretty cut and dry like was stated in the video. The rest, it looks like simple commonsense, just need the right equipment and tools. I can rebuild a diesel engine, rewire/plumb a house, carpentry, work on computers and such, so this is just another skill to learn. A skill that looks to be quite interesting.
Repairs have always been expensive at George Meyer, but they're a known quantity. Like Fred's in Portland.
If the hex doesn't work, try a torx bit, may have to lightly tap in but will bite more and back out with ease..👍.
Anything to help train the next generation of audio techs. I live in a city of 6.5 million people and yet we only have a single audio repair tech, cash only 6 month backlog minimum. These videos help me take matters in my own hands! Thank ya.
Your very welcome and good luck with your projects. You are so right about finding a tech for the vintage gear. They are getting harder and harder to find.
@@vintageaudioaddict It may be a result of all the tutorials on TH-cam! Hell,I’ve built 30 tube guitar amps in the last two years(I get better with each build) with the help of TH-cam channels (Uncle Doug ,The Guitologist,Psionic Audio ,etc.) and some books that go further in depth. I just found and subscribed to your channel.
What city?
@@vintageaudioaddictI am a retired mechanic. Getting hard to find a good repair tech for just about everything. Mechanics are parts replacers these days. Anything electronic, if it is not working just toss it and get a new component. Started with diapers and throwing the shit away.
i dream of buying broken down equipment and electronics and repairing them. i cant wait to get started with this videos and ee in general
Probably the best training/educational video I’ve seen on TH-cam. I restore/repair 8 track players for about 10 years but only the mechanical portion…the easy stuff. IC board stuff is way out of my league. Thank you and it is sad to see all of our skilled professions dying and gone.
Your welcome and thank you for your kind words. I appreciate it.
8 TRACK!😇🥰🤩😘 ULTRA YES!💘💖💗💞💞💕💯👍
Excellent info to provide a starting point. Sometimes that's all it takes to get someone to dive in much deeper.
Thanks for the informative video--very useful.
That tool for the springs is called a "Spring Hook" -It was a standard tool for all the Field Mechanics who worked on adding/accounting machines in the 50's-60's-70's-I was with Burroughs for 8yrs and used one often--very handy little implement.
Hello folks.
I call this set of tools. A pick set. I seen them even in a few dollar store and the Snap'-On truck.
This set I use a lot on so many repairs for the task at hand. The most use tool beside philips screwdriver cutter.
The multi meter. Nice tip.
This is the best video I've seen on TH-cam as an introduction to working on vintage audio equipment. Nicely done, sir!
The best lesson on vintage amp
Enjoying a cold beer in your tropical paradise - "Priceless". Thanks for all of your videos and help.
Your welcome Kevin. Thank you for watching.
Excellent video! Now that I`m fully retired at 60 yrs old, I have time to play around with my vintage gear. This is very informative, thanks for posting!
This is a great video. One tip, HiFi Engine hasn’t been accepting new accounts for almost a year. I don’t know what is up with that but it has made getting ahold of service manuals a big pain in the neck.
Yep, I got in just before they quit taking new folks on. I wonder too, what is going on over there?
I believe there is a statement in the FAQ section that spam bots ruined it for the rest of us. Im a Vinyl Engine subscriber and still can’t get into HiFi Engine
That “mystery” tool is called a spring hook. We used them on repairing teletypes. The “hook” side is the spring hook, the other side is a spring push. Still wish I had mine!
Excellent video sir!! I wish this kind of comprehensive material was available when I started out. I'm sure many novices will find it invaluable.
Thank you very much for your kind words and for watching.
I have been a hobbyist for over 20 years but was interested to see how other folks approach it. Very nice video, novices should watch this. If you are working on tube gear, they are simpler but much more dangerous. I suggest seeking other videos on safety.
Priceless training video for new and old techs. Even us old guys really appreciate this excellent training tool and inciteful information. Thank you, Sir!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I’m ready to dive into my sx1050 for the first time(L channel distortion, then the protection relay opens for several seconds) I’m much more confident I can diagnose it now.
i'm just getting into stereo equipment and wanted to learn how to repair it, this really helped me on weather i could do it or not. Thank you for the great video.
Welcome back Chris...It is always a pleasure to see your new videos, and help educate all of us, who hope to follow your examples!
Don, as always thank you for your kind words.
Thank you VAA. You are a great teacher! What did you do for a career?
Absolutely outstanding learning video. It truly inspired me. Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge with all of us. One cannot put a price on the knowledge gained. Thank you once again.
Your welcome. Glad it was helpful! Thank you very much for watching.
Genius advice about turning off the unit then make your connection..turn back on ..get your measurements..bingo..! Can't believe I never thought about that b4
Thanks for watching.
A fantastic guide to help jumpstart anyone into vintage electronic repair-such like myself. Eternal thanks for your beacon of information !
Amazing video! I did a Teac BX 300 amplifier. Speakers kept making popping noise, so a lot of work later its a truly wonderful amp!
Tons of crud in the switches, bad caps, bad solder joints.
Great, really helpful video. Thanks v much. I started repairing broken amplifiers 4 months ago. Your video has so much practical information and tips from your years of experience. It consolidated what I have learned from hours of Googling and hands on repairing several amplifiers is what experienced repairers do, plus lots of new practical help.
