Topic: Any audiophiles here who know anything about vintage stereos?

[nobody]

I acquired a Marantz 1530 receiver several years back, it's worked great up until now and I love the sound quality of it. Recently it's been acting up, though. The different inputs seem to have different sound qualities and volumes, one or two are just flat out unusable. My main concern, though, is that a few weeks ago it started developing some low, rumbly, thunder-like background noise. I can hear it during quiet scenes in movies and in more ambient parts of songs.

Is this rumbling something that can be repaired by myself for cheap or should I start keeping an eye out for a new unit?

[BobbyR]

With these Vintage units things like capacitors dry out. But, let's start with simple. First you should polish up all the terminals in the back of the unit. Next get some tuner cleaner and open the case and try to clean out all of the switches and controls. Do this with the unit unplugged. Work the parts you are spraying to help loosen and flush away any crap in them.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Caig Deoxit on switches and pots, wait a while (a day or two for power caps to discharge or just discharge them with a high wattage, high resistance resistor).
Odds are the power supply has some electrolytic caps in there, if you have a soldering iron you will want to swap those out if you can get equal value caps.

That would be a good place to start, if that doesn't get it you could also have some diodes going bad, you would want to check those too, then go down the line checking capacitors in specific places where you have problems (You'll want to get a SAMS photofact schematic to help you out- or you might be able to scrounge a copy of the schematic online).

[nobody]

Huh, well I don't understand much of what you guys are telling me to do so maybe I shouldn't be trying to repair it. I guess I'll just open it up, blow the dust out, and clean up some contacts. If that doesn't do it, I guess I'll just have to replace it.

[ofreen]

Even here in Idaho there are guys who specialize in refurbing vintage audio stuff.  There's a lot of us who like to keep our old audio gear going.  I was even able to get my Phase Linear 400 amp updated locally.  In as big a town as Denver I'll bet there's somebody who could take care of your Marantz for a reasonable price.

[dave500]

i still use a sanyo dca 411 i bought new,volume pots a bit sratchy,im scared to open it up and spray contact cleaner in it.

[Duke McDukiedook]

They have different types of applicators, take a look.

http://store.caig.com/

[nobody]

I've got speaker boxes from the seventies, I tried hooking a new receiver up to them and it just sounded terrible. I just want to keep the same era receiver because it's like fine wine and cheese with those speakers. When you say "reasonable price", could you quantify that for me? I'm not even sure how to find a vintage audio repair shop.

[Duke McDukiedook]

An old TV/VCR repair shop guy would be able to fix it for you.
Odds are you will want to replace some of the capacitors on the stereo and the crossover on your speakers.

That warm sound you hear is just old capacitors, you would be suprised how much better sounding they would be with some new ones.

[BobbyR]

i still use a sanyo dca 411 i bought new,volume pots a bit sratchy,im scared to open it up and spray contact cleaner in it.

There is nothing to be afraid of. I used to buy this stuff and sell it on ebay. I worked in an audio store when I was in College so I knew the stuff.

To clean the pots is nothing. First thing you can do is turn your controls back and forth rapidly fully left and right a bunch of times and that does work for a while.

To spray down the pots you can simply unplug the unit, open the case and many times the pots have slots in them, you spray into the slots and turn the pot back and forth, that too will work for a longer period.  The stuff dries very quick so you can let it sit for 10 minutes, plug it in and see if it worked. No worries Mate.

[BobbyR]

I've got speaker boxes from the seventies, I tried hooking a new receiver up to them and it just sounded terrible. I just want to keep the same era receiver because it's like fine wine and cheese with those speakers. When you say "reasonable price", could you quantify that for me? I'm not even sure how to find a vintage audio repair shop.

Before you break out the soldering gun or whipping out your wallet, clean the pots and the connections in the rear that do corrode over time. Start with the simple stuff first.

When you hook up speakers always make sure you have them phased properly which is a fancy way to say make sure the plus and minus are the same on the speakers and the unit.

Also be careful what you plug into which input. The turntable input has a preamp since the output from a cartridge is low, a CD player etc has far more and you will get distortion.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Bobby,

I looked but I didn't see an explanation of what "pots" are??

Matthew,

I have a Marantz 2325 that is kick ass but I wouldn't mind taking it in for a good tune-up and cleaning along with some of my other original 70's stuff also. I understand there is a guy here in/around Manitou Springs that only does old stuff. I'll see what I can find out. Maybe we can both give him some business. 

[BobbyR]

Bobby,

I looked but I didn't see an explanation of what "pots" are??

Matthew,

I have a Marantz 2325 that is kick ass but I wouldn't mind taking it in for a good tune-up and cleaning along with some of my other original 70's stuff also. I understand there is a guy here in/around Manitou Springs that only does old stuff. I'll see what I can find out. Maybe we can both give him some business. 

Jerry, Pots are short for Potentiometers which is a fancy way of saying variable resistors. I have a guy here that is the best in the Country. At 16 he was senior engineer at Bozak speakers. Most of this stuff is like old Hondas. A nice vacuuming, a bit of contact cleaner and you are good to go. In 7 years of ebay trading this stuff I only used the soldering iron once.  I could even free up frozen turntable motors. I had a bench full of potions and polishes. Paid off the last of the Mortgage hustling that stuff. Anybody need an 8 track player?

