This is the stuff (and after 50 years of doing similar) that real troubleshooting is made of. You now have a method, a path and a strategy as well as assessment and evaluation skills better as a result of the MCS being slightly cost cut engineered. You made it better than it was!! I am very proud of your sticking it out and finding the truth where all these nit picking problems were. Not only that you actually found anomalies you would have never discovered and fixed if you were not persistent to the point of complete success!! Bravo job well done.
Dude, you really have something going on with his channel right now. I love how you stuck with the troubleshooting and narrowed down the issues one by one. Your patience and your ability to explain things easily is really gonna help people repair their own equipment. Bravo good sir, bravo.
we would get the JC Penny christmas wish book after thanksgiving. I remember asking Santa to bring me a MCS stereo system. Must havve been a bad boy. Got a crap Sound Design stereo record player. still thankful of it as it beat listening to the clock radio which i still own 48 years later.
Nice ....Great detective work...love watching your videos....I mess around with broken audio amps once in a while...that other people tell me that repair shops say are not fixable. well lets just say they are lazy... because I always seem to get them working...lol
yeah you have to get this stuff working again if at all possible. I know many of us watching want to see a 100% repaired result as much as possible as that is the real satisfying part. Taking this MCS as far as you did made it a great story with good videos. Dont give up on these projects.
Glad you stuck with it. Just an FYI, having both + and - supplies doesn't really mean it's DC coupled. You proved it yourself with the failed coupling caps after the tone circuits. Good work, for sure.
You fixet that wreck up pretty good! liked following along. Im 45 and been messing around in stereos since a kid, love them old 70´s gear. its good to see that even younger guys share the hobby! we are gonna be needed in the future to fix this stuff.
If I remember correctly, if those baby-blue electrolytic capacitors are made by Sanyo, they were always problematic. They might be worth shutgun-replacing all of them. Nice video and really great diagnostics.
I agree, and I'd even go so far as to replace all the electrolytics. Would you put a barn-find 1979 car on the expressway without changing the tires? The MCS-3233 is 44 years old and long past its use-by date. They're nice receivers: somewhat "tubey" in sound signature (a big plus with a lot of people), an only OK tuner (but, these days, who cares about radio?) and that mid-range tone control.
@@thomaskendall452 Agree as well!, I just done my Magnavox 300 Receiver "From 1972" and was all original and was working, But Wow what a improvement the new Caps made!, When I tested all the old one's they were waayy off the original values!
In the late 1960's, I worked for a local stereo shop. Half my time was selling on the retail floor; the other half was spent as an apprentice to our tech. A majority of our repairs were on tube equipment. It was basic policy to replace automatically all the caps except the mica ones and most resistors, because of the heat and high voltage. The tube gear came in for repairs every three or four years. The improvement in sound could be dramatic!
I remember going in JC Penny's as a kid and I always went to the stereo section and looked longingly at these receivers (and other MCS models on display). Eventually, I got one of the cheaper MCS receivers and used it all through college. It was a great unit. To this day, I still have my MCS turntable and it works perfectly (though it has been serviced once). Great video.
Great videos. So important to me to be able to rescue classic silver face amps and receivers, keeping them out of landfills and having them bring listening pleasure to someone again. Nothing quite like giving them a new lease on life. Keep up the good work!
You know in the early days of quality FM tuners, the FM band was a desert - so to test the FM you would dial up the ubiquitous "easy listening" station. This had a lot of stereo separation and distinct sounds to test the bass and treble response. It was a good way to get an instant feel for speakers when combined with a particular unit. I would do this in the 80s and 90s when judging the sound of a system. Your theme music qualifies as easy listening.
Great vid! I'm so glad you decided to record the follow-up and that you had the patience to see it through to the end (minus a few LEDs). I don't know about your other subscribers, but I'm always as interested in the chopping down of the tree as I am the fine sanding, so thanks!
Buy you deoxit fader in green can that is made for potentiometers so they won’t damage the film on the wipers in the potentiometers. These are safe on plastics too. Too late after you have used it. Cheaper isn’t always better in contact cleaners. I could have damaged my volume & bass / treble variables with that deoxit D5 if a had not researched it. Those are 1963 Harman Kardon potentiometers & can be damaged easy.
Patience is the key to success...and being able to read/understand a schematic don't hurt😉 Great job Aidan, sticking with the job shows character and resolve👍👍 On this unit I would have done the LED mod, easier to do and a more permanent fix but replacing with original bulbs has benefits as well $$$. This unit will make someone very happy, old school rules. Nice work diagnosing the multiple problems and fixing this unit, well done. Thanks for the video and work, my cat watched the whole show.... See ya soon.
