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Dumbledore 64 posted:On Friday I came across a Dual 1228 table for $15, so I picked it up. The same night I saw a Sansui 881 for $30, so I picked that up this morning. I've been wanting something to occupy my time with this spring/summer so I plan to fully restore them both to pristine shape, or as close as I can get. I want to build a new wooden cabinet for the Dual as well. I am pretty excited because I hardly ever find decent gear for that kind of price. Anyway, here's my haul Nice! That 881 looks like it just came out of the box. I got an 881 out of the electronic bin at the dump and it had this horrible hum whenever it was turned on. I managed to get rid of most of it by removing the ground cable, buffing the connection and then reattaching it. There is still a little bit of hum, but I'm going to replace the caps in it and that should bring it back to perfect, plus I'm thinking of replacing the wood on it with some nice walnut. How's yours sound? Those caps are probably pretty dry by now.
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Mar 29, 2012 04:10
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I'm wondering if the hum has anything to do with the speaker outputs running along the side of the huge-rear end transformer inside of it. I'm wondering what would happen if you temporarily removed the transformer, and used temp wire extensions to hook it up while it was outside the case. Then again, 40 year old caps could easily be the culprit, but some people say the hum is still there after the change.
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Mar 29, 2012 21:26
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You wouldn't happen to have a link handy?
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Mar 30, 2012 01:50
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Is $100 a good deal for a working Dual 506 turntable? Yes/No?
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Apr 6, 2012 04:25
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Well I finally did it! I finished re-capping my Sansui 881. 72 Caps, and a whole heap of solder later, and the beast is good for another 38 years of audio bliss. It might just be my ears playing tricks on me, but I'm positive I can now turn the stereo's volume up another 20% before hearing a slight hiss. Apparently some guy managed to get his 881 almost hiss free by using additional shielding on the speaker terminal wires and twisting them since they run so close to the transfomer. It's also pretty cool to see the difference in caps from 1974 and now. A 10,000uF 50 Volt cap from today is smaller than a 1,000uF 50 Volt cap from 1974.
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May 24, 2012 14:45
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Dumbledore 64 posted:drat Thousands if you factor in delivery time.  Only about 4-5 hours tops, and it was pretty easy. . . oh look what I have here! All the caps needed to recap a Sansui 881! Just order the first result from Digikey that doesn't require you to order a batch of 2000 minimum.  Caps in Orange are "high quality" ones, or at least not the cheapest ones available at the time. I decided to play it safe (even though todays caps are better than whatever they had) and ordered Panasonic FM or FC caps. The process itself is pretty easy. Remove the old cap, replace the new one in its place. Rinse and repeat!
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May 24, 2012 18:58
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Dumbledore 64 posted:Awesome. I am mostly worried about taking it all apart and forgetting how to reassemble it. Especially worried about messing up the tuner alignment. Did you have to remove all the boards and work on them while removed? Just do one cap at a time. There are 72 of them, and once you get into a groove, it's pretty easy. Get a decent soldering iron, and the thin solder wire from Radio Shack/The Source. Remove a cap (while noting the placement and direction its negative terminal is pointing), then replace it with the new one, then snip the excess terminal leads. You don't have to do anything drastic. There are only two cover plates inside that you have to take out, one removal cct board that slides in like a PCIE/AGP card, and the faceplate to get access to one board that you unscrew. There isn't a single board that you have to desolder, and most everything is pretty accessable. Only tricky thing is replacing the two big power caps, and removing the input select board wich takes a minute or less. When you get stuck, just send me a PM or even better, post in this thread so others can help out.
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May 24, 2012 19:17
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I'm pretty sure I can turn up the volume around 20% more before hearing that his from a few feet away. Mostly it was just time. Those caps are 38 years old, and not getting any younger. People say that the 881 hiss never goes away, but apparently someone got it to go away by using better shielded cables from the CCT board to the speaker outlets. Something to do with that huge rear end transformer squeezing the speaker wires against the case. Good luck!
