pustelniakr
03-04-2008, 02:14 PM
I hate to follow a hack technician. Their results are generally like the proverbial box of chocolates (you never know what you are going to get). I have been sitting on this beautiful Pioneer SX-950 for about 2 years, waiting for the right time to bring it up to full steam. It is cosmetically pristine, but the FM sounds like __________.
It is finally time to open her up and I'm encouraged, the FM front end was pretty much out of alignment, but dialed in nicely. I get up to tweaking the IF transformer, and I find the reason for the season: a messed up IF transformer. The slugs would not move. I was finally able to get the top slug to move (it had been driven tight against the bottom slug). However, the bottom slug just would not move, so I decided to take the transformer out for some intimate moments. Lo and behold, the bottom slug was fractured and driven into the bottom of the tranny. Since the transformer has not been available for over 10 years, that stinking $.50 slug just became worth about $600. I had to finish breaking up the fractured slug to get it to let go of its hiding place.
Here is where over 125 pieces of old broke audio gear, stacked up all over the house, comes in handy. I found that the Pioneer TX-7500 tuna uses the same IF tranny. I remove the top slug from the 7500 tranny, and behold, it is only 2/3 the length of the top slug I took out of the 950. The hack had fractured the top slug too, and replaced it with what he had laying around :sigh:
Once I got a chance to view the underside of the tuner board, I saw further evidence of "hacking". Nothing I can't find or reverse...lets just say he left a bread-crumb trail.
So I took both slugs from the 7500 and in they went, to the 950. The tranny went back in, and the alignment went smooth as silk. Now she sings so pretty, it is simply amazing. The only problem is: now I have a perfectly good TX-7500 that is a paper-weight, since her slugs are now missing :no: Time to peel the eyes...
Enjoy,
Rich P
PS. Pics will be forthcoming, once I get the SX-950 fully restored, recapped, and re-assembled. She really is cosmetically pristine, which is rare for these, in this day and age.
.
.
.
It is finally time to open her up and I'm encouraged, the FM front end was pretty much out of alignment, but dialed in nicely. I get up to tweaking the IF transformer, and I find the reason for the season: a messed up IF transformer. The slugs would not move. I was finally able to get the top slug to move (it had been driven tight against the bottom slug). However, the bottom slug just would not move, so I decided to take the transformer out for some intimate moments. Lo and behold, the bottom slug was fractured and driven into the bottom of the tranny. Since the transformer has not been available for over 10 years, that stinking $.50 slug just became worth about $600. I had to finish breaking up the fractured slug to get it to let go of its hiding place.
Here is where over 125 pieces of old broke audio gear, stacked up all over the house, comes in handy. I found that the Pioneer TX-7500 tuna uses the same IF tranny. I remove the top slug from the 7500 tranny, and behold, it is only 2/3 the length of the top slug I took out of the 950. The hack had fractured the top slug too, and replaced it with what he had laying around :sigh:
Once I got a chance to view the underside of the tuner board, I saw further evidence of "hacking". Nothing I can't find or reverse...lets just say he left a bread-crumb trail.
So I took both slugs from the 7500 and in they went, to the 950. The tranny went back in, and the alignment went smooth as silk. Now she sings so pretty, it is simply amazing. The only problem is: now I have a perfectly good TX-7500 that is a paper-weight, since her slugs are now missing :no: Time to peel the eyes...
Enjoy,
Rich P
PS. Pics will be forthcoming, once I get the SX-950 fully restored, recapped, and re-assembled. She really is cosmetically pristine, which is rare for these, in this day and age.
.
.
.