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

No thanks I have one  A Pioneer H-R99 recorder with a dozen NOS TDK tapes in wrappers. Pretty good 8 track recorder. Last time I used it, it got hungry. It ate a tape and I've been too lazy to open it up in an attempt to salvage the tape. I'd sure love to clean it up and find a new belt for it.

[ofreen]

I'm not even sure how to find a vintage audio repair shop.

I googled 'vintage audio repair denver' and got a bunch of hits.

[dave500]

ive got a steam powered turntable,you really gotta shovel in coal to play 78s!seriously i still play vinal records,i have old beatles,canned heat,yellow brick road,zz top,cream,and heaps of stuff.patti smith,lou reed,led zep,black sabbath,im stuck in that 70s time warp,theres no way out of it and im glad.

[dave500]

i drive a truck for a skip/dump bin company,ive worked at this for eight years,the stuff ive picked up and kept let alone sold,a couple of years ago i retrieved a good looking older yamaha component type system,amp/tuner/tape deck,i chucked the tape deck away and found the rest to work ok,it had been an outside under cover like next to a pool situation gauging by the corrosion on the switches,i cleaned it up and got $200 at the local pawn shop.i was tempted to keep it but i have my good old faithfull unit,,im forever resurecting clean ryobi weed wackers and getting a few bucks at the pawn shop for them.

[nobody]

Yeah, I'm pretty addicted to the vintage as well. The motorcycle, the receiver, a late sixties azuki road bike (my newest pride and joy), I'd have more vintage stuff if I had more money to spend. I'm convinced I was born in the wrong era.

I guess I'll just try to clean the receiver and see if that improves anything.

[BobbyR]

Yeah, I'm pretty addicted to the vintage as well. The motorcycle, the receiver, a late sixties azuki road bike (my newest pride and joy), I'd have more vintage stuff if I had more money to spend. I'm convinced I was born in the wrong era.

I guess I'll just try to clean the receiver and see if that improves anything.

There is a real difference in Vintage gear. For one thing you pick up a 80W 70's unit a good one weighs a ton because it has real transformers. Modern gear is so light because they use a solid state switching transformer. Those old heavy transformers push through the Bass, the modern gear uses subwoofers, time delays and some other tricks to try and manufacture a sound. A quality Vintage unit was designed to deliver the whole range and the same is true of Vintage speakers. One of the problems with Vintage speakers is the cones dry out, you can have them re coned for $$$.

My personal favorite is a Yamaha Natural sound 100W pumped through some Tannoys and Bose, and I do use a subwoofer to make up for old age and abuse decreasing my hearing.

In the living Room for show I use a Denon receiver, a CD player and a Bang turntable which I never use since I do not like records, never did. Yes I know about the better sound, but they are a pain in the AZZ.

[Duke McDukiedook]

You just have to clean the needles and records  every now and then Bobby, not that tough.  

[ofreen]

You just have to clean the needles and records  every now and then Bobby, not that tough.  

There's always surface noise, no matter what you do, no matter how good a shape the disc is in.  But the thing that irked me most about LPs with their constant angular velocity is inner groove compression.  A lot of my favorite albums tend to be 'busy' toward the end, so this characteristic really shows up.  Getting rid of the distortion from inner groove compression was to me the biggest benefit of CDs.  Digital reproduction has its problems, especially with the mastering done in the early days, but I haven't listened to many LPs since about 1986.  I've still got them all though and a decent turntable.  Just don't use them much.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Yeah, I hate when the album producers try to cram too much material on a record, some of the songs towards the middle get muddied when they put too much material on a side.

Oh yeah Pearl Jam?!?! Ya like vinyl, well make some double records for your material!!!
Twenty five to Thirty minutes a side is way too damn compressed!!!!!! 

[BobbyR]

You just have to clean the needles and records  every now and then Bobby, not that tough.  

I worked in and audio boutique, one of my jobs was to maintain the records and replace the cartridges monthly. I had Discwashers, anti static gizmos, and they all had a pop in them.  I simply hate records, I have sold a 50-70 turntables on ebay.
I have a Bang sitting in the cabinet wired to nothing.  I know about the dynamic range on records etc, and I agree. Now I can put a thousand songs in my pocket. Life is good.

[dave500]

depending on the music the odd pop and crackle,so long as you dont have a stuck needle adds character to the era,for example to me drinking beer with an old canned heat record on looking outside at the trees is perfect,ive got the world in a jug,life is good.

[techy5025]

I actually watched a laserdisk the other night. Talk about a technology that died overnight! 

Jim

[nobody]

Laserdiscs were nothing special, just a giant cd. They were about as groundbreaking as the sega dreamcast.

[Duke McDukiedook]

In the 70's they were kind of a big deal.

[techy5025]

Laserdisks had much better video then any version of VHS or Beta. Plus, the later ones had digital audio. The one hour max/side was limiting, but my player plays both sides without having to turn the disk over. Still, they can't compare to DVD much less blueray.

Jim

[nobody]

I guess you raise some valid points there.

[Duke McDukiedook]

I still have a DVD/LD Pioneer Elite player, not as good sound as my Theta Data II though.