Audio Proz Service and Sales

Repair of Vintage 1980's Japanese Equipment:

(Repair)

Jun 11th, 2015

Repair of Vintage 1980's Japanese Equipment:

We have been getting more calls asking to service the Pioneer, Marantz, Kenwood, Onkyo, etc. products form the 1980's and early 1990's. Indeed these repairs have been a regular visitor to my shop and my long term business has been the servicing and resale of such equipment. Recently we have hired in a fellow colleague who also specializes and cares for these products. We are now able to open the door for internet repair of such items. As an overview, I will explain what we do and typical cost of repair and parts used.

First I must make it clear I prefer to both repair and do minor updates to improve the long term reliability and restore (and in many cases improve) the fidelity of these units. Please don't ask me for a cheap out repair, it's best to do the most thorough service possible and reduce the chance of returns. Most will need a good 2 times switch and control cleaning. We use some professional cleaners which the consumer will have no access to. One must have a federal business ID# to purchase certain chemicals. Indeed we use 4 different types of cleaners to clean and lubricate switches. This is a crucial requirement as many of the units which are over 20 years old will have severely oxidized switches. Today's city air pollution, cigarette smoke, even the typical living room dust, infects the switches contacts so a good cleaning is required.

Secondly, I want to change out any aging or off spec capacitors. Recently a special meter was invented to test the parts while on the circuit boards, so many of these aging parts can be rapidly spotted and replaced. I usually replace matching parts on both amplifier circuits even if only one side is bad. The truth is most better Japanese equipment used good quality capacitors (Nichicon, ChemCon, Panasonic, etc.) but there will often be some that use marginal or inadequately rated for some circuit designs. Hopefully we will catch these.

Resoldering of aging, overheated solder on critical areas of power supplies and connectors needs to be done. Lead solder is soft and some areas where there is stress between the board and lead solder, connection cracks will develop. Also hot spots on the circuit boards (especially on the power supply area) will have higher temperature, more rugged solder put on.

Contrary to �audiophile� belief the Japanese used very good RCA connectors, often with a nickel plate, spring loaded �grabber� connector inside the RCA jack. These are excellent and tight and only need basic cleaning. Please don�t ask me to change out the RCA connectors and replace with gold plated types. This will create no audio improvements. Yes I have heard some say they heard it, and it sounded better. The reason is usually simply that tighter cables with new clean connectors have now been installed. However expensive the cable is, it's more the fact that tight and clean connectors are now in use.

We will also do an update of the power supply and related distribution of grounds and power voltages are often easily corrected by single point grounding and individual voltage lines to boards, instead of jumping one supply line from board to board. This solves some channel crosstalk problems and improves clarity of stereophonic image. Improved, cleaned up power supply distribution I will agree does make an important improvement. Typically a few extra separate grounds and bypass capacitors are what is needed.

We also do a tuner clean up and alignment. Without a doubt, my experience has shown very few tuners have bad parts in them. They just need proper cleaning and alignment. Most R.F. parts just go a little out of spec every 5 to 10 years, and a good FM re-alignment usually solves the problem. In rare cases I do alter or improve the grounding of the tuner varicon assembly. This can dramatically improve reception and the FM de-multiplexer performance. I'm an ace at FM alignment. Believe it or not I learned from Daniel Von Recklinghaus, the engineer and wise man. Hi is head of editor staff on AES journal. The man practically invented FM circuits and Stereo FM modulation. Armstrong recognized and developed FM transmission in the 1930's (brilliant man also). (A little more about FM alignment)

We also replace panel bulbs and lights. Even when some lights are still operating, if the bulb shows that it is near burnt out, we replace it now. We use quality bulbs which should last 10 years. In some cases, I will admit some strange bulbs or an impossible to access bulb may not get replaced if time and cost is limited.