A practical video on tracing an audio signal with oscilloscope with reference to the schematic and safety issues would be really helpful for those of us just stating.
Thank you so much for your kind words and for your suggestion.
@@vintageaudioaddict I join Mr. C Skeet's suggestion.
WOW,what an amazing video. I am a novice but you have inspired me to take up vintage audio repairs. Awsome straight forward instruction. Thank you. All the best from sunny Wales😊😊
Thank you for the information you worked so hard on to help your viewers, and point them in the right direction with troubleshooting their audio problems..You are helpful without expecting payment for sharing your knolege, and that is most kind of you!!!
Floyd, thank you so much for the kind words. I really appreciate it.
Thank you so much for this video. I appreciate what you do and share your experience and expertise in restoring and repairing vintage audio. I seldom make comments but I watch every single video of yours whenever have the chance in my spare time. I am an avid fans of your channel. Keep it up and God bless. Looking forward to your next video.
Eric, thank you so much for your kind words and for watching.
Wealth of knowledge & straight forward sharing. I'm about restore an old Atari 2600 VCS. I just bought capacitor kit for it. Awesome.
Thanks to you, I feel confident in setting up a work shop in the corner of my basement .Am no longer terrorify on getting started on fixing my equipment.Thanjk you so much . You are a terrific instructor. Learn so much in such little time.
I recently bought a ProsKit SS-331 desolder station for around $200 dollars and it works a charm so far.
Easy to use, easy to clean, and seems to be made of quality.
Thanks for sharing.
@@vintageaudioaddict My pleasure :)
When I was 16, I acquired an old Heathkit oscilloscope which had problems. While working on it, I accidentally got across the 4KV HV supply. It felt like being punched hard in the chest, and the muscle spasm knocked me across the room. I learned the wisdom of the TV technician's old rule: When working around HV, keep one hand in your pocket! Later in life I was a radio/TV engineer, and worked on a Harris MW-50A 50KW AM xmttr...that thing had a 24KV plate supply. You DON'T work on a beast like that, power-on!
I wonder how many reported deaths by CRT television there have been from 1980 - 2010. I'm sure the numbers are much lower, but im sure SOME goofball scrapper got himself bugzapped lol
Thanks a million!!!! Everything was well explained. Not once was i ever lost. Your the man keep up the good work, God Bless you my friend!!
About those jumper leads with alligator clips. One time I was using some and getting weird measurements. So out of frustration I tried ohming out the jumpers themselves and, alarmingly, I was finding resistances all the way up to 20k!! It turned out that the dissimilar metals of the clips and the wire, being merely crimped together, were developing a layer of corrosion in between. I took every jumper I had, pushed back the insulating boot, hit the crimps with flux, and soldered them.
Yep! That is especially a very common issue with the cheaper test lead sets that you get on Amazon, Ebay, or even at your local Harbor Freight tool store, etc., as those cheaper test lead kits are all made in China to very low quality standards, and they are oftentimes very poorly assembled, (you get what you pay for, I guess, lol!), but if I ever do buy any of those really cheap test lead kits, as soon as I get them home, I immediately check each individual test lead with a multimeter in ohms mode to see if they're all at least under about 0.2 ohms or so at most, (MANY are NOT!), and so I will also then just take all of them and properly crimp the ends, and then I also solder them also, which always brings ALL of the leads down in resistance to basically just the resistance of whatever size and length of wire that makes them up, and that specific resistance, (i.e. what it SHOULD be at a maximum), can be gotten from an online chart or table, or an electronics book that shows wire guages and their respective resistances...
For truly GOOD quality test leads, that ALSO have really good connections/joints on each end that connect the wire itself into the alligator clips or whatever termination end they have on them, the OVERALL TOTAL test lead resistance should ideally be no more than about 0.1 ohms or so... But in order to actually check that jumper lead resistance value *properly* though, you will have to first eliminate the actual test lead resistance of your multimeter leads themselves from the total resistance first, (which will add about another 0.1 ohms or so to the total reading you get on your meter's display), by first shorting your ohmmeter or multimeter's test leads together and "zeroing out" the display reading, using the "relative" function in ohms mode, (if your meter has that feature), otherwise you'll just have to make note of the meter's own test lead resistance in your head and then subtract that from the total meter display reading when adding in the alligator, etc. test clip leads for testing, that way you can get the actual test clip leads' true, actual resistance value.
If you do this procedure to every single test clip lead that you have (AND any that you ever get in the future, even if brand new), then you will have MUCH more reliable connection test clip leads for your bench testing and/or circuit experimenting purposes!
I can't tell you how many leads I've just throw away. Thank you for sharing that tip.
Thank you so much for this. I am just starting out doing vintage tube amplifier repair and this is so much great information.
Dear Sir, thank you for the video. My Yamaha CA-1010 is singing again. Happy day!
Great! Good Job! I'm glad you got your Yamaha making music again.
Outstanding video. Thank you from a Tech expanding from RF Transceivers and SMT to old audio just for something different. Found an old SX-720 as my first restoration project and just got the first bag o caps and transistors in the mail. Kind of excited to use my bench and skills anew. Anyway, I appreciate your emprirical advice more than you know. I too try and pay it forward. PCB level diagnosis and repair is becoming an endangered species.