The stuck VU meters are often freed up via heating the screw with an iron for a few seconds. No no with contact cleaner in the meters. Good troubleshooting. Really looking forward to the STK video. Those things have been the defeat of a few amps I have intended on rebuilding and sold for parts.
Really enjoyed watching this series. I have a 3233 and a 3245, both of which have served me well over the years. Enjoyed learning the process...keep 'em coming!
I always recap vintage receivers. Not everyone agrees. But it's an inexpensive way to get maximum performance. But how do you like the sound? I think it's a sleeper receiver with great sound.
At 9:12 when you were soldering the wires onto the little bulbs, I thought of the little "helping hands" gadget with 2 alligator clips mounted on a swiveling base. That is super helpful for soldering two loose wires together.
Worthy of note - don't be surprised if a meter's internal torsion-like spring shows partial collapse. It's happened to me a few times, luckily I had replacements. The symptoms are similar to what you experienced.
After everything you have done to fix this unit, it has to make you think someone was in there dinking with it. My pops had a full working system with tuner, amp, cassette, etc, in the late 70's / early 80's, and this was as good as my Marantz 2216B.
Nice. Now have you seen an MCS-3285? That one was made by NEC for JC Penny and it has a much better power supply and binding posts, moving coil phono, etc. On a purely aesthetic level, I think it is just awesome. Never had a chance to hear or see one in the flesh. The whole face is buttons and toggle switches with some great digital displays. I'll bet that it would be some project, just cleaning up and restoring all those switches. I'd even consider getting one working/not working if the price is low enough and the chassis/faceplate is clean. I don't need it, but I just love its looks.
Increasing the voltage rating on those caps increases reliability. Per MIL Spec for high reliability , applied voltage should be 50% of capacitor rating. Even though you didn't like that receiver, to me it looks like a nice '70s era SilverFace and serviceability looked pretty good also.
28:00 - My guess as to why those 2 caps failed; they were connected in reverse-polarity due to faulty markings on the circuit board (or the schematic).
I have seen that issue where the bulb won't go dim when turning on a receiver with the speakers selected. Freaked me out when it first happened. I found not selecting the speakers when turning on the receiver took care of it. Using a larger bulb also would do the trick.
You are one of the great electronics engineers not only on TH-cam, but in the entire World! I love the Channel so much! The presentation is great. I love the music. What I loved so much about this absolutely fantastic video, some electronics engineer will show off and strip the whole of potentiometers down to clean the controls, this can make it very difficult to assemble the controls back together again properly. Everybody should clean the controls the way you do! Love the new house!
Mahalo for following up on the last one! I almost bought one of these things back in 1978, but I chose a Pioneer SX-580 instead. Looking back, I think the tone controls of this J.C.Penney machine would've nicer to have than the simpler bass and treble controls of the Pioneer... Not to mention the 15 or so more Watts of power...
Really enjoy the channel. Lots of good repairs that are easy to follow. I also have an old MCS 3233 that needs some repairs. Where did you find a schematic diagram for this unit? I have scoured the internet and can not find one anywhere. If you have a web link or some insight as to where you found one, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks and keep up the good work!
OUTSTANDING sir..Great job chasing it down....I really like that you took on the challenge. Fixing the tuning meter was great....I dont recall ever seeing one stuck like that. Tracking down bad caps in the preamp, excellent. You mentioned that the receiver has a number of those in it, do they seem ok? I was just thinking gthat they could be dried out due to age...GREAT JOB again sir. Thanks for sharing !!
Nice troubleshooting! I share your attitude towards electrolytic capacitors, measure, then change if bad ones. If several of same type are bad, change these. And, the shorted, black-spot ceramic in the first video was strange. Must have been stressed, or a bad part from the start. If a power spike, the diodes would likely also have been bad
I was really surprised the lamps were not socketed. On a few of the Pioneers I have worked on, the sockets became dry rotted and crumbled to the touch. Good thing that didn't happen with these. I would have opted for LEDs if possible, but your call. Great video as usual!
Tone defeat takes all tone and loudness filters out of the circuit, so, the volume is going to be lower than with the tone circuit is connected in circuit!
Nicely done! I admire your can-do bias, nothing fazes you. I was particularly interested in this video, because not much is said about JCPenney's short-lived Modular Component System equipment. I remember seeing them in the store window of my local JCPenney (like 45 years ago!). I remember the sales person telling me that Panasonic made the series for Penney's, but I've since read that multiple OEMs made different components. Thanks for the follow-through, as well. I watched the first one and had hoped to see you complete the job. Are you offering these for sale on eBay or some other outlet? If not, you'll need to rent a separate garage for all the equipment you're fixing!