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May 25, 2012 01:10
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Pick up some wires and an old cct board (discarded modem or Ethernet card) and get practicing until you're good at it! Right before I recapped my stereo I did that exact same thing on an old PCI modem and a sound card. Only took a few minutes to get back into the swing of things and feel confident enough to do it. Also check out some youtube videos on soldering.
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May 25, 2012 13:14
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Paperweight posted:The best way to improve your soldering ability is to get a soldering station that is worth using in the first place. Anything sold by Radio Shack is complete junk. Their solder is okay but their irons are the worst possible thing to use next to one of their soldering guns. Anything made by Weller or Hakko is pretty good. Right here! Don't cheap out and get a $4.00 soldering iron from the dollar store! Only reason I said Radio Shack is that they usually only stock two kinds of solder, and it's the thinner stuff you want (0.8mm.0.032"). Unless you're planning on soldering every day, a bare-bones Weller iron is going to be great, and that's what I used to redo my 881.  It's $30 in Canada, so probably $20-25 in the US, and around £460 if you live in the UK. It's a nice unit, and as cheap as you would probably want to go. Last thing you want is an iron that loses all its heat every time you touch some solder.
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May 27, 2012 15:32
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Get the TV off it's perch, put the other speaker on the shelf, and put the turntable that's on the floor where the TV was.
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May 28, 2012 00:56
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minivanmegafun posted:Why do I need two turntables, in particular one that's a lovely Sony P-Mount? 2 Turntables means that you have the option of switching to another record when the first one is finished with only the flick of a switch or two, no fumbling with that LP, then swapping with another. Or if you don't really care about that sort of thing, "It's a turntable on the floor! who cares if it's a crappy unit, get it away from those dust bunnies, your feet, and an overzealous vacuum attachment!" It's your place and stuff, do whatever you want. Retarded Pimp posted:Even if you want FM, go for the Marantz and get a tuner later, that's a sweet unit. Some good advice here. Even if it's not one of their high-end units, or even a "middle of the road" unit, it's still a Marantz, and people are willing to pay more than they are actually worth just for the name and the vintage look*. Hold on to it for a few years and sell it when you see something you really want. The price of these vintage units is only going to go up. *can you really even call it a Marantz without the "gyro-touch" tuner?
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May 28, 2012 13:12
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Retarded Pimp posted:Or you could recap those 40 year old capacitors and see what it really sounds like. Beauty of 70's audio equipment, you don't need 11 year old slaves from a Foxconn factory to repair it. Solder joints are visible to the naked eye and most of the parts are an eBay or Digikey login away. Only took me a few hours to recapp my 881, and not it's read for another 38 years of use. Retarded Pimp posted:*Yes, anything from the Saul & Superscope era is great, the amps, pre's and turntables were all quality, even their low end stuff. When it was sold to Phillips is when it Same story as Sansui. Now it's just a label they slap on no-name WalMart LCD-TVs.  I saw some Marantz stereos and turntables from the mid-late 80's and early 90's and just lifting them told me enough about their quality. One turntable was 99% plastic, and proudly showing the "Marantz" logo on the front. Thing weighed 1/2 a pound and had the suspension from a HotWeels racer and a needle that appeared to have been made from a shard of a soda can.There's a reason why even mid-low end stuff from the 70's sells for a decent price, quality, durability, and not using slave labour and the cheapest materials available.
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May 28, 2012 17:09
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nrr posted:Good to see you not losing your mind over Clod for a change, Blistex You'll notice by my posting that my interest in 70 Audio equipment really took off after I decided to let the CLOD thread die the slow, pitiful death it deserves.
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May 29, 2012 01:04
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Dumbledore 64 posted:drat Here, made this easy for you if you go the digikey route. All the part numbers and amounts are there. 