I’m going to give it a try starting with my Technics SU-C01 pre-amplifier. Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it.
Good luck! Just take your time and I'm sure that you will be successful.
Listened from word to word, although I'm working with all kinds of electronic this video was helpfull for me just by giving perspective on some points. Great work and much appreciated 🙏
I been working on all kinds of Audio for 30 years, you nailed it in so many ways!
Thank you for making this video.
I as well agree digiKey for parts they are extremely helpful for crossreferncing, example Speaker relay for a Carver TFM-35x made in Austria and so on.
Again thank you
You're very welcome! Thanks so much for watching.
Hi Chris, Thanks for making this video and sharing your knowledge. Like you mentioned, I'm also not formally trained and have taken up vintage audio equipment restoration as a hobby. It's very inspiring to watch others do this stuff. I've been able to restore a reel to reel and cassette tape deck and seeing how you approach things is very helpful. I wish I knew where to find likeminded people like you to meetup with and exchange knowledge with locally, but I'm glad there's a big online community of hobbyists like us.
Hi Raph, You can read my comment 4 comments newer than yours. My ability so far has been maintenance related work on 1970's Dual turntables. Not much electronics in these turntables, but a place to start. Are you in California?
Your welcome and thank you for watching. Sometimes there are local electronic clubs in an area. Many folks who are into older electronic gear in general, like ham or cb hobbyists also are into vintage audio. Just do some google searches and see.
@@paulturner3553 Yes I'm in SoCal
@@Dthebeatsmith, Northern Kali. Would be nice to find someone who works on stereo gear in their garage or basement who charges reasonably. I look around in the internet once in a while, but nothing. I have enough stereo gear to keep me going for a good while as long as receivers don't all crap-out. I'm pushing 70, so it might not even be a real issue.
Thank you for just being you ! I’ve learned so much from your videos and please please keep them coming. Love the basics on how to and your approach on diagnosis.
Thank you so much for making this video!!! I’ve been searching for a video like this about general troubleshooting and I learned a ton from this. Best video I have seen on this subject. I will definitely subscribe. All the best and take care!
If the hex doesn't work, try a torx bit, may have to lightly tap it in but will bite more and back out with ease..👍
This is, in my opinion, a very good video on the subject. You provide the interest on the topic and VAA provides, in a way that keeps your interest and wanting to watch more, the expertise. I liked the narrative, examples, anecdotes... I thank the shared knowledge. Thumb up.
Tool = 8" Spring Hook Push & Pull tool. Costs about $10 shipped.
👍🏻😎I like your approach to the restoration process. My gear is approaching the 40 year old mark and is getting near the restoration point. All of my gear is still like new in appearance inside and out and I don't plan on replacing any of it. I have what I have because I still love it. Thanks for the videos and advice.
Your welcome and thank you for watching.
Really appreciate the time you've put in to post this video.
Thanks so much for letting me know.
Great video! Really appreciate the content that gives you great advice on the general repair of vintage audio.
Glad to help! Thank you for watching.
I have an old beast akai AA 1200...The protection that you talked about at around 1:07ish explained alot. Mine doesn't come on, but after awhile it clicks on and off.... I have absolutely no knowledge of this genre so I won't be tinkering with it but I definitely want to get mine worked on.
Tool in question for automotive work seal puller I believe if no one has said yet great vid
Thank you for this. I've acquired a pioneer SA-8100 as a project and wanted to know what I was getting into. Seller plugged it in and showed me it was stuck in protection mode and would need to diagnose to get it going. I have recently acquired a bench multimeter and still need a variac or bulb dimmer to start diagnosing issues. A oscilliscope would be a great gift request for Christmas, thanks for the tips.
I love your videos! Keep them coming Chris. Know that you're appreciated.
I appreciate that! Thank you for watching.
Easy to understand at 2X speed. Good video! Different utoobers can be sped up to different speeds.
Learning so much by watching these valuable videos that you make. Thank you!
Just found this. Great little helper as usual. Many thanks, Very helpful for anyone dallying with stereo gear. Cheers.
Your welcome and I'm glad the video helped you out.
Techspray Prowick #4 desoldering braid is INCREDIBLY effective. It’s NOTHING like the run of the mill braids. It has a ton of flux in it and soaks up solder like a sponge. It’s worth every penny of the $7 it costs for each spool. A tube tester isn’t vital. Most tube testers aren’t reliable anyway. The best tube tester I’ve found is a Fender champ. Just measure the current while the tube is working. Most tube sellers seem to be fairly honest about the quality of the NOS tubes they sell. And new ones are still sold if used or NOS tubes make you nervous.
Thank you so much for such a thorough video. I learned a lot of basics and what else I need to look into.
Sir, thank you very much for this beautiful, informative video! The hook like instrument that you have shown in this video is a Surgical probe. This kind of probe is being used in different types of surgergical operations viz. ENT, Cardio Thoracic, Dental surgery etc. You may please advise your followers to visit a Surgical Instrument dealer in his/her respective city & buy this kind of instrument. This is indeed, a very useful tool!😊
Your comment on safety working with 120/240 volts +, work with one hand behind your back and make sure not to lean on any component where you become a ground circuit.
