VINTAGEO
Newbie in New B.
Hi folks, among other nice audio gear, I have become the proud new owner of A beautiful Sansui BA-5000!
It came up for sale about a week ago approximately 4 hours from here, thanks Steve for pointing it out to me!
After about a day and a half of negotiating I noticed someone posted it in D&S on AK, and the buzz was on, I figured I better make an offer before this rare beast gets snagged away from our vicinity, stuff like this almost NEVER shows up around here!
So we settled on a price, amp unseen, but he assured me that all was in working order except for scratchy pots, him being a musician, he should know.
So we actually ended up meeting about half way and then he revealed the Bad Ass-5000 to me for the first time, what a sight! I couldn't believe it was actually going to be mine!
After our transaction, I immediately started my 2 hour trek back home so I could play with my new toy!
I got home, waited a little bit, then hooked the monster up to my newly restored AR3a's and used a Yamaha C-45 for preamp. I dropped a Dire Straits cd in my Rotel RCD-955AX and the sweet sound filled every inch of the room effortlessly!
I was so happy, my friend Steve stopped in to have a listen, and we both sat there in awe of this magnificent beast! Bass is extraordinary, mids are very present, but not too in your face, highs are right on the money... then it happened, I switched over to my newly acquired Klipsch KG4's and they also sounded great, then all of a sudden POP! crackle crackle... What the?
I think I just blew a woofer in the left speaker, rattle buzz, DAMN!
So I immediately turn it off and bring the beast, with the help of Steve, to the work area, I should have known this was too good to be true!
I start dismantling this very heavy SOB! 108lbs to be exact! I can see the build quality of this amp is like nothing else I've seen! The gauge of metal is at least twice as thick as the thickest metal I've seen on other amps!
Once I get it apart enough to see the meter boards and the SEALED pots, I'm like oh not these pots! How the heck do you clean them without dismantling the whole front end, and just then I spotted something strange, Samsung capacitor? They weren't around in 75!
So I start inspecting and notice this caps neighbor is a NO NAME cap! GEES in this?!
The good news is they are the right uf, 47 to be exact, the voltage is considerably higher 160 compared to the 6.3's that were originally there. No big deal should still work, but I cannot leave it like this, and a good thing I didn't!
I inspect the solder, and viola! I think I found the problem! a 4 year old soldered these in, even against better judgement!
Luckily I have 2 brand new Panasonic 47uf 16v caps and I proceed to remove the mismatched caps, as I desoldering the last lead, the entire trace falls off! Luckily again the cap is connected to a resistor right next to it, so I make a copper ring to join the two points and also use the lead as a connection, thanks for the tip Terry. All goes together nicely and time to test it again... Deep breath, ...
The sweet sound is back! and this time no noise! Great news! more great news, the KG4's are ok! It was just the bad solder that was making all the noise.
It has been playing for an entire day now without issues!
Listening now as I type, Now I am using my beautiful AU-7500 as a preamp, which I just put new output transistors in and the sound is SUBLIME!
It came up for sale about a week ago approximately 4 hours from here, thanks Steve for pointing it out to me!
After about a day and a half of negotiating I noticed someone posted it in D&S on AK, and the buzz was on, I figured I better make an offer before this rare beast gets snagged away from our vicinity, stuff like this almost NEVER shows up around here!
So we settled on a price, amp unseen, but he assured me that all was in working order except for scratchy pots, him being a musician, he should know.
So we actually ended up meeting about half way and then he revealed the Bad Ass-5000 to me for the first time, what a sight! I couldn't believe it was actually going to be mine!
After our transaction, I immediately started my 2 hour trek back home so I could play with my new toy!
I got home, waited a little bit, then hooked the monster up to my newly restored AR3a's and used a Yamaha C-45 for preamp. I dropped a Dire Straits cd in my Rotel RCD-955AX and the sweet sound filled every inch of the room effortlessly!
I was so happy, my friend Steve stopped in to have a listen, and we both sat there in awe of this magnificent beast! Bass is extraordinary, mids are very present, but not too in your face, highs are right on the money... then it happened, I switched over to my newly acquired Klipsch KG4's and they also sounded great, then all of a sudden POP! crackle crackle... What the?
I think I just blew a woofer in the left speaker, rattle buzz, DAMN!
So I immediately turn it off and bring the beast, with the help of Steve, to the work area, I should have known this was too good to be true!
I start dismantling this very heavy SOB! 108lbs to be exact! I can see the build quality of this amp is like nothing else I've seen! The gauge of metal is at least twice as thick as the thickest metal I've seen on other amps!
Once I get it apart enough to see the meter boards and the SEALED pots, I'm like oh not these pots! How the heck do you clean them without dismantling the whole front end, and just then I spotted something strange, Samsung capacitor? They weren't around in 75!
So I start inspecting and notice this caps neighbor is a NO NAME cap! GEES in this?!
The good news is they are the right uf, 47 to be exact, the voltage is considerably higher 160 compared to the 6.3's that were originally there. No big deal should still work, but I cannot leave it like this, and a good thing I didn't!
I inspect the solder, and viola! I think I found the problem! a 4 year old soldered these in, even against better judgement!
Luckily I have 2 brand new Panasonic 47uf 16v caps and I proceed to remove the mismatched caps, as I desoldering the last lead, the entire trace falls off! Luckily again the cap is connected to a resistor right next to it, so I make a copper ring to join the two points and also use the lead as a connection, thanks for the tip Terry. All goes together nicely and time to test it again... Deep breath, ...
The sweet sound is back! and this time no noise! Great news! more great news, the KG4's are ok! It was just the bad solder that was making all the noise.
It has been playing for an entire day now without issues!
Listening now as I type, Now I am using my beautiful AU-7500 as a preamp, which I just put new output transistors in and the sound is SUBLIME!