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May 29, 2012 13:18
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1985 seems to be the general "Quality->lovely" period where all those companies either got bought out or decided that they would start trying to make everything as cheaply as they could, or just pay a crummy no-name company to let them put their logos on their crap. Butter Soup: that's a decent unit that I'm sure will serve you well with a little work. Like was mentioned, clean up all the pots and buttons with some Deoxit or any other contact cleaner that's "plastic safe". You can pick up cheaper stuff at any automotive supply store that will do the same thing as Deoxit and not break the bank. Another thing to try is re-flowing the solder joints on the grounds to each board. There might also be grounds that are just wired and attached with a screw to some CCT boards or the receiver frame. Spraying some contact cleaner on a Q-Tip and cleaning these contact points and then re-tightening those connections could make a difference in noise. My current receiver was a dump find, and had a horrible buzzing when I first got it. re-flowing and cleaning up connections fixed that. Finally, like mentioned above, re-capping might be a good idea as well. Those caps are probably all dried out and some might even show signs of rupturing or bulging. 1970's capacitors are not as good as the stuff we get today, and a re-capping job will only take you a few hours and $20-30, but will make your receiver ready for another 30+ years of use. It's really not that hard to do. I'm no soldering whiz, but I managed to recap my 881 in about 4 hours total. One thing that you should remember if you choose to do this is that some manuals are not accurate when it comes to the different electronic components. A stereo model might go through a slight change and they won't update the parts list of the CCT diagram. My stereo has a few instances of that, as well as a mislabeled cap in the manual as well. Visually identify and record all the caps, then order them. When you are ready to recap, remove one at a time (while remembering how it was oriented) and then replace it. Rinse and repeat. As for turntables, pretty much what Ron just said, and you could add Sansui to the list. Check Audio Karma or some other review sites before picking them up. Duals are quite popular and are likely the ones you're most likely to encounter that are both decently priced and quality pieces of kit. Just make sure you don't get later models of them as they were bought out by Chinese and Korean companie, or any others that went the "crap" route. Marantz were always about quality, but they got bought out and went cheap and tried to coast on their name for as long as they could. I picked up a Marantz TT4200 (as in physically picked up, not bought) and it was a piece of light, plastic, rattling poo poo. A good rule of thumb is wood base = 1970's. The 1970's were pretty much the high-water mark of audio equipment, where companies could make units using quality components and labour, and still make a profit. Right now I'm in the process of rebuilding a Dual 510 that was in pieces, full of mouse nests, the cover scratched, motor not working and, the particleboard base warped and falling apart. I've got it cleaned, and the motor working now. Trying that with anything made in the mid 80's-now would be a lost cause as they were made of metal that would easily corrode, and cheap components. Just a warning, and I'm sure most will agree. Once you start down the vintage audio path, there is no going back!
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Jun 13, 2012 13:49
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Paperweight posted:One thing to remember when replacing old caps with newer ones is the lead spacing. The old caps are physically larger than capacitors made now. Measure the lead spacing and try to find replacements that match. You may need to go for higher voltage caps so they will sit down on the board nicely. Graham Slee insists that higher voltage caps actually sound better and they will last longer if used at a lower voltage anyway. I was told to watch out for this when recapping my 881 and luckily I didn't have an issue until it came to a 3 terminal, 1,000uF cap (one terminal is just for support) and two 10,000uF caps that had a special brackets holding them in place. For the most part all your regular "through hole" caps that you're going to be replacing are 1/2 the size of the 1970's versions, but the terminal spacing 99% of the time isn't an issue. Still, this is good advice, and if you see a strange size cap, be mindful.
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Jun 13, 2012 15:28
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Butt Soup Barnes posted:Sorry for all the posts, but I'm going to meet up with the guy this afternoon and he's going to demo it all for me. What should I be keeping an ear out for in regards to both the turntable and receiver? Scratchiness when turning dials. Making sure that left and right channels work on all modes (FM/AM/Phono/AUX) Is the turntable balanced, will it balance? Is the turntable playing at the correct speed. (take an LP you know well) Obvious damage, smell of melted electronics Burnt out lights Unresponsive needles. Making sure all speaker outputs work. Testing all inputs. That's all I've got.