In addition to 2 mechanics tickets, I also picked up an instrumentation ticket. I got sent out with a young lady apprentice to perform calibration checks on an oilfield pumpjack installation. The instruments function on 12V or more likely 24V and 4 - 20mA current. To do our job we shut the electric jack down, some use a one lunger gas engine. She pulled the wiring out of the instrument, which grounded and blew the fuse. When she put it back together the device was not reading, so we found and replaced the 250mA fuse. When we tried to restart the pumpjack it would not run. Now inside the panel is the fuses for the 4800V motor. Some I had a little discussion with her on procedure to avoid being shocked. That voltage will do much worse than light you up. The Fluke meter is good to 600V so you can not test for the 4800V. I popped the fuses out to check continuity. One fuse was blown. How that happened I have no idea. I tried phoning our electricians, the operator and our electrical foreman. Nobody would answer the phone. Closed the panel up and drove to town 1 hour away and rummaged for a fuse. We did not have the proper one, but I found one the next amp rating up. Went back to site and installed that fuse and got the pumpjack operating. In the morning I told the electrical foreman the story and handed him the blown fuse so he could get the proper one and replace the over size one. I got my backside chewed by him and the manager for being in the 4800V area, as instrumentation I should not be touching anything because of the danger. I related how I had instructed on using only one hand in the cabinet to prevent being shocked and not trying to measure the voltage, but to safely remove the fuse and test continuity.
An interesting bit of knowledge is the ignition coil on older cars is a transformer. When the points open the coil outputs 10kv to 50kv to the distributor rotor. Measure the voltage at the battery connection on the coil and it will read 200v to 300v while the engine is running. Backwards induced voltage in the primary.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Wow. What a great job. You should be a teacher. Thank you ❤
@VintageAudioAddict you have a gift for teaching! This topic so fascinating and like many, I am thankful for your videos. Do you have any videos on big picture view of how an amplifier works and what all the tiny electronics pieces are and what they do?
Thank you, Vintage Audio Addict, for a nice explanation of the Pioneer SX-1250 regarding its different boards, etc.. I recently have purchased 3 different Radio Shack Realistic AM/FM STEREO RECEIVERS including the: STA-117, STA-700, & a STA-2150 from the late 70s to early 80s. All 3 of these Realistic receivers work well but perhaps all of them would benefit from recapping possibly?
Great vid
Tool is an “o” ring pick
Available from any auto parts store
Great detailed video, Probably the best one yet, a wealth of information. thank you Sir.
New subber. Love your very matter-of-fact/common sense approach to your passion. I’m a long time guitar amp fixer, albeit never for a living. For that, I’m a Electronic Calibration lead metrologist at one of the NASA Centers, and just came into 2 SX-1080s. One’s running fine, the other taking me down a few rabbit holes so far. Got most of the repair equipment I need, but my old reliable 465 scope lost it’s vertical. I’m also an amateur Extra, so theres Collins rigs in use as well. Tube gear everywhere. Great channel. 👍
Well, 5 months later... fixed the Tek scope and the SX-1080. It turned out to be a beautiful piece, and I gave it to my brother-in-law, because he knows his Pioneers and would appreciate it the most. After that, I totally overhauled a 1979 Twin Reverb. That one was a journey. Not sure what's next.
I've been looking for this type of video for quite a long time.
Wow! This was/is the absolute BEST and definitely THE MOST thorough video that I've EVER seen anywhere about this specific topic! Very interesting, informative, AND helpful!
(And since your video was long, and you gave people "fair warning" about its length in the very beginning of it, I will do the same here and say that this comment will most likely also be quite long, based on how many questions I made note of to ask you about while watching your video, so here goes...)
Me being an "electronics nerd" myself, I really wish that I personally knew someone just like you in my own town, that I could just talk electronics with, and visit anytime I wanted to "collab" on a project or get help with something I'm working on, share info I know, etc...
On that last note, there is a few tips and things I would add to or further expand on about your video here, along with a few questions I thought of while watching it...
One of the very FIRST things that I do when looking at and attempting to service any piece of used audio equipment is (right after taking the cover off, but before even powering it up and testing it), is to take it outside and blow any/all of the dust and dirt out of the entire insides of it using an air compressor and blow nozzle, that way you can also see better if anything is obviously wrong with it before ever powering it up. (like loose wires, obviously physically broken or blown components, etc.)
I absolutely MUST add a good quality desoldering gun or station to my workbench tool arsenal, as that specific thing, (i.e. desoldering components, especially from circuit boards, and especially from "double sided" circuit boards!), has been a major frustration of mine for WAY too long already! I just need to break down and finally *invest* in a good quality desoldering gun like that HAAKO one that you have there, even though the truly good quality desoldering guns like that one, and especially all of the good quality desoldering stations, are quite expensive! (That's why I've put off buying one for so many years!) And even though I've gotten quite good at utilizing that "desoldering wick" stuff, I go through it too fast and I'm always having to buy more of it, plus I know it's still not nearly as fast OR EASY to use as a really good quality desoldering gun or station would be!
While on the subject of tools needed for this type of work, I luckily already have a few of the more expensive things you mention...
I already have 4 Fluke multimeters, one Model 189 multimeter, two Model 289 multimeters, and one Model 867 graphical multimeter, (ALL of which I've bought used over the years for really great prices!), so I've got THAT part covered at least, lol!
