SA-8800, for a song...

SA-8800, for a song...well not exactly...

I can't sing, but you know the old saying. I had to drive a bit, 135mi round trip, but hey, it's a Silver Face!

So, first thing I noticed? She was dirty. And how. But typical for such vintage equipment. I took pictures, before and after. Like many digital cameras mine will fire a burst of images and write them in it's own good time. While the images were writing (I didn't care too much how they turned out) I turned my focus to disassembly. I got the "hood" off and found cob webs inside. Wow, fortunately the swatters moved out so only had to blow out the webs. But before doing that, more images. WTF? ER.... Issues with the camera. Dang. So proceeded to clean, forgetting I could have used my phone for more images. Doh!

Anyway, after a good liberal cleaning, using electronics cleaner to loosen the "stuff" caked on the boards and components, then blowing out, then using a cloth for wiping down the larger components, the inside looked good. Yes there will be images coming. So next I washed the face plate, the knobs and whatever else needed attention. I then cleaned the top and have her all back together.

How does she sound? Well let me tell you, she doesn't. I picked her up Saturday, cleaned her up Sunday, carried her upstairs this morning, and realized I haven't a freaking place to set her up. Dang! I have to move some things around, and remove one or two receivers. Once done I'll test with cheap speakers, first, to make sure all is "safe".

Only thing left to do is find a knob. Last owner must have lost one at some point and stuck something on that works, but also crimped the split shaft, so I'll have to open that up, gently, for when I put an appropriate knob on.

Oh, how does $60 sound? $10 in fuel, so $70 total. I'm confident she'll work fine. No odors to speak of, not components looked damaged or bad. Surprisingly the knobs all operated like new, unlike all the receivers and amps I've owned, which were stiff and "sluggish" if you will.

Images, as promised

I didn't mention the jumpers were included, visible in the image of the back of the unit. I'm sure you'll agree she cleaned up nice.

I'm bummed. Left channel out.

So, hooked her up last night, no sound. Installed the jumpers and tried again. Sound from the right, no left. Played with the switches and controls, no change.

Hoping this will shed some light. Using the "Mode" selector, switching to Rev (reverse) I get sound from the left only, and left meter working. Switch back to "Stereo" and get right meter and sound from right speaker. Move to "L" and nothing, move to "L + R" sound from both speakers and both meters work, switch to "R" and again sound from both speakers and both meters work.

Not sure if this means the pre-amp is the issue or still the power amp.

I tried different cables, thinking I might have a bad set, no change.

Help, please.

somewhere around preamp ..
possibly the record switch .. or another switch or wiring
main amp must be good .. please don't go poking around in the main amp as they are rather touchy and outputs will blow without warning without the correct precautions ....

This is sometimes cured with a second serious cleaning of the switches and controls. Since both speakers will work, it is not the amp as stated. This also rules out the speaker relay which is something that needed replacement on the one I had. One speaker lost, comes back with a bump in volume, may drop out again, whatever a new relay fixed it. You have not described that kind of problem.

She's a beauty!

I had luck on an SX-750 with a similar problem. With the face removed (could probably try it with the face on) I shot deoxit into the slot of the stereo/mono switch, instead of trying to get it into the housing on the inside, and worked the switch up and down. Good luck!

I've corrected a couple receivers with electronics (deoxit equivalent) in the past. I didn't do any of the switches or pots for the simple reason they all "operated" so nicely. Most vintage equipment you can tell they need a cleaning by the fact the knobs don't turn easily and the switches have a delay or are sluggish.

I'll give the cleaning a shot (pun intended) this weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm very happy with the way she cleaned up and I was hoping the "amp" section was good. Glad to hear confirmation that what I suspected was true. Now I just need to give her a good bath. So to speak.

Thank you all!

YeeeeeHaaaaaa!

petehall347 said:

somewhere around preamp ..
possibly the record switch .. or another switch or wiring
main amp must be good .. please don't go poking around in the main amp as they are rather touchy and outputs will blow without warning without the correct precautions ....

Click to expand...

She's singing and beautifully. I'm such an idiot. I should have cleaned the pots and switches when I had it apart, but I thought they were working just fine.

After cleaning just one switch the "click" was sharper and more distinct. Boy did I assume wrong. Cleaned everything, generously. Worked all of them generously as well.

I'm so happy. This is hands down the best Amp I've ever owned. Sounds awesome. Tested with the Advent/1 first, just playing it safe. They sounded good. Then the Bose 601 II. Big difference over other equipment I've had hooked up. Bass became even more prominent. Vocals and instruments better.

Thank you all for the advice. I'm such a happy camper. Can't wait to hook up the Adcom, soon.

nice one ..got me thinking i should put mine back into service again soon ..

This series of amps are one of the most beautiful to come out of the 70s.Cool that you got it going.

superdog said:

This series of amps are one of the most beautiful to come out of the 70s.Cool that you got it going.

Click to expand...

Next weekend I'll move it to the big dog wall where the 901, DSS9 and AR3a reside. Likely will uproot the Fisher RS-1080. The 1080 has 170wpc going for it, but the distortion level is way too high for that kind of power. It's massive, weighs in at 75lbs, and a bear to move. But I truly believe the Pioneer will drive those dogs much cleaner.

If you are going to drive significant power levels, it might be a good idea to renew the thermal transfer compound on the output transistors and drivers in the amp section, and give the bottom of the power amp board a going over looking for any crystallized or cracked solder joints.

markthefixer said:

If you are going to drive significant power levels, it might be a good idea to renew the thermal transfer compound on the output transistors and drivers in the amp section, and give the bottom of the power amp board a going over looking for any crystallized or cracked solder joints.

Click to expand...

What MTF said. :yes:

markthefixer said:

If you are going to drive significant power levels, it might be a good idea to renew the thermal transfer compound on the output transistors and drivers in the amp section, and give the bottom of the power amp board a going over looking for any crystallized or cracked solder joints.

Click to expand...

Dang, wish I read that before putting her back together. She sounds sweet I'll say that much. Seems like the highs are better with this amp than some of my other units. But it will take time for me to eval. Not one complain from me. $60 for a kick ass amp? Can't go wrong with that.