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Jun 14, 2012 17:03
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Not an Anthem posted:It takes 1/2hr per record side alone and the insane cost of wood glue. You could yknow, wash your records for a lot less. You're right in that it's totally impractical to do to an entire collection, but it's amazing how it can turn a unique thrift store/garage sale find into a record you can actually stand to listen to. I found a copy of Dark Side of the Moon that was encrusted and looked to be scratched. After the wood glue I found out it wasn't scratched and in decent condition. I can listen to a record that would have otherwise been a write-off with most conventional cleaning methods. In other news, I've begun to disassemble a Dual 510 turntable, and holy poo poo does that sucker have a lot of parts. I've been taking photos every step of the way to keep track of where everything goes, but it's still a crapshoot. I've managed to get a lot of the parts cleaned, but the metal tray that everything sits on has surface rust. Going to try sanding it and spraying it. Going to have to get pretty creative with the painter's tape as well. Now that I have a dovetail joiner I can't wait to try making a new base for it! Thinking walnut. Blistex fucked around with this message at 15:04 on Jun 19, 2012 |
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Jun 19, 2012 14:52
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Just wanted to say that Deoxit isn't the only product out there either. Any contact cleaner will work, and usually better as they have more of the active ingredient that cleans. Just check the can to make sure it says glass/plastic safe and oil free. Deoxit is overpriced because they're shooting for a niche market and know that they will pay more for a product that they perceive is the only one they can use. Just check out your nearest auto-product store (NAPA/Princess Auto/etc.) and look for contact cleaners. These are also great places to pick up headlight polishing kits to redo the acrylic dust covers on your turntables. Also caps and solder can look perfectly fine and still be issues. My Sansui 881 had a horrible hum, and all I had to do to get rid of 80% of it was reflow a solder joint that the grounding wire was in. It looked secure, nice and shiny, but the instant I reflowed the joint the difference was amazing. I got rid of an additional 15% of the hum by replacing the caps. They all looked fine, no corrosion or bulging, but they dry out over time.
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Oct 22, 2012 16:57
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Dump day is usually a happy day for me. I get to get rid of smelly things that are in my house, and sometimes I find treasures like a Sansui 881 reciever, some nice vintage speakers, a working PC, or RAM I can put in my slow-rear end work PC. Today though, it was a sad day. A pic to start things off.  The way our dump is set up is there is a large concrete ledge that you drive your car/truck up to. You then throw your garbage into various bins ~15 feet below. There is a household garbage bin, a compostables bin, a recyclables bin, and scrap metal bin. They're set up in this manner so that people just have to throw them down. And even if the bin is nearly full, it's easy to throw your trash to the far side so the bin gets filled up easily. There is also an electronics bin that is an enclosed box with a sliding door that goes on and off the back of a large truck. About the size of the U-Haul trucks. These are the only accessible bins in the dump, and people can go in them to deposit their old electronics. This is great because the stuff isn't thrown 15' down, and everything is out of the rain and elements, so if something good gets tossed in there, it won't get ruined by the weather. On to the story. I go there, pull up and deposit my various trashes to the appropriate bins. I walk over to the electronics bin to see if there is anything good. Nothing. I'm heading back to my car when I hear "fratboy-esq" shouting and cheering. I get to the household bin in time to see three guys launching a large CRT tv into it. I was just about to tell them that it was the wrong bin, but though better as their truck was already empty, and there was no way for them to get their stuff out and put it in the right bin. I peer over and see a metal bed frame, two CRT computer monitors, an old Dell PC, a microwave, and the large CRT tv sitting on top of a metallic stereo receiver that looked like a crushed pop can. I then glimpsed this, and had to look away. I asked the nearest guy, "Hey, that stereo down there, did it still work?" To which he replied, "Yah, but there was no way to hook my iPod into it". It's the tuning dial to a very nice Marantz receiver 
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Nov 19, 2012 04:41
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MichiganCubbie posted:I totally would have been like "Dude, that thing is worth like a thousand bucks." just to see the reaction. I was utterly heartbroken when I saw it down there. When he said it worked I honestly had no words. I think I might have even made a, "pffffft" sound out of sheet bewilderment. If I could have gotten down to it, I probably could have sold the dials for $100 on ebay.