Along with my multimeters I also have a very nice Fluke test lead set that includes REALLY sharp pointed NEEDLE tip test leads, that will literally instantly make you *bleed* if you accidentally touch the tip of them, but they are really awesome for very securely and safely testing individual solder joints or test points on circuit boards, or individual component leads like on ICs and such, without accidentally slipping off or shorting out another adjacent terminal, etc. They are awesome because they don't ever slip off of terminals or joints because they dig into them slightly. They also fit into the tightest and tiniest of places on a circuit board because they are slightly smaller and more of a slim profile than the typical/normal test leads that you get with most multimeters.
It looks like you could actually also use some of THAT type of test lead yourself!
I also got extremely lucky and I recently acquired an O-scope that is VERY similar to yours in this video. I now have a Tektronix Model 475 oscilloscope that, believe it or not, I *found for free* in a "recycling" dumpster not too long ago! (It's amazing what some people throw away!) It appears to work perfectly fine after I cleaned all of the switches and controls on it, but since I've never been able to afford or have an actual o-scope before, I'm still learning how to actually use it, lol!
I also recently found at one of my local thrift stores for $15(!!), a VERY nice "vintage" Hewlitt Packard Audio Frequency Signal Generator with a nice, large dial on the front of it for very fine, precise frequency control. It has an output range of 1Hz all the way up to 1MHz, so it works for pretty much ANY audio testing I need! (except RF frequencies of course)
Now, as far as places to actually still buy good quality individual electronic components go, I agree that Mouser and Digi-Key are two of the better/best places to buy those components from! Thank goodness we still have those two electronic parts distributors at least, because more and more electronic parts stores and distributors seem to be going totally out of business every single year, because most average people nowadays don't even care to fix or work on anything anymore, they just throw it away and buy a brand new one, which is a major waste of resources IMO!... Anyway, for the few of us who actually still DO care about fixing/restoring vintage audio gear, and realize that when working properly, most all of it is better quality than most new stuff is, at least Mouser and Digi-Key are still around to supply (most of) the parts we may need to fix said vintage gear! Both of those parts distributors are very reputable, long lived companies, that directly source their components from reputable manufacturers, so you at least know that anything you buy from them is of a good quality, and is backed by their guarantee of that if there's ever any issues with what they sell... Unlike what you get from buying rather "sketchy" quality stuff from unknown reputation sellers on Amazon or Ebay, lol! (I just wish that Digi-Key and Mouser's PRICES were as cheap as the electronic parts are on Amazon and Ebay!... But I guess this is a place/topic where the saying "you get what you pay for" really does apply, because many of the electronic parts that are sold on Amazon and Ebay are really cheaply made, low quality, *imitation/fake* parts, and/or "seconds" or "factory reject" parts, which usually either don't perform up to specs, and/or totally fail prematurely when put into use, which is extremely annoying to deal with when trying to repair something!)
On that note, where do you recommend buying truly GOOD quality, very LARGE value, (>10,000uF), power supply filter capacitors for a still reasonable price? The only kind of those types of capacitors that I can find online are either EXTREMELY expensive, or else the more reasonably/affordably priced ones seem to just be of total *garbage* quality that either immediately blow up or leak really bad as soon as you put their "rated" voltage across them!
Any serious suggestions here would be a great help, as I have a few vintage amplifiers that need new power supply rail caps, I just don't know of the BEST place to get them, and before I invest tons of money in the expensive ones, I'd like to know if you, (OR anyone else reading this), knows of a good, reliable place to buy truly GOOD quality filter caps from for a reasonably affordable price first!
Now, as far as getting service manuals and such goes, (and I totally agree that having the actual *service* manual for any component that you're trying to repair, is absolutely *essential* to doing the job *properly* , because it gives you proper adjustment values and voltages, etc.!), I HAVE already at least HEARD of/about "Hi-Fi Engine.com", but I've never bothered to set up an actual account with them yet, but after hearing from you more specific details about what all that they provide on that site, it sounds like I really SHOULD/NEED TO set up an account with them!...
I'm also gonna definitely have to check out that other site you mentioned; "World Radio History", because that site sounds totally awesome! I've never heard of it before now, but it sounds like a VERY valuable info site, so thanks for mentioning it in your video!
(This comment got "too long" to post, so I had to put the second part of it below, as a "reply" to this one...)
As far as actually servicing vintage audio equipment goes, the following three things I noted while watching your video...
You can also spray contact cleaner into those common style pushbutton switches by spraying it directly into that little hole on the top of them with the cleaner's straw, rather than only by the front of it where the spring is. I've found that the cleaner seems to penetrate the entire insides of the switch better, and with less "overspray" by spraying it directly through/into that tiny hole in the top of those switches. You can just fill the inside of the switch up through that tiny hole in the top of it until you can actually see the liquid of the cleaner inside the switch itself because the top part of the switch usually either changes to a darker color, (if the top is phenolic), or at least the cleaner starts to squirt out of it when the switch is full of it. Then move the switch back and forth, in and out a few dozen times, as you mentioned in the video...
Also, an important thing to add is; after *cleaning* the switch contacts with that "De-Ox-It" stuff, don't forget to also then use their spray *lubricant* to re-lubricate the internals of the switch, otherwise if you ONLY use the cleaner spray and NO lube spray afterwards, it tends to dry out the switch sometimes, making it not work properly physically, after the cleaner fully evaporates out of it.
