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Luxman suckface "repair"

jhoyt

jhoyt

Incomprehensible space llama
So, I'm looking at some of my surplus gear, and my Luxman LX-104 catches my eye. The face sucked as recently as a year ago, when the unit actually belonged to a friend. In the meantime, I acquired it, and the face quit sucking. So last night I tore it down, as the previous owner said you had to take it quite a bit apart to access the mechanism. I was hoping to find a worn out belt, but 'twas not to be. These use a gear-driven cam that actuates against a bar secured to the chassis itself. It appeared that a tiny gear had stripped, so there was no fix. Instead, I decided to make it "permasuck"; so I bent a paperclip into proper shape to hold the face in the sucked position. Completely un-doable, and didn't have to damage or tweak anything in the process.

LESSONS I LEARNED:
1. Suckface is very cool, but is nearly impossible to service.
2. Luxmen (or at least this one) are very difficult to service in general. Wire routing is abyssmal at best, criminal at worst.
3. For a high-powered amp, the internal speaker wiring is tiny--maybe 18 gauge.
4. Free is good.
5. It's really fun to say "suckface".
 
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I too have been bitten by the Suckface and I'm the proud owner of both an LX 101 and 103. I have been deep into each of them and I'm happy to say both units have been repaired and the faces do indeed suck as they should. All of the Luxman "suckers" I've see have a belt drive and the belt had failed. Here is a link of some minor documentation I posted exposing the belt and the innner workings of the Suckface mechanisim.

You should try to get your Suckface sucking again, as that feature is one of the more unique in vintage audio.

Look at post #7

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=91841&highlight=suckface
 
It usually starts out as a passionate kiss, then......

Oh, you mean as in Luxman!
The faceplate around the knobs on these units actually moves in and out to reveal the knobs when they are used, then moves outward to be even with the end of the knobs to make the area totally smooth and harder to operate said knobs. Kinda the opposite of the knobs on car stereos that can push into the unit. I don't have any pics, but I am sure some members do. I also suck at explaining things, like said luxmans.
 
dread31 said:
What in the world is "suckface"?
Click to expand...

Here is a link to TVK's info on the Suckface.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/LUXMAN/RX103/RX103.html

P1010457Medium-1.jpg
 
Oh, okay, now I get it.

Weird.

Strange i don't remember that.
Those were my early years in audio.
I have a Luxman turntable from that era-the PD264.
 
Must be the season....someone brought a 104 in with weak tuner and stuck suckface for repair this week.
 
I own both of the units pictured. I got the LX 101 first based on a former AK member's recommendation of its sonic qualities. Once I got the 101 tuned up and running I was very impressed with it, especially considering it is only 40 wpc and set out to get the TOTL 103 figuring more of a good thing.

As much as I was impressed with the 101, the 103 sounds hollow and lifeless. Not bad, but not memorable. The unit was in spec as far as the DC offset and bias are concerned.
 
Well, I'll be jiggered! It sho' nuff be a belt! When I saw that "transfer case" I thought sure it was loaded with tiny watch-work-like gears. My biggest problem, though, was the placement of the circuit boards. They prevented me from accessing the suckface actuator like I wanted to. I suppose I would have to do a complete teardown, and that's not happening any time soon, unless I get laid off from work.

Bigears, thanks for your input!
 
I was quite shocked as well when I found the belt in that case. Like you, I was certain it contained a series of gears, which I expected to find broken. I have local source for the belt if you ever need it.
 
Yeah I did a repair on a Luxman K101? tape deck. Never understood why they hid a belt in that planetary gear set. It was a breeze to replace the belt once I had that cylinder out of the mech, but it was a b**** to get the cylinder out in the first place. Used a reasonably fitting belt from a VCR kit to fix it. Mindblowingly clever when it works though. The "wow/cool" factor makes it worth it.
 
belt size for Suckface

Does any body know what is the size of the belt for Suckface. I also need the cam driven micro switch that controls this Suckface. I don't know why mine is broken.
 
I replaced the belt on my rx-101 about a year ago..........and it sucked.

Now it's not working again. Sounds like the belt is slipping.

Make sure you don't get grease anywhere near that belt or you'll be doing the job all over again.
 
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