Dynaco FM-3 Upgrade Pictorial

I'll be the first to say I don't listen to it much. Usually just for background noise, but with these upgrades the 2 good stations we have up here may be getting a little more listening from me.

Its been fun to try somethig like this again and actually get it to work. I'm very happy with the results so far. Its also given me the confidence that I could work on the Pas 3 as well.

Still need the new diodes to install, the detachable power cord and the gold plated RCAs and this FM-3 will be good to go for another 30 years.

Gary
 
Took the Dyanco over to doucanoe's today for a second opinion on the new improved tuner. I still need to replace the diodes, broke one the first time, and add the new power inlet. Other than those 2 things its done.

We hooked it up in doucanoes main system. After a grounding issue was solved and the unit warmed up we had a listen. The unit sounds like very very good. The highs are very good, crisp and tight. Bass was dramatically improved with the upgrades as well. Open soundstage and great ability to tune in all stations without bleed over.

Doucanoe is better with the written word than I, and I'm sure he will give his thoughts on the upgarded unit. After all, this project would not have started without his generous donation of the tuner.

I'll finish the upgardes and add a few more pictures when the new diodes arrive.

Gary
 
the only thing that concerns me is how close the rectifier tube is to those 'lytics, but it's probably ok. great job, anyhow, it looks awesome :D
 
The FM3 turned out to be quite a surprise. Not that the upgrades wouldn't yeild a better performer but to the extent that they did. I like my Sherwood tube tuners for their nice smooth way they reproduce the FM band but I have been using my PSE Studio 3 lately. Its a very good analog tuner that I use as a reference. The modded Dynaco was not as "tube like" as my Sherwoods but had a wonderful clarity to it with out being overly sterile on FM stations. Possibly bested my reference PSE in the short trial.

I not talking about listening to your typical pop rock or whatever compressed FM schlock. A unmolested Classical/Jazz broadcast was used for evaluation.

Bottom line, Nice work and effective mods and upgrade. I might have to borrow the FM3 some time to listen for a while :D
 
Its really not that close the picture distorts it some.

I'll be finishing this up this weekend. I've been delaying installing the new crystal diodes and new volume control because I've been enjoying listening to FM a lot lately.

Pics of the new RCAs and detachable power cord will be posted soon as well.

I know alot of people think FM is a dying format, but this kit really tricks these tuners into something special and makes listening to FM fun again IMO.
 
Really enjoying this thread, Gary, thanks - good luck with the rest of the work!
 
I know a lot of people think FM is a dying format, but this kit really tricks these tuners into something special and makes listening to FM fun again IMO.
I love GOOD, uncompressed, well-produced FM! A great meeting of like minds resides over on the Tuner Information site. Broadcast live performances can be the most thrilling
experience.

Has anyone thought of trying the mother board from the same people that made Gary's kit? I'm really tempted because I think that some of the noise we hear on the FM-3 in the result of the boards.
Opinions?
 
Let me say that now that the unit is done, it is very quiet. I was told that if I had gone with the solid state rectifier upgrade the unit would be dead quiet. As is this thing is very impressive.

If you are thinking of keeping the FM-3 these upgrades are easy and sound amazing. Along with that the customer service from Chauncey is second to none. He walked me through this without pain.
 
was told that if I had gone with the solid state rectifier upgrade the unit would be dead quiet.
Gary: has anyone said whether or not the sonic nature is changed by the SS rectification? While I can't see how it could, I do keep in mind how some people say that the ST-70 gets a new sonic character after a conversion to SS rectification. Something to do with how components react downstream.

Your comments about quiet operation have really picked up my interest, but gotta gets some other projects finsished first. :yes:
 
After a few weeks of frustration the FM-3 is done. I did the full mod by adding the new volume control to the mix. After installing that I had very little output from the tuner. Tried everything I could and everything Chauncey from FM-3 Zone could think of. It turns out that during one of the flips of the unit it broke a tube, go figure. Should have pulled the tubes before working on it. Live and learn.

I'll give it a good listen this weekend and post my final thoughts and let this thread finally die.
 
Really interesting. I've got an FM-3 hanging around and a PAS3x in pieces. Maybe need to consider doing something with them. I've always liked the FM-3. It was interesting to look at the site and the FM-3 kit. I had 2 sealed kits in my collection I sold after moving to Toronto. Wonder it it is one of them. I lost track of the collection buyer some years ago so no way to find out what he did with the collection.
 
I know when I get some spare cash I'm going to do it. I just now opened my new to me FM-3 up and was hoping that all the stock tubes where still in it cause my last Dyna purchase was raped of them. I did see the Dynaco-Mullard rectifier tube in there so that’s good news. I gave up looking at them anymore until I came here and asked "do those shields just slide up and off?" cause man they seem to be tight. I thought if I pull or wiggle any harder I would break a socket or tube.
Looks like either someone or Dyna switched out some caps in mine. I have never seen this brand before so I posted a few pics in case someone has some insight about them. Although it is an awful neat job if someone besides them did. However, I've seen some solder joints around here that look awful sweeeeet. In fact by looking at the screws that hold the cabinet together I don’t think it’s ever been taken apart before. Looking very closely with a magnifier there is not a single scratch on or in the slot of the screw.
 

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<snip Looks like either someone or Dyna switched out some caps in mine. I have never seen this brand before so I posted a few pics in case someone has some insight about them. <snip>

The caps in your FM3 are indeed stock items. Dyna used a few brands of components over the years because the production runs were so long. I've got an FM1 (mono) and another FM1 (stereo conversion) and an FM3, all originally with the John E Fast Caps. I've also got an FM3 "parts unit" with somewhat more conventional dipped polyester caps of unknown brand.

In a moment of upgradeitis I changed some of Fast caps in the FM3 to PP Orange Drops. I heard no significant difference. Since the Fast caps are early implementations of polyester, they aren't prone to leakage as they age. My replaced parts check out just fine for value and leakage. I'd be inclined to leave them in place unless you suspect something is really wrong...or you get a bad case of upgradeitis.
 
The John Fast cap was promoted to the repair community as closer tolerances than say CDE and would not loss tolerances over time. I've never seen a set, we were CDE dealers. Would be interesting to see if the representations were correct.
 
Well, if I was to get a "mod package" there would be no significant advantage as long as these are still within spec? Maybe I'll just purchase the PEC upgrade and a couple other resistors mentioned as to low a value.
 
There was no schematic with the kit that I remember. It was basically a re-cap kit and a few other pieces including the volume pot.

I can't find the CD with the directions at the moment. It's possible it was on there, but we may never know.
 
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