Cost of service (which includes the parts cost, but not return shipping) generally runs $88-$160 for the average 40-60 watt unit, $120-$240 for 50-100 watt units, and $160-$300 for 80-150 watt units. The reason being is that at each wattage level more switches, capacitors, and circuitry updates are often required. There are also more panel bulbs to replace and more boards to open up and check. Typically the most crucial and quick to wear out parts are speaker relays. Here is a case where upgrading to multicontact, better rated relays will improve audio performance. Some better manufacturers used excellent relays, but 20 years of use and the contacts are through the gold plating or the relay "levers" get weakened. Sometimes we replace the surface contacts and tighten them up. We use an analog silver replating formula which is amazingly effective. It can sometimes replate worn switches. It's a very expensive chemical.

If you want us to service your analogue receivers or amps call or write first. We take a $40 deposit for estimates. If we can�t fix your unit with our designated cost parameter, we call back and discuss it. It is crucial to pack unit well. It will save shipping cost and time to use your box to return it. We can usually service and return within 2 to 4 weeks, especially if you are OK with our pre-estimate costs � we dig right in and do the work. What will create more delays, and increase the cost of repair is to stop to call you for exact repair costs, close up the unit, wait for your return call, and then reopen and start the repair again. For 25 years having a window of repair cost confirmed by the owner of his unit will actually allow us to do more in depth work faster and more thoroughly. Simply put, we put the unit on the bench and get it fixed. We only ask for your trust to allow us to do what is necessary to get the job done well. Occasionally there will be some minor, possibly difficult, cost ineffective repair situation and some strange fitting bulb or cosmetic part will not be replaced or an acceptable alternative part will be used. If something is way out of whack, yes, we will call to explain. If your unit has damaged connectors or are known to have major electronics failures, or worse yet, been stored in damp area for years, the service cost can easily hit the maximum cost, maybe another $20-$40 more for parts and critical technical labor to solve problems (sometimes created by incorrect previous service, again we might call if this is too expensive.) Ultimately if the unit cannot be reliably repaired, we still charge a $40 estimate fee. In a few situations where 1 or 2 small problems cannot be resolved (eg. no parts available) but the unit works very well otherwise, we will try to keep the repair cost reasonable.

As an overview, I have been stripping down beat up, damaged vintage machines for their parts. We have drawers full of knobs, switches, connectors, even rare I.C., and transistors. I seldom threw anything away, knowing the day these wonderful analog machines would rise again in popularity. What a movie script!

Finally, it is best to call or write first and tell us what model you have along with a quick history of the unit (where, how long you owned it, problems you see). Although I like to fix Pioneer, Marantz, Kenwood, Sansui, Kyocera, Yamaha, and Adcom, be aware many off brand names can be good units too. Optonica, Layfeyette, Radio Shack, Aiwa can be good units, as some were very close to the quality of the big guys. The reason is most units used similar parts and designs and in the case of Realistic products were often made by a big name maker in this era. Other good names are Luxman, some Tandberg, Scott, Concept, Rotel, Setton, Sherwood, and GLI. Models to be wary of (regardless of peoples� opinions) are older Sony, Fisher, Grundig, and some Tandberg. Although some good models exist, too much of their product in the 1980�s simply was troublesome, poor performing, difficult to restore, weird designs with unavailable parts. Simply put, some companies just used really lousy capacitors, switches, or circuit design which sonically are just too troublesome. I will be careful to inform you first before shipping to save people time and money. We will service tube electronics only if everyone is aware that these more delicate units need special handling!! Also, though we like these beautiful and euphonic tube amps, I'm getting tired of the "search for the special tube" mania. If you want us to put in good tubes which work and perform well, I don't care if they were made yesterday or 100 years ago. I know good tubes. Let me do what is best, but without a doubt if your unit has good working old tubes in it, I will leave them. I've seen some 30 year old tubes (seldom amp tubes) still work fine.

For More info check related articles, email, or give us a call. (617)926-8020.

Thanks
-Vince

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