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Nov 27, 2012 01:13
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Kaluza-Klein posted:The tone arm moves effortlessly throughout its range. As long as it is within the range of the specified weights, it should be fine. A lot of people damage their records by trying to go as light as possible, resulting in the needle bouncing around in the grooves. They think, "lighter will result in less wear" but going heavier can also result in less wear as well. Naturally you can go too far one way and too far the other. Unfortunately, given the medium, you're always damaging your records since you're essentially dragging a diamond along soft plastic.
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Dec 16, 2012 17:23
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So I've finished restoring a Dual 510 turntable, but it needs a bit of a push-start to get up to the proper speed. The motor, even when the rubber belt is not hooked up to the platter makes a bit of a wearing noise.What's the process of cleaning and lubing it. I've already taken it apart into the 4 different pieces. It's a pretty simple unit, I just need to know where to spray the contact cleaner, where to lube, and maybe any other fluids (bodily or otherwise) that need to be added to the mix. Awesome diagram: 
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Dec 18, 2012 21:18
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eggsovereasy posted:For what it's worth, my AR ES-1 had similar problems in that I had to push start the platter to get it going and the motor made a knocking noise. I replaced the belt and it can now start on it's own and the motor is dead quiet. Brand new belt, so that's not the issue sadly. Ron Burgundy posted:The main oil points for these motors are below the belt pulley where the shaft enters the motor housing. Ensure you get no oil on the pulley itself as this will mess with the speed from slipping. The other is the motor spindle bearing at the bottom. There is two screws on the bottom cover that give access to the shaft. Use something more viscous than 3 in 1 here, bearing grease if you've got some handy. Ok, will have to give it a try. Thanks.
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Dec 19, 2012 02:07
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The Leon Hikari posted:It's the same problem I have. I keep buying these vintage stereo amplifiers because they're cheap and I love cleaning them up and seeing how they work. Plus, it's a good investment I feel: there's always going to be people out there willing to buy this hardware if I keep it clean and in good shape. Exactly! Vintage audio equipment is only getting more and more expensive, and even stuff that you wouldn't expect to really fetch more than a few bucks is going for enough to make it worthwhile. A friend found a mint Sears Electronics stereo in a thrift store for $5. It was a mid-70's unit, but really light, crappy components, and not really a great sounding unit. Basically, it was the cheapest thing you could buy at the time that passed for HI-FI. He cleaned it up, put it on eBay and got $100. The buyer wanted it because that exact model was his first stereo he ever bought. Sometimes it's not the actual unit, but the nostalgia that makes it worthwhile. If I knew what I know now, back in the early-mid 90's and not been a pre-teen with no money I'd have gone door to door picking up and buying people's old stereos. Apparently around then everyone was throwing them in the trash because they didn't play CDs. A guy I know said that at one time he had 10 Marantz systems, just as many Pioneer, and another 10 quality units from people who were going out and buying lovely Sony CD Players. He could have had more, but since there were so many being given and thrown away, he only took the ones that sold for over $500 back when they were new. He said he sold most of them from 1993-1997, and charged $50 each. He said if he had thrown some desiccant packets in them, wrapped them up and put them in the attic and sold them now, he could have paid for the first two years of his daughter's BA. If you have the money, and it's going for a decent price, snatch those vintage stereos/R2Rs/turntables up. The people who listened to those stereos when they were new are at the age where their kids are gone, and they're wondering what to spend their extra money on. Also a lot of younger people like myself are realizing how nice that vintage equipment is, and are willing to pay a bit for it. I really can't see a scenario that doesn't start with a Ron Perlman dialogue about War that would result in someone not being able to unload decent vintage equipment and walk away with money in their pocket.