Want to work on another mcs? lol. Having an issue with my digital station matching my analog station read out. Any suggestions or I can send you a MCS 3236.
This is the stuff (and after 50 years of doing similar) that real troubleshooting is made of. You now have a method, a path and a strategy as well as assessment and evaluation skills better as a result of the MCS being slightly cost cut engineered. You made it better than it was!! I am very proud of your sticking it out and finding the truth where all these nit picking problems were. Not only that you actually found anomalies you would have never discovered and fixed if you were not persistent to the point of complete success!! Bravo job well done.
Please let the kitty know that we said 👋......hi!!!!
Dude, you really have something going on with his channel right now. I love how you stuck with the troubleshooting and narrowed down the issues one by one. Your patience and your ability to explain things easily is really gonna help people repair their own equipment. Bravo good sir, bravo.
I don't know anyone who would have stuck with a piece of junk like that, and followed it all the way thru to the end. You have great patience.
I love sitting here with a beer in hand and watching you push yourself closer and closer to the limit. It's good entertainment.
we would get the JC Penny christmas wish book after thanksgiving. I remember asking Santa to bring me a MCS stereo system. Must havve been a bad boy. Got a crap Sound Design stereo record player. still thankful of it as it beat listening to the clock radio which i still own 48 years later.
Nice ....Great detective work...love watching your videos....I mess around with broken audio amps once in a while...that other people tell me that repair shops say are not fixable. well lets just say they are lazy... because I always seem to get them working...lol
yeah you have to get this stuff working again if at all possible. I know many of us watching want to see a 100% repaired result as much as possible as that is the real satisfying part. Taking this MCS as far as you did made it a great story with good videos. Dont give up on these projects.
Glad you stuck with it. Just an FYI, having both + and - supplies doesn't really mean it's DC coupled. You proved it yourself with the failed coupling caps after the tone circuits. Good work, for sure.
That is actually a nice receiver. Well featured.
You fixet that wreck up pretty good! liked following along.
Im 45 and been messing around in stereos since a kid, love them old 70´s gear. its good to see that even younger guys share the hobby! we are gonna be needed in the future to fix this stuff.
Muchas gracias 😃👌 saludos de Ensenada Bajá México 🇲🇽 Excellent Vídeo 🙏🙏
If I remember correctly, if those baby-blue electrolytic capacitors are made by Sanyo, they were always problematic. They might be worth shutgun-replacing all of them. Nice video and really great diagnostics.
I agree, and I'd even go so far as to replace all the electrolytics. Would you put a barn-find 1979 car on the expressway without changing the tires? The MCS-3233 is 44 years old and long past its use-by date. They're nice receivers: somewhat "tubey" in sound signature (a big plus with a lot of people), an only OK tuner (but, these days, who cares about radio?) and that mid-range tone control.
@@thomaskendall452 Agree as well!, I just done my Magnavox 300 Receiver "From 1972" and was all original and was working, But Wow what a improvement the new Caps made!, When I tested all the old one's they were waayy off the original values!
In the late 1960's, I worked for a local stereo shop. Half my time was selling on the retail floor; the other half was spent as an apprentice to our tech. A majority of our repairs were on tube equipment. It was basic policy to replace automatically all the caps except the mica ones and most resistors, because of the heat and high voltage. The tube gear came in for repairs every three or four years. The improvement in sound could be dramatic!
Thanks for your persistence!
I remember going in JC Penny's as a kid and I always went to the stereo section and looked longingly at these receivers (and other MCS models on display). Eventually, I got one of the cheaper MCS receivers and used it all through college. It was a great unit. To this day, I still have my MCS turntable and it works perfectly (though it has been serviced once). Great video.
Nice return on this lengthy project Aidan. Congratulations
Great videos. So important to me to be able to rescue classic silver face amps and receivers, keeping them out of landfills and having them bring listening pleasure to someone again. Nothing quite like giving them a new lease on life. Keep up the good work!
You know in the early days of quality FM tuners, the FM band was a desert - so to test the FM you would dial up the ubiquitous "easy listening" station. This had a lot of stereo separation and distinct sounds to test the bass and treble response. It was a good way to get an instant feel for speakers when combined with a particular unit. I would do this in the 80s and 90s when judging the sound of a system. Your theme music qualifies as easy listening.
Persistence pays off and I'm sure some of us learned something along the way. Well done!
Great vid! I'm so glad you decided to record the follow-up and that you had the patience to see it through to the end (minus a few LEDs). I don't know about your other subscribers, but I'm always as interested in the chopping down of the tree as I am the fine sanding, so thanks!
