JacTaylor
On the lam
Hey Everyone,
Just wanted to say hello and come out from the shadows. I've been following everyone for a few months now. With all the great information available, I thought the least I could do would be to pay my dues and sign up as a member.
I've always been an audio enthusiast. I used to work at Red Lobster back in the mid 70s for a $1.90/hr and saved up about a 4 weeks pay for a Sanyo cassette with Dolby (cost extra). About four years ago I became interested in Sonos wireless audio products but couldn't really afford them. So I purchased some on the Bay and eventually learned how to swap boards and replace the ram on the boards. This allowed me to acquire the Sonos amps and speakers for the house with little investment. Actually made a few sheckels.
Then in September of last year I purchased a MCS 3260 from CL. The seller wasn't home, it was sitting on the front porch with two speakers. I just left the $30 in an envelope, loaded up and left. After opening it up and blowing out the dust bunnies and learning about deoxit, I sold it and kept the speakers. With that success, the next week I bought a Yamaha CR420 locally, one owner and thought this is nice, clean and a little deoxit, sounds good. Okay, this is all I need. My foray into vintage stereo has peaked.
WRONG! That was gone in three weeks. Blew through a Sansui 771 and 2000a, then picked up a Marantz 4270 right before Christmas. This is where the HOOK was set. It had a pop on shutoff, the preamp/amp RCAs were loose in the back and the source tape and tape 1/2 buttons on the end were bent out. Reading Tom's (catrafter) advice, I boldly went where I shouldn't had. I ordered the suspect transistors and went ahead and purchased caps, too. Wow, for a first try, this thing is packed like a sardine. Again following advice to access the power supply, somehow after a few pads disappearing which gave it the appearance of a tube amp underneath, I got it back together working. Still had the pop, just glad it was running. Then I got to thinking, I had adjusted the bias, idle current and voltage regulator according to the SM but still had the pop and R808 would fry an egg with 30 Vdc running through it. Then I realized I had only adjusted the rear and not the front. Adjusted the front and the pop disappeared along with the heat in R808 (down to 9.6 Vdc). The tape push buttons were bent due to a ghost from the past replacing the screw in the front foot with one about 2 inches too long. Woohoo, got so excited I bought a cabinet from Joe (AK Asaalah). I think this will be a keeper. That’s the problem, they are all becoming keepers!
With this success, I purchased a Kenny 9600 and a 9400. These are like popping the hood on a 64 Impala compared to that 4270 which is more like a 2018 Impala. Thanks to Echowars (Glenn), hopjohn, markthefixer and blhagstrom to name a few, I've learned a great deal about electricity. Mostly to respect it! I'm a professor of biochemistry and cancer researcher by trade and have worked with radioactivity for years. Analogous to electricity, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it can't cause damage to cells (myocardial cells in this case). I have successfully done the power switch mod and the power regulator resistor mod for the 9600 and really tickled to death with the big Kenny.
Working at the bench in science is vastly different than electronics in many ways yet similar in many ways, too. With the help of this community the success rate with electronics is much much higher than molecular biochemistry and cancer experiments.
Thanks again and it's an honor to be part of such a generous and knowledgeable group. Receivers are starting to stack up now. I'm officially hooked and looking forward to my next fix.
Jac
Just wanted to say hello and come out from the shadows. I've been following everyone for a few months now. With all the great information available, I thought the least I could do would be to pay my dues and sign up as a member.
I've always been an audio enthusiast. I used to work at Red Lobster back in the mid 70s for a $1.90/hr and saved up about a 4 weeks pay for a Sanyo cassette with Dolby (cost extra). About four years ago I became interested in Sonos wireless audio products but couldn't really afford them. So I purchased some on the Bay and eventually learned how to swap boards and replace the ram on the boards. This allowed me to acquire the Sonos amps and speakers for the house with little investment. Actually made a few sheckels.
Then in September of last year I purchased a MCS 3260 from CL. The seller wasn't home, it was sitting on the front porch with two speakers. I just left the $30 in an envelope, loaded up and left. After opening it up and blowing out the dust bunnies and learning about deoxit, I sold it and kept the speakers. With that success, the next week I bought a Yamaha CR420 locally, one owner and thought this is nice, clean and a little deoxit, sounds good. Okay, this is all I need. My foray into vintage stereo has peaked.
WRONG! That was gone in three weeks. Blew through a Sansui 771 and 2000a, then picked up a Marantz 4270 right before Christmas. This is where the HOOK was set. It had a pop on shutoff, the preamp/amp RCAs were loose in the back and the source tape and tape 1/2 buttons on the end were bent out. Reading Tom's (catrafter) advice, I boldly went where I shouldn't had. I ordered the suspect transistors and went ahead and purchased caps, too. Wow, for a first try, this thing is packed like a sardine. Again following advice to access the power supply, somehow after a few pads disappearing which gave it the appearance of a tube amp underneath, I got it back together working. Still had the pop, just glad it was running. Then I got to thinking, I had adjusted the bias, idle current and voltage regulator according to the SM but still had the pop and R808 would fry an egg with 30 Vdc running through it. Then I realized I had only adjusted the rear and not the front. Adjusted the front and the pop disappeared along with the heat in R808 (down to 9.6 Vdc). The tape push buttons were bent due to a ghost from the past replacing the screw in the front foot with one about 2 inches too long. Woohoo, got so excited I bought a cabinet from Joe (AK Asaalah). I think this will be a keeper. That’s the problem, they are all becoming keepers!
With this success, I purchased a Kenny 9600 and a 9400. These are like popping the hood on a 64 Impala compared to that 4270 which is more like a 2018 Impala. Thanks to Echowars (Glenn), hopjohn, markthefixer and blhagstrom to name a few, I've learned a great deal about electricity. Mostly to respect it! I'm a professor of biochemistry and cancer researcher by trade and have worked with radioactivity for years. Analogous to electricity, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it can't cause damage to cells (myocardial cells in this case). I have successfully done the power switch mod and the power regulator resistor mod for the 9600 and really tickled to death with the big Kenny.
Working at the bench in science is vastly different than electronics in many ways yet similar in many ways, too. With the help of this community the success rate with electronics is much much higher than molecular biochemistry and cancer experiments.
Thanks again and it's an honor to be part of such a generous and knowledgeable group. Receivers are starting to stack up now. I'm officially hooked and looking forward to my next fix.
Jac