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Dec 23, 2012 22:00
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BANME.sh posted:Capacitors are the electronic components on circuit boards that look like cylinders. Just a small point. Bulging caps are typically a sign of newer caps going (Dell motherboards anyone?). Older caps that you will see in electronics from the 60s to Mid-80s usually dry out instead of bulging so there won't be any signs they are going or gone (unless you test them with a multimeter). My Sansui 881 looked to have all perfect caps. There was no bulging, discharge, or corrosion visible. Once I tested a few, I saw they were or were starting to get waaaaaay out of the prescribed tolerances. Also, when you do recap a receiver or some other electronic device there are a few things to keep in mind. 1. The boards don't always have the polarity marked with the nice logo BANME.sh showed in that pic. 2. Sometimes there are empty cap slots right next to the ones you are working on, so things might get confusing. 3. Manufacturers often change their boards during a production run, but sometimes don't keep the schematics in the manual up to date. 4. "Holy poo poo what was the value of that cap I just pulled from the board!?" The process that I followed when I recapped my 881 (72 or 75 caps in total) was to examine each section or individual circuit board and write down the total number of caps, then the values of each. I made a chart in Word with the voltages, uF, and number of Caps. I rechecked a few times then ordered them from Digikey. All of this was done without taking a since cap out! When I began to replace them, I would use a red permanent market and colour the top exposed metal piece on each of the old caps on the board so it was easy to see which ones had been replaced. I would pick one cap, note it's direction, remove it, replace it, then solder it in place. That way I was less likely to get caps mixed up, I didn't have to rely on a manual with known mistakes, and I never lost track of the positions they went in. This may all seem really obvious, or maybe overly cautious, but there are tons of threads on the Audiokarma forums with guys begging for photos of obscure receiver boards because they don't have a manual and lost track of things in the excitement.
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Jan 10, 2013 16:03
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Geektox posted:Do any Canadian goons know where I can pick up a cheap-ish record player? I don't want to invest too much right off the bat, so thinking of just going with a record player straight into a 2.1 speaker system. The only brick-and-mortar store I could find that stocked one was Best Buy, and they sell the LP60 for $220 while it's only $90 or so Stateside. I could buy from Amazon but with shipping and duties it's probably going to end up ~200 anyway. Ebay, Kijiji, Craigslist, and the other usual suspects. I put a flyer up on my local Canada Post bulletin board and a guy dropped off 6 turntables on my doorstep for free. I looked for a vintage receiver and turntable for a decent price for three years without any luck. Then last year within two weeks I had both for free.
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Jan 11, 2013 02:52
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Geektox posted:Hmm, that could work, but I've looked at my local postings and found none of the recommended models in the OP. Can I just get whatever's cheapest or is there anything specific to look for? Anything from the 70's to the early 80's is usually pretty good if you want to go vintage. Around the mid 80's the different high-end manufacturers decided to have companies make their stuff cheaply, and just coast on their names. Marantz is a prime example of making solid works of art that sounded beautiful, then farming their turntables out to the cheapest bidder. Ex: Marantz turntable from the 70's  Wood, stainless steel, aluminum, heavy, quality marantz turntable from the 80's  Plastic abortion that weighs 1/2 a lb and is cheaply made Post some of the names and model numbers you are seeing posted and maybe someone will reply. Joining audiokarma is also a good idea to get feedback on stuff like this as well.
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Jan 11, 2013 15:02
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Reflow all of the ground connections on the cct boards and buff/clean any ground wires that connect with screws. This could be one possible cause.
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Jan 19, 2013 03:36
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MMD3 posted:Somebody please confirm my suspicions that this isn't a particularly great deal on this marantz 2220b for $150? If eBay is any indication, that's a good price for a nice receiver, and I'm tempted to contact the seller and see if he will ship it. . . buy it you fool so I don't spend money I don't really have!
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Jan 24, 2013 14:23
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Ron Burgundy posted:So someone is selling a Marantz 2285B on my Australian Kijiji but he wants 3 quarters of a grand for it. I know these are fantastic units, and I've seen them go for a lot more on eBay, but that really says nothing more than fools and their money. What are these things seriously worth? Your biggest problem is (as I'm sure you are well aware) your location. Australia gets my vote for being renamed "Price-Gouge-istan". Like you said, that receiver has been going for more than the listed price, and here in Canada or the US I would say, "anyone would be a fool to pay that", and to "just wait until the next one shows up at a more reasonable price". Problem being, I don't think you're going to be seeing many more of those in Australia, and even fewer for a reasonable price. If the condition is good, you have that kind of money to blow on a nice receiver, and you're sure that's the best kind of deal you're going to get on that receiver or something similar, then I'd say go for it. In the end it's your money, and your decision.
