Three Cheers for Brad a/k/a bktheking!!! Three Cheers for Echowars!!!
Thanks to you both, I now have a working 700M.
Echowars, you are the supreme master of the 700M for a reason, your expertise is impressive and you took to this thread so many times with good advice. Thanks a million.
Brad, thanks for caring enough to spend way too much time on the phone and a bajillion texts, and for being smarter than I am.
Brad patiently guided me through a bunch of tests, and eventually, the process of elimination that resulted in the replacement of the zener diodes on the driver (two on each board is what i replaced). I think the zeners were the problem, but since I stupidly pitched the old ones after putting the new ones in, and good luck trying to find them in the garbage to test them to be sure that was the prob. Anyway, the cyclical clicking of the relays with the dim bulb flashing, seemed to be corrected after the zeners were replaced. Could very well have been that. Dialled the bias in, and was good to go.
I'm now enjoying the music with a recapped 700M, which needless to say, is pretty sweet.
Here's what I did. Replaced the:
two speaker relays; all electrolytics on the driver boards and protection board; all output transistors; all of the transistors on the driver boards and protection board; couple of zener diodes on the drivers; a couple of resistors on the driver; the soft start resistor. And I polished the male connector pins with brass. Think that about covers it.
Gotta say though, those meter needles are really not moving. Gonna look into that, I think I saw a post about that. I have the caps for a meter board recap, might just have to....
Brad, Echowars, may you find an Accuphase amp at a garage sale this weekend for $20. Or a pair of Klipschorns at the curb side. Or a 700C at the Goodwill. Y'know, Audio Karma stuff. AK is the best thanks to guys like you.
Cheers.