For one GOOD channel vs. one BAD channel comparisons of an amp's circuit board(s), I like to always first compare individual component values, (resistors, capacitors, transistors, etc.), between the two separate channels with a multimeter FIRST, BEFORE actually powering it up and testing for audio signal and voltage differences, etc., that way if you can actually find any noteable differences and issues *without* it being powered up first, then there's MUCH less of a chance of accidentally shorting something out by touching (LIVE) terminals together with your meter probe tips, etc. (Again, an important reason to have some actual NEEDLE tip test leads, as mentioned earlier!)
Voltages on/at designated "test points", as stated in the service manuals of vintage audio components will almost always be at least slightly different, (up to about +/-10% or so different before there's a serious issue, as you stated in the video), than what is stated in the service manual at that point, and the voltages are almost never *exactly* as what is stated in the manual, simply because of variances in the *tolerances* of individual related components, (resistors, capacitors, etc.), especially on OLDER components, because as individual resistors, and especially capacitors, age through the years, their values can change quite significantly, especially electrolytic type capacitors, and especially in hot environments, as you stated in the video of reasons why those types of capacitors have to be replaced after about 30 or more years. They also can significantly affect the voltage readings that you are supposed to be getting at any given circuit point!
Anyway, I know that you are already aware of all of these things, but maybe this info can even further add to the helpfulness of this video for someone not quite as experienced as we are in vintage audio repair and restoration...
In this modern day and age of no more service techs and repair shops, and less and less places to find out valuable, truthful, reliable, useful, and actually *helpful* info about vintage audio equipment, (which is making a "comeback" among today's "throwaway" society, which is really cool, because most vintage audio equipment was built to a MUCH higher quality standard than today's crap gear is, so vintage audio gear is definitely worth investing some of your time and effort into restoring it to its full, original performance levels, because if you do, you will be really happy with the sound quality that you can still get from most vintage audio components!), (so), we are all at least lucky to now have the internet, because as you mentioned in this video, we at least still have access to online, almost all service manuals, instruction/owners manuals, and individual product literature that was ever printed in the past, as long as you know exactly where, (i.e. what website), to look for it on, so that fact is awesome at the very least!
OK, I will end this "book" here! I hope this info and especially this video helps out as many people who want to restore a piece of vintage audio gear as it possibly can! Have a great day, and have a FUN and enjoyable experience working on your own audio gear, whatever you may come across over the years!
Thank you so much for your kind words and for commenting at such length! I'm sure that your comments/suggestions will help other hobbyist's. As far as your question goes about the sources for larger value capacitors I've found both mouser.com and digikey.com has them most of the time. Sometimes it takes some searching of those sites but there is usually something on those sites that you can use as a replacement for your vintage capacitors. The cost??? Well, they are not inexpensive. Many times just the replacement of the filter capacitors in vintage audio equipment will cost more then all the other components needed to complete a total restoration.
@@vintageaudioaddict Yeah, I was afraid of that! :(
That's why the amps that I have that need new main rail filter caps have not been fixed yet and are still sitting around just collecting dust. I was just hoping you knew of a cheaper place to buy them...
I really wish I knew of a way to tell (before buying) which ones, (IF even ANY), of the "too good to be true" sounding "deals" on Ebay, Amazon, and various "electronic parts surplus" stores online actually were/ARE good deals, and which of any of those sellers actually had genuine, good quality capacitors like that, because the prices you see on those sites for large value caps are VERY tempting to try them just to see if they actually work... (Price differences of 20+ to 1 ratios are quite common online for seemingly the exact same part(s)!)
I also wish there was a good, reliable way to look at a picture of a capacitor's labeling and know whether it was a genuine branded capacitor from a reputable manufacturer, or if it's just a cheap quality, "fake" knockoff, "copy" or "imitation" branded one, because the "fake" capacitors online are getting extremely good at imitating the exact look of the truly genuine brands' logos and name font printing and such! It's really quite disgusting that it has even come to this in this modern day, where there is actually more FAKE electronic parts available online nowadays than there is 100% genuine REAL ones! It's just SAD! How are the companies that make the cheap copies of stuff even allowed to do that? It really seems like there should be some kind of industry-wide regulations or laws against that crap in the industry!... But I guess that since there's seemingly no regulation of that, and everyone online seems to just be all about sheer maximum profit and not about any kind of useful quality levels anymore, then now it's a total crapshoot buying stuff online! (That's why I hate it!)
I really miss physical "brick and mortar" electronic parts stores that you could actually walk into and talk to real people about the products you're interested in buying and find out any specific details about them that you might want to know, and then also have your purchase backed up by either the store's and/or the manufacturer's warranty against defects, etc.!...