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Jan 30, 2013 03:08
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Is there any reason to change a cartridge (with no apparent damage) in a turntable rather than just giving it a good clean and using deoxit (or something cheaper) where the stylus slides in? I've got an old Dual 510 and I've ordered a new Shure stylus, but I hear a lot of people like to change the whole thing. Do cartridges wear out? I'd ask in Audiokarma, but they see spending $300 on a new cartridge as a drop in the bucket.
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Feb 26, 2013 14:57
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If you don't want to shell out for Deoxit, you can go to pretty much any automotive supply store or section and buy some manner of contact cleaner. Read the back and make sure it says "plastic safe" and "no residue". These are usually a fraction of the cost of Deoxit, and most of them have more of the active ingredient as well. I bought a cheap can of no-name contact cleaner and got all the cracking and hissing out of a volume and balance knob that was being a pain.
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Mar 3, 2013 23:09
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BANME.sh posted:I've heard horror stories of some contact cleaners corroding the inside of switch assemblies even though they said plastic safe. Specifically those inside some vintage Pioneer models. Deoxit is only ~$20 per can, it'll last you years, and won't leave any residue inside pots and switches (which can't be said for other lower grade ones), meaning your cleaning job will last. Just go with the good stuff! You can get it for even less than that, but this is more about the Deoxit "myth". Don't read if you have severe brand loyalty issues. I'm not trying to be a dick, but I've heard these tales as well and have never encountered a person who it has happened to (real life or online). It's always been "my friend knows a guy who had contact cleaner destroy his receiver", but you are never able to get a hold of this "friend of a friend". Also Caig Laboratories (makers of deoxit) used to have that very same thing posted on their site a few years ago that went something like, "...also, Doxit won't melt or dissolve plastic parts like other contact cleaners do". This is true and false at the same time because some contact cleaners are quite aggressive, and made for industrial applications, and are not made with plastic in mind (they specifically say "May harm plastic"). "Plastic Friendly/Safe/Appropriate" contact cleaners are no different than Deoxit, except they are lacking a few of the lubricating/preserving ingredients that Deoxit has, they go for 1/4 of the price of Deoxit in a can 2x the size, and you can get them anywhere (NAPA, Walmart, Radio Shack, etc.). Here in Canada Deoxit was going for $30 a shot glass, with shipping on top of that. Also Deoxit does leave a residue since it, "Acts as a unique contact cleaner, rejuvenator, conductivity enhancer, and lubricant". It also, "Fills in microscopic gaps and reseals surface for better contact to improve flow of electricity". A lot of this is just BS marketing terms that go with anything audio related, but it does leave behind a bit of lubricant and protectorate which can be beneficial if you have humidity issues in your house. Deoxit uses the same active ingredients (isohexane, & hexane) that all the cheap ones use, but they also add extra stuff. It's not like the cheaper guys are going to use the same cleaning solution and then throw in "plastic dissolver" as well. Where this probably originated from was some guy went to the local hardware store and grabbed a can of contact cleaner meant to clean car battery poles or something else that required very aggressive chemicals (electrical cleaner or brake cleaner). Plastic safe contact cleaners are fine, I find it really funny that every version of the story I have heard mentions a different brand of stereo that used to use a really susceptible plastic that reacts badly to anything but Deoxit. If I wanted to be nasty, I'd say that this rumour was started by Craig Laboratories themselves. Like I said, I don't want to be a dick, but I have yet to find a person post that "they" have had issues with a contact cleaner doing bad things to their receiver. The people saying "don't use no-names" seem to be the people at Head-Fi and Audiokarma who would literally die if they used a product that didn't give a "shout out" to Audiophiles or had a picture of a car on the can. All I'm saying is don't feel the need to wait a week for a can of Deoxit to show up in the mail as the brand in your local store does the exact same thing when it comes to cleaning, and Pioneer/Sansui/Marants/Sony didn't use a special plastic in the 70's that was super easy to melt from contact with contact cleaner, but there were POTs from the 50s that did have cardboard-like components, and even Deoxit will make short work of these as well. Sorry for the spergfest, but I've been hearing this for so long and have never been given anything other than, "I heard", or "this guy".