You really are a great repairman ! I love your videos, I learn a LOT from them ! Thank you!
Nice troubleshooting techniques throughout the 2 videos of this MCS 3233. Good job!
Buy you deoxit fader in green can that is made for potentiometers so they won’t damage the film on the wipers in the potentiometers. These are safe on plastics too. Too late after you have used it. Cheaper isn’t always better in contact cleaners. I could have damaged my volume & bass / treble variables with that deoxit D5 if a had not researched it. Those are 1963 Harman Kardon potentiometers & can be damaged easy.
Patience is the key to success...and being able to read/understand a schematic don't hurt😉 Great job Aidan, sticking with the job shows character and resolve👍👍 On this unit I would have done the LED mod, easier to do and a more permanent fix but replacing with original bulbs has benefits as well $$$. This unit will make someone very happy, old school rules. Nice work diagnosing the multiple problems and fixing this unit, well done. Thanks for the video and work, my cat watched the whole show.... See ya soon.
Yeah,cool.. I did want to see the next one. Those darn capacitors,
but made for a great video on repair and testing. great work
The stuck VU meters are often freed up via heating the screw with an iron for a few seconds. No no with contact cleaner in the meters. Good troubleshooting. Really looking forward to the STK video. Those things have been the defeat of a few amps I have intended on rebuilding and sold for parts.
Educational, and at times your comments make me laugh out loud. So glad you won the battle !
Nice job, you saved another one from the scrap heap.
It sure was a problem child ,one thing after another, good job!👍
Very interesting watching both videos!!!! Thanks so much!!! Glad you gave us the second video.
Thanks! Dave from Maine!
Really enjoyed watching this series. I have a 3233 and a 3245, both of which have served me well over the years. Enjoyed learning the process...keep 'em coming!
I always recap vintage receivers. Not everyone agrees. But it's an inexpensive way to get maximum performance.
But how do you like the sound? I think it's a sleeper receiver with great sound.
Found your channel recently and love watching you hunt down issues on these beautiful classic receivers!
I'm glad you enjoy it! Thanks!
I would not trust a tech if they did not love cats. I enjoyed this one very much. Where is your "buy you a coffee" button? :)
More great detective work with Sadie's help! Thanks for another interesting video that I can use to refer to if I have the same issues with my gear.
At 9:12 when you were soldering the wires onto the little bulbs, I thought of the little "helping hands" gadget with 2 alligator clips mounted on a swiveling base. That is super helpful for soldering two loose wires together.
Excellent work sir!
hey.. great work...SADIE!!!
Great going. Very interesting, kind of like solving a mystery.
Worthy of note - don't be surprised if a meter's internal torsion-like spring shows partial collapse. It's happened to me a few times, luckily I had replacements. The symptoms are similar to what you experienced.
After everything you have done to fix this unit, it has to make you think someone was in there dinking with it. My pops had a full working system with tuner, amp, cassette, etc, in the late 70's / early 80's, and this was as good as my Marantz 2216B.
Great video. Need more troubleshooting ones like this!
These are the good videos. Thank you for making this. That's a really cool receiver. Thanks for bringing it back to life.
Nice. Now have you seen an MCS-3285? That one was made by NEC for JC Penny and it has a much better power supply and binding posts, moving coil phono, etc. On a purely aesthetic level, I think it is just awesome. Never had a chance to hear or see one in the flesh. The whole face is buttons and toggle switches with some great digital displays. I'll bet that it would be some project, just cleaning up and restoring all those switches. I'd even consider getting one working/not working if the price is low enough and the chassis/faceplate is clean. I don't need it, but I just love its looks.
👌🏻 well done!
Don’t forget to put some grease of the gears. Or at least some bar soap.
Great troubleshooting skill. I'm hoping to get better at it myself. Well done for sticking with it!!
Excellent detective work!
Increasing the voltage rating on those caps increases reliability. Per MIL Spec for high reliability , applied voltage should be 50% of capacitor rating. Even though you didn't like that receiver, to me it looks like a nice '70s era SilverFace and serviceability looked pretty good also.
Great video. My very first receiver when I was in high school was an MSC series 3210. I still have my MCS 6400 belt drive turntable!
28:00 - My guess as to why those 2 caps failed; they were connected in reverse-polarity due to faulty markings on the circuit board (or the schematic).
Thank you for showing your work and that means this follow up video.
I have seen that issue where the bulb won't go dim when turning on a receiver with the speakers selected. Freaked me out when it first happened. I found not selecting the speakers when turning on the receiver took care of it. Using a larger bulb also would do the trick.
Great repair 👍
Great job, let us see the finished product!