I guess you can still get that (sort of) from reputable online sellers like Digi-Key and Mouser, but I just wonder how much of a "middle man markup" that they have on the parts that they sell, because when a certain large value filter capacitor on one of their sites for example, costs around $100 EACH, (sometimes even more!), then you go on Ebay and/or Amazon and find literally HUNDREDS of listings for seemingly the EXACT SAME BRAND, VOLTAGE, AND CAPACITANCE RATING VALUE capacitors for around $5 each, some even less, it really makes you wonder why there's such a HUGE price descrepancy!... You're thinking "OMG, they can't possibly ALL be total fakes, can they??!"... or "Surely there's *someone* here (on Ebay/Amazon/surplus stores, etc.) that has truly genuine "New old stock" capacitors that I can get a really great deal on!"... I just wish I knew of a reliable way to find those deals, because I'm definitely not rich, money-wise, and I simply cannot afford to spend literally hundreds of dollars on just 1 or 2 capacitors! That's just insane IMO! :(
@@mohammedisaa9952 Yeah, that would be REALLY cool, if I could actually make money at repairing vintage audio gear, however, I have NO money to actually start a business in an actual physical store, NOR do I have ANY knowledge about how to, (or any kind of camera, etc, gear to), start an online video stream business, like here on TH-cam, etc., but IF I knew how AND I had the means/money to actually do that sort of thing then it WOULD be awesome!...
As of rn, I ONLY work on stuff for myself and for my own personal stereo system, and only as a "hobby" that I "dabble" in. Even though I understand and know quite a bit about vintage gear, (through my own experience and "trial and error" experimenting over the years), and in servicing electronic stuff in general, (through hole circuit boards, soldering, etc.), I DON'T have ANY kind of "formal" training in this field, so actually attempting to do repairs and restorations "professionally", as a business, would most likely get me into big trouble, where I would get quite a few pieces of gear that I didn't really know how to fix properly. I do what I can, with my OWN personal electronic gear, of which if I break even further while trying to fix them then it's just simply a learning experience, but NOT a liability, lol!
And about capacitors... I HAVE tried using other used capacitors from other (thrift store, etc) used gear, (thrift stores are actually where I find most of my electronics gear that I own!), but as with ANY gear that's older than about 30 or so years old, the electrolytic capacitors in pretty much ALL gear of that age or more are usually rather dried out and usually now of a much lower uF value than they should be as a result, especially among the larger value caps, as in power supply main rail filter caps and such, therefore most of the other used gear that you can find for cheap (at thrift stores, etc.), are pretty much ALL in need of similar repairs, and therefore are NOT really a very good place to find still totally GOOD parts, especially not large value electrolytic capacitors and rubber parts like belts, pinch rollers, etc., (like for tape decks, etc), because rubber ALSO dries out and either hardens, rots, or cracks after about the same number of years as the electrolytic capacitors fail at. (Unfortunately!)
Is like a Class of electronic, in my experience i found a Peak Electronic from england, have a capacitor tester ESR70Gold, a LCR45 test components, and DCA75 semiconductor tester; are lightweigt, portable no cheaper but good have a "swiss" precision and hard like a rock , best regards from Santiago Chile, in the corner of the world.
The red hook tool you showed looks like the ones used for threading knitting machines back in the days
A very good and informative video Thank you so much. Please keep them coming.
Thanks, will do!
Thank you for making this, im working on an eventide 1745 A and an Ams Dmx 15-80s
Man, this is SUPER helpful. Thank you.
Super helpful video, thanks so much Chris.
Glad it was helpful!
Fantastic vid. You're so thorough and I'm glad i subscribed some time a go. If you weren't a teacher, I think you should have been. I collect and purge when I need too, Just love audio, both vintage and modern. Keep up the great work.
This is a fantastic video. I use exactly the same process. Some capacitors and transistors (ahem..germainium), and tubes are ridiculously expensive, so in some cases I may restore, while in others I just repair.
Thank you so much for watching.
Hey my friend. Just sub’d your channel as we are all about vintage Audi too. Leak Point One St.20 amp and Varislope line stage. Goodman’s 301 drivers in original factory built cabinets circa 1955. Marantz 240 power amp etc. We went through catastrophe level floods here in Oz this year and like most we lost nearly everything we owned inc the 240 which needs a transformer now😳. BUT just this week I powered up a recently purchased Denon receiver bought for better digital sound and it pretty much worked. I say pretty much because at first we couldn’t get signal to the speakers, Then after removing the top casing and spraying the boards and everything else in sight with a generic contact cleaner/rust remover the sound thru the headphone jack worked. So I got hold of a specialist electrical board cleaner and sprayed the by heck out of it left it to dry and now speakers are functioning fine. Same with the remote. Not functioning at first then a pretty hefty spray with the same cleaner and it appears to be working quite well. I’m listening to Nirvana via Spotify thru Apple TV and that receiver as I’m typing. My question is should we do anything else going forward, or leave well enough alone? The only hiccup with the receivers functionality is that the on screen setup won’t load past language choice. It just keeps cycling, however there isn’t a problem exiting “Setup”. I’ve tried a factory reset which seemed to work yet the setup problem continued next try. Any ideas on this?
Denon DRA-800-H. Apple TV HD. Panasonic tv with hdmi but no CDC or app function so pre “SMART” I guess.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
God Bless
🌞
One thing I would like to add , before you start to repair, be sure you turn the unit on unplugged to be sure any electricity stored in the capacitors or transformer is drained. I'm not a electrician, but, I'd do it a day prior. Better safe than sorry.
I've heard that before, does it really work? I've got some filter caps to check on a receiver...
I would try a small plier or tweesers for manipulate springs & hooks , if missing the "spring hook tool". Also useful: magnifier lamp/glasses.
Thank you for sharing.