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Mar 4, 2013 05:09
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In the frozen wastes of Northern Ontario, Deoxit is pretty hard (and expensive) stuff to come by. If someone can cite a source where a no-name "plastic friendly" Contact Cleaner has destroyed a POT I'll be happy to delete my previous post and replace it with a 500 word essay on why Deoxit is the only CL you should ever use. Back to vintage Hi-Fi shenanigans: A friend mentioned that a coworker (a widow) was cleaning out her husband's audio stuff and one of the items that she was getting rid of was an old Pioneer receiver. My friend said that if it still worked he would take it for $50. The next day he shows up and goes to her husband's old home office. The stereo isn't a Pioneer, it's a Sansui G33,000! These suckers boast 330 watts per channel and were the high-water mark of 1970's hi-fi dickwaving! These reveivers are known to go for upwards of 7K and he offered her $100 on the spot. She said it was a deal, and he enthusiastically shook on it. I guess the widow got suspicious since he offered her 2x more than he said before, shook on it, and ran out to his car to "hit the ATM", so she naturally typed "Sansui G33,000" into her smartphone and the first result was a canuckaudiomart posting asking $4700 for it. When he got back to retrieve the stereo, I guess he got a bit of a tongue lashing and was told to take a hike, and "how dare you try and take advantage of a coworker and a widow". He's not looking forward to work on Monday.
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Mar 4, 2013 06:08
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TooLShack posted:I'm turning into a horder, I keep finding stuff. Finding stuff is fine, buying stuff can turn into a problem. Open Question: I've been seeing a lot more reel-reel units lately in pics people are posting on Audiokarma and other places (like above). Is the magnetic tape still reasonably available, or are people paying $10 a foot for the stuff from one of the last two companies on earth that still make the it? I'm having difficulty picturing audiophiles listening to songs from a magnetic source that are 20+ years old, and always figured they were recording their favourite tracks from their LPs and then doing the casual listening from the Reel to Reel to save wear on their vinyl.
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Mar 18, 2013 13:53
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DatsEvolution posted:Is there any specific things I should be checking, cleaning, replacing etc on this receiver? The caps in that thing are 37-39 years old, and I'm guessing that a lot of them are pretty much dried out and could be causing damage to other parts. This will probably run for another decade of regular use, but if you want it in the game for another 37-39 years, you're going to have to replace them.
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Mar 24, 2013 03:26
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DatsEvolution posted:Oh boy, after checking out local deals I just purchased a Dual 1209. Supposedly in full working order for 46€. I'll know more during this week when I go to collect it. Whats so bad about the Duals? I really have no knowledge about turntables and there seems to be a large amount of detailed and somewhat conflicting info and opinions on the various makes and models. Duals have a tendency to be overly complicated. Just look at the tone arm assembly, it has 3x more parts than most every other brand out there. Well I'd love to know that I've done all that is necessary to keep this thing going. Can I assume that the method described here http://www.irebuildmarantz.com/restoration/2325.html is ok to follow as far as which caps/boards are to be done? [/quote] Good guide, but don't even think of taking a cap out until you have the replacement right in your hand and you've visually verified which way it is supposed to be going. Boards and manuals are likely to have mistakes due to alterations during the production run that didn't make the documentation or were not printed on the board.
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Mar 24, 2013 16:46
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This pretty much sums up "Dual". When they work, they work amazingly, just as well as units twice their price. When they don't, god help you! I have to push-start my 510, and for the life of me I can't figure out what the problem is. Once it gets moving, the strobe says that its holding rock solid at the proper RPM, but no amount of oiling or cleaning seems to make it start itself. As soon as I get it running how it should, I'm getting a new dustcover made and I'm going to rip off the particle-board base and replace it with a dovetailed walnut one.
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Mar 24, 2013 22:54
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