RIP Tandberg

[ap14608]

After 30+ years, my Tandberg 3008A and 3006A died (the amp died). I made the hard decision and chose to move on after 30 good years.

after much research i chose to go with the Classe Sigma SSP and Amp5 to replace the tandbergs and a Cambridge audio surround system (both outputting to B&W CM9 s2 speakers via a switch box)

The Sigmas sound quite good, but it is also quite a change going from a discreet circuit system to a computer controlled audio system

 

[SPL db]

Did you have the amp looked at by a local tech? Maybe it could be repaired...

 

[ConradH]

If you want to get a leash and drag that dog as far as Canandaigua, we could put it on the bench and check it out some evening or weekend (when it stops snowing!). PM me if interested.

 

[Ds2000]

Interesting, I have relatives in both Rochester and Canandaigua. Small world.

 

[bimasta]

After 30+ years, my Tandberg 3008A and 3006A died (the amp died).

I feel your pain. I use the T'berg 3002A, 3006A, 3001. But I am heartened for my own sake. I got my Tandbergs almost 25 years ago; they were dealer demos, thus sparingly used and treated right. I was able to A/B them against a Levinson pre+power in the dealer's showroom, they held their own, and the price was almost a gift.

I then boxed them — I was all-tubes those days, and just wanted a good SS back-up. All these years later, I only hooked them up last month. Wow. I'm hoping their Rip van Winkel hibernation prolongs their lifespan — your 30-year run is very encouraging.

What did you do with them when you got the new Classés? And did you do any repairs/mods/upgrades on them I should contemplate?

 

[jdurbin1]

Preventative maintenance on the 3001/3001A includes replacing the leaky memory battery, also the larger caps in the power supply (AC noise on the regulated supplies can make these tuners "twitchy") and the two larger caps on the stereo decoder board, which leak physically and cause PCB/trace damage eventually. Preset switches all fail at this age too, even if they're perfect now they'll fail after you start using them regularly.

On the 3002A/3008A you should do a comprehensive solder touch-up using magnification; they are riddled with places where cold solder joints occur: at switches and pots, at the board to board connectors, etc. Also plan to adjust the regulated supplies to the correct +/- 32V and not a bad idea to remove and reseat the regulators with fresh grease (or mica, forget which is used) so they wick heat away from the component correctly.

On the 3006A, if the front ends are stable (i.e. no excessive DC offset drift), you can just remove the Hitachi MOSFET outputs and reinstall them with fresh mica & thermal grease (do the grease at least, if it's original/dried & crumbly). A small fixture made from two LED's tacked together in reverse polarity (+ to -, - to +) and a 2-pin plug that fits the test points makes DC offset adjustment a breeze although I like to watch the actual voltage at the outputs while using the LED's for quick coarse adjustments.

John