Fisher 400 CX2 Rebuild

Vinylcafe

Linvin' the Dream
I feel very fortunate to have this pre-amp; pretty dear but really in museum quality condition.

So when it came to rebuilding I had to decide whether to take the Michael Samra approach (see link) or try keep it more original.

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/vintage/messages/17/171822.html

Decided on as original as possible, so restuffed all 3 can caps with Panasonic and Nichicon caps of the same value.

I first taped them up, used a pipe cutter to open them at the point where the can meets the base.

From there restuffed with a ground wire sneaking out the side to meet one of the grounded twist tangs under the chasis.

From there used gorilla glue to close back up and used a silver Sharpie to paint the exposed glue silver.

Think they turned out pretty well. If you look at the wiring at the bottom, it looks original.

Got a kit from Jim Mcshane and added a bit to it myself. Have not replaced all the resitors he sent me and I also found 10 Black Gate caps (reasonably priced) to throw in where they sit in the audio path.

All electrolytic capacitors have been replaced and some others as well.

I still may throw in some Russian PIOs but the last two I put in didn't work, so I flipped in some Mullard "tropical fish" ones for fun.

There is a BIG mistake in the parts list on the big 7 watt resistor (R 53) that killed me - threw out the part before reading the value on it, and went by the list.

Turns out is should be 10 ohms and not 10K ohms! No end of grief, but finally got it right (7.5 ohms) and all the voltages on the high voltage side are bang on. As you can see threw in a thermistor as well.

Most all tubes are Telefunken with the exception of the phono section tubes; they are RCA red dot black plates. The recitfier tube is Mullard.

The unit sounds phenominal, the phono section is quite a bit quieter than the one in my 500C.
It was hell getting at that section and puling it out to change the caps. Interestingly Fisher mounted the tube sockets with rubber "O" rings under them for dampening.

While I am done for now and just enjoying it, Samra's page has Russian PIO caps in a few places. I went there, but for some reason the two caps I installed sent the unit into a squeal, so put in the Mullards.
I will try get someone to test all the PIO caps before I spend any time instaling them. It would be my hope to get just a bit better base.

It's a beautiful piece and right up there with Marantz, McIntosh and HK in my view.

Got lucky with the remote control, found it on Audiogon, from a guy in Greece.

The little light lenses are all original with the facetted fronts.

Right now it's plugged into a Sony SS amp. My dream was an SA1000, but those things are now off-the-chain ridiculous.

So we will see what tubes eventually are the power side.
 

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MAN OH MAN!!!! And the REMOTE, TOO!!!! Simply gorgeous. Looks like a Christmas tree with the indicator lamps glowing.

All the Best. And if you ever want to part with the remote...
 
Mike has my 400CX now as a matter of fact.
It ain't near as pretty as that one tho'. . :drool:

Cool you got a "CX" :banana::banana:

Just kidding, I have a CX2 as well. Did that one come from the Bay ? There have been a few nice examples out there the past few months, some I was bidding on. That thing looks georgeous, mine is not cosmetically at that level but I love it just the same.

I have been thinking long and hard about what route I want to take. Thank goodness its a pre so I do not think the power supply issues are nearly as critical as in an amplifier when things go south. I went through my 400C quite heavily, you would be surprised at how good those lowly orange drops can sound. I am not sure what I will do with the CX2, my current thought is to remain relatively stock sinking most efforts into power suppl, the amount of PEC's in there swayed that thought.

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=467354&highlight=400c
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=356477&highlight=400c
 
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