Great video, thanks for sharing. Lots of work for an obscure receiver, but why not. I have that same scope.
that tuner was a great one to learn stuff on
You are one of the great electronics engineers not only on TH-cam, but in the entire World! I love the Channel so much! The presentation is great. I love the music. What I loved so much about this absolutely fantastic video, some electronics engineer will show off and strip the whole of potentiometers down to clean the controls, this can make it very difficult to assemble the controls back together again properly. Everybody should clean the controls the way you do! Love the new house!
Thanks!
Very nice work...great perseverance!
Mahalo for following up on the last one! I almost bought one of these things back in 1978, but I chose a Pioneer SX-580 instead. Looking back, I think the tone controls of this J.C.Penney machine would've nicer to have than the simpler bass and treble controls of the Pioneer... Not to mention the 15 or so more Watts of power...
Really enjoy the channel. Lots of good repairs that are easy to follow. I also have an old MCS 3233 that needs some repairs. Where did you find a schematic diagram for this unit? I have scoured the internet and can not find one anywhere. If you have a web link or some insight as to where you found one, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks and keep up the good work!
Superb work it sounds great now.
Nice work young man
OUTSTANDING sir..Great job chasing it down....I really like that you took on the challenge. Fixing the tuning meter was great....I dont recall ever seeing one stuck like that. Tracking down bad caps in the preamp, excellent. You mentioned that the receiver has a number of those in it, do they seem ok? I was just thinking gthat they could be dried out due to age...GREAT JOB again sir. Thanks for sharing !!
I forgot to add, cudios to the assistant cat, could not have done it without them...
Pure Awesomeness, thank you.
i fix meters on cb radios all the time ,,was going to tell you but your smart on what to do....keep up the good work
Good job Sir, thanks for sharing.
Great video!, those pesky caps !!
Nice troubleshooting! I share your attitude towards electrolytic capacitors, measure, then change if bad ones. If several of same type are bad, change these. And, the shorted, black-spot ceramic in the first video was strange. Must have been stressed, or a bad part from the start. If a power spike, the diodes would likely also have been bad
GREAT JOB!! NEVER GIVE UP !!!!!!
brilliant video thankyou,keep up the good work 😁
Great job dude! Really cool looking receiver. It would be nice to find a higher wattage one.. They'd be total sleepers. 😎
I was really surprised the lamps were not socketed. On a few of the Pioneers I have worked on, the sockets became dry rotted and crumbled to the touch. Good thing that didn't happen with these. I would have opted for LEDs if possible, but your call. Great video as usual!
Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.
Tone defeat takes all tone and loudness filters out of the circuit, so, the volume is going to be lower than with the tone circuit is connected in circuit!
Good job, glad you stuck it out
Looks like Marantz tried to make a unit like Pioneer and ended up a MCS
Nicely done! I admire your can-do bias, nothing fazes you. I was particularly interested in this video, because not much is said about JCPenney's short-lived Modular Component System equipment. I remember seeing them in the store window of my local JCPenney (like 45 years ago!). I remember the sales person telling me that Panasonic made the series for Penney's, but I've since read that multiple OEMs made different components.
Thanks for the follow-through, as well. I watched the first one and had hoped to see you complete the job.
Are you offering these for sale on eBay or some other outlet? If not, you'll need to rent a separate garage for all the equipment you're fixing!
Thanks for working through this one. Good job!
Hi.I like your troubleshooting and your work on all typs of amps. One amp typ I have not seen you do
Is from yamaha. From Brian w.germamy
Looking good...thanx again..
Very good video. I am considering buying a 2325 to repair. Where did you say you get your dial lamps from?
What a great looking thing.
Fantastic! Way to persevere!
Great video! Where do you find the schematics?
Great Job! Do you ever put any of these up for Sale once you have them Awesome Again?
Nice rebuild. Identify one problem after another, correct each one systematically. How much would the total fee on this run, both parts and labor?
Impressive skill set. Do you work on send in orders?
Good job.
Want to work on another mcs? lol. Having an issue with my digital station matching my analog station read out. Any suggestions or I can send you a MCS 3236.
Lot of work!
Thank you good video 👍
do you sell any of your repaired items?
Great!!! Thanks.
Hello i have the same model amp but I am not getting sound from the right channel of the amplifier. Only speaker B output is working. please help me
Good troubleshooting. This amplifier should also have all caps replaced because, unfortunately, once it start, they go bad like dominos.
I have a this unit from Original owner. How much would you charge for tuneup? It functions but might need a good cleaning
👍👍👍
So, how does it sound compared to the similar pioneer SX 630/750 amps? Seems to have a lot of the same components