Amazing Video! This kind of knowledge is gold. Thankyou
Happy Holidays to you and your Family thank you for all the videos i have learned so much from you over the years
regarding solder suckers, I have one that is similar to what you have in the video. I really don't use it anymore, its too heavy and cumbersome and I would occasionally would accidently push the button while trying to remove solder. and when upgrading myriads of capacitors, it can be challenging.
Hi
Enjoy learning from your video on noisy transistor.
I have a Pioneer A400 with noisy transistor on the Right channel.
Usually happens after an hour or so.
Can be intermittent and reappears.
Happens on all inputs.
The sound of the popping / crackling is Not affected by the volume pot.
I have already cleaned all the switches n pots thoroughly.
Hoping you can point out which transistor to replace.
Thank you for reading.
😉😉
Very good video. Thank you!
one question - where do you connect black lead of multimeter? I only see you use red. Does black go to some central "ground" on the amp?
Right on very informative content...cheers!
Great video, thanks. I have a question on how to check the voltage shown in the schematics. Where do you hook the ground probe of the multimeter?
most important technical knowledge is having a basic understanding of electrical, and electronics background, because with out it you can not service anything. I been fortunate to have a skill trade background in Hvac/R and some electrical so that being said it very important to have that. There not too many schools that teach this it more, but my former school Mckim technical Institute in Akron, Ohio did, but they been close over 30 years now .
Very useful video
Keep up your great work
God bless you
Thanks
Thank you, really enjoyed this video! I'm a real amateur with old hi fi, have an old Sony and sounds like the speaker relay clicks on and off during use, I'm trying to work out what to do to fix it! Nothing changed in my set up but suddenly began, would love any ideas from you folk! :)
Hi and thanks again for a great video I am just starting out in this field in repairing apps I am very much like you to repair apps back to 100% back I have just got hold of a Sony STR-11L all the channels seem to work okay all but the phono channel it’s got really bad distortion it sounds overamplified I think the first step is changing all the caps because I’m new in this field I repair a lot of other equipment but this is my first amplifier do you think it’s wise to change all the caps first and clean all the pots first before changing the caps which steps do you think is best to start with this is like a hobby for me because now I can’t work anymore because I’ve got pancreatitis and other illnesses as well this is why I get into this world to keep me busy mark
Excellent video. Hopefully this'll inspire some folks to dive in and learn to repair their own gear. 😎
Thanks 👍
Wow, very interesting and informative video, thank you very much
Good to see you putting on a video Chris thanks, Good stuff as always
Thank You!
think the tool may be an o'ring pick. or at least very close to one, as the set of those I have resembles it but that one is nice and slim. nice tips and info here thank you !
Your welcome and thank you for watching.
The little.odd ball tool, I would call a pick, often part of a hook and pick set. I've also had one for 30+ years :)
Thanks for the tips. 2245 Marantz. Went through Ian, salt water..3'drop. thought I had it with deoxit but just clipped out with no return. May not be easily fixed. But hope I can.
Thank you for getting the point across
What soldier do you use and recommend for electronics? Great video with a whole wealth of information 👍👍👍👍👍
I suppose you mean "solder", NOT "soldier", but he briefly touched on that topic in the video if you go back and really listen closely, but in any case, it should just be solder that is made for electronics, with a rosin core flux built into it, because just trying to use ANY kind of solder, (like the kind that is made for copper water pipe brazing for example, which does NOT have a rosin core), that other kind of solder will NOT stick to electrical connections on circuit boards very well, if even at all. Using a solder that has a rosin core, and is made for electronic work, is essential to making good solder joints on electronic equipment and circuit boards!
I personally also have Kester brand solder on my electronics workbench, as does the guy in this video, however, the actual BRAND NAME of the solder doesn't really matter, just make sure that it's electronic solder that you use, with the rosin flux core in it, and you should be good to go... For electronics I also personally prefer to use only solder sizes under 0.050 inch diameter, preferably even 0.032 inch diameter size, that way it works better with very small terminals on components like small transistors and especially I.C.s... I also personally like to use a 63/37% ratio leaded solder for electronic work because that type just "flows" much better into the joint than "lead free" solder does, but that type of solder, (containing lead), is NOT "ROHS compliant" for commercial use anymore, and it may be somewhat hard to find nowadays, so you can only get what you can get...
Most importantly, you have to find whatever size/diameter and type of solder that YOU like to use, based on whatever type(s) of work that you typically do. But no matter the diameter size OR type, (leaded vs. lead free), of solder that you get, as long as it is intended for electronic work and it has the built-in rosin flux core, then you should be OK for electronic work.
I hope that info helps you to find a good solder that works for you!
Thank you for your kind words and for watching. As for your question take a look at what Joe said in his comment.
You do not want to use lead free solder. All you need to know about lead free solder is that it is illegal to use on medical equipment, aircraft, or spacecraft. Nuff said? In other words, if you really want it to work, don’t use lead free solder.
Thank you for the video clip. Congratulations for the superb work and subject matter knowledge!
Your welcome and thank you for your kind words.
Thank you so much for this video, well done sir! You need a link so that I can buy you a cup of coffee. ;-)
I have found many excellent quality tools at flea markets and garage sales. If you know what you are looking for you can find that Fluke multimeter etc. for $3.00.
Thanks for the tips!
Wow, so much great information! Thank you. Subscribed!