General Electric Solid State lights no sound

chris savage

New Member
Hey guys, I’m old to records new to record players. I bought a probably late 60s Mid Century Modern style General Electric Solid State stereo, model no. is one of 5 listed on the owners manual: RC7731BWD, RC7735BWL, RC7831BWD, RC7836BPN, or RC7839BCL. Listened to at the sellers house (radio only turntable needed a new stylus) everything sounded fine. Got it home and show the wife and kids, everything’s fine. I teach the kids about tunin in a radio station, lol! Songs coming through the speakers sound excellent. We turn it off to brush teeth and my daughters walks back in and turn it on and says, “Daddy, how come it’s not working?” It’s dead silent with lights on. Next day I buy contact cleaner and new needle, put them to use, still dead. Lights on, slight hum from console itself-not the speakers. The console does have a manual reset button that I’ve tried to no avail. I read that like with tubes, Standard State stereos can fry if you turn them on after they sit for years. Is this true? Have I fried my stereo before I even got to play a record on it?
 
The manual reset button is a circuit breaker. Sometimes those become weak, and won't reset properly, but my guess is old capacitors drew excessive current, and blew the breaker, and now it won't reset. I would say it's very unlikely it is beyond repair, but the repair needs to be executed by someone familiar with vintage electronics.

Anything from the 1960s should be considered as a parts unit, or as a project, unless it's been gone over by a qualified person who has replaced parts known for failure, and given it a general "tune-up". Just plugging in something that old is sort of analogous to finding an old VW bug from the 60s, which has all original belts, tires, filters, and other consumable parts, and putting it straight on the road.

Edit: If you post your location, it's very likely someone from AK who is close by will offer to give you a hand.
 
Thanks, I just got off the phone with a professional and I think I’ll go that route. This thing is the size of a couch though and I drive a Honda CR-V, so I’m in for an adventure, lol!
 
Thanks, I just got off the phone with a professional and I think I’ll go that route. This thing is the size of a couch though and I drive a Honda CR-V, so I’m in for an adventure, lol!

If you are mechanically inclined, you could check into how hard it would be to remove the working parts and bring them to the tech.
 
its listed in sams set 854, folder 6 (have it in stock) peeked at it, it is possible to have lights on and the breaker throw.

if you were inclined, you can be talked thru the diag of this machine, it IS possible to have the breaker trip without the max current of the GE-3 outputs (Ge TO3's) being exceeded.

AND!

there are 6 NOS ones left at one company....a lot of this germanium stuff was left in stock from shoppes of old...they had to buy a certain amount and the world went silicon faster than the sets failed.

it would be a nightmare to convert the input, bias, driver and output to silicon and re-bias so go the cheap route first...
 
Mmmmmm
its listed in sams set 854, folder 6 (have it in stock) peeked at it, it is possible to have lights on and the breaker throw.

if you were inclined, you can be talked thru the diag of this machine, it IS possible to have the breaker trip without the max current of the GE-3 outputs (Ge TO3's) being exceeded.

AND!

there are 6 NOS ones left at one company....a lot of this germanium stuff was left in stock from shoppes of old...they had to buy a certain amount and the world went silicon faster than the sets failed.

it would be a nightmare to convert the input, bias, driver and output to silicon and re-bias so go the cheap route first...
 
I’d love to not have to truck this behemoth an hour away! I’m a total newbie with stereos. I’ve watched YouTube videos to fix my dryer but know nothing about capacitors or transistors besides what they look like. I opened it up this morning to see what it looks like, the speakers are amazing, totally padded interior with horns and everything. Put it back together and nothing works now. I unplugged the two main wire groupings in an effort to separate the tuner from the rest. Maybe I didn’t get them all the way plugged in when I put it back?
 
oddly, you did yourself a favor, using the SCM, you can now probe the power supply wires and look for proper voltages. do you have a DMM?
 
The manual reset button is a circuit breaker. Sometimes those become weak, and won't reset properly, but my guess is old capacitors drew excessive current, and blew the breaker, and now it won't reset. I would say it's very unlikely it is beyond repair, but the repair needs to be executed by someone familiar with vintage electronics.

Anything from the 1960s should be considered as a parts unit, or as a project, unless it's been gone over by a qualified person who has replaced parts known for failure, and given it a general "tune-up". Just plugging in something that old is sort of analogous to finding an old VW bug from the 60s, which has all original belts, tires, filters, and other consumable parts, and putting it straight on the road.

Edit: If you post your location, it's very likely someone from AK who is close by will offer to give you a hand.
 
ok, gimme a little time to scan in the power supply section of the SCM, then probe the wires for the indicated voltages. thats always step one.
 
ok, gimme a little time to scan in the power supply section of the SCM, then probe the wires for the indicated voltages. thats always step one.
 

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Well, I got the tuner/amp out of it tonight, and it’s bedtime. Hopefully I’ll have a little time in the morning.
 

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I've got an RC7832BWD-A. Spend some time with it and take your time with it. When you do get it going, I guarantee you'll be glad you did. It sounds amazing. Just for S&G's try disconnecting the turntable power and inputs.
 
I've got an RC7832BWD-A. Spend some time with it and take your time with it. When you do get it going, I guarantee you'll be glad you did. It sounds amazing. Just for S&G's try disconnecting the turntable power and inputs.
I got the tuner and amp out but things are pretty jam packed in there as far as capacitors and stuff. I havent put the DMM to it yet. I might puss out and take it to a shop now that I dont have to transport the whole console. But that’s a last resort. Wouldn’t mind having it working before the kids are out of school. I’m excited that the guys came out so easily as now I can entertain the idea of refinishing the wood!
 
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