H-K TA-260 Stereo Festival project.

larryderouin

I'm VERTICAL and Breathing...most of the time.
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Buglegirl gave me a TA-260 last year from her "CRAPSTACK" (her words not mine!) Missing the Dial Glass and Dirty as get out. She was digging thru the stack couple months ago and found what we both though was another TA-260 (the 260 uses P.P. 7355's). It had a cabinet with it so I didn't think anything of it. The front looked the same so I figured I'd use the Dial Glass and possibly the Front panel. Turns out that the front panels, even tho all the holes match up, are labeled completely different. So no help there. But I think I might be able to get RADIODAZE to fabricate another Dial-Glass for me for the 230, eventually.

So today I get started on the 2nd unit. Pull it out of it's case. What!?!?! Wait a Minute.....7408's as output's? WTF????? Look on the Faceplate....No Model. But on the back of the Chassis it says TA-230. So I cleaned up both chassis, and moved the dial glass to the TA-260, plus some missing tubes. The cabinet got sanded, tack cloth-ed and a coat of HOWARD's Restore a Finish.

This one will get worked on as I have time and resources. But it's a Start.
TA-260 After Cleanup.
TA-260 with Cover.jpg

TA-230 chassis after cleanup. I used Scrubbing bubbles Bathroom cleaner, a 2" chip brush and rinsed with CRC QD Non Residue contact cleaner. The 260's chassis looks the same except for the larger opt's. The TA-260 also has soldered Tuner cap shield covers.
Ta-230 TOP.jpg
 
Guess if I want MPX Stereo I'm gonna have to send one of my 2 mpx's to Dave G. for alignment. Gotta figure out where the MPX out is off the discriminator. No obvious jack for MPX out.
 
I've got two sets of vintage speakers and an old table radio that I want to use "restore a finish' on. You pretty happy with it? Looks good!
 
Apparently according to the Manual it's part of the "MULTI OUT" rca jacks on the back. If that's the case, I'll install a separate Jack on the top of the chassis right off the Detector. Did H-K ever apply the K.I.S.S. principle to their gear or was overt complexity the name of the game. Although I will admit to saying this TA-260, looks easier to work on than a 400 (shameess FISHER Plug HERE!!)
 
Very nice, Larry! Love the look of this one. Bet it sounds pretty sweet, too.
GAWD I hope so too. Won't put power to it until I ohm out the transformers, test all the tubes, and verify the diodes in the P.S. are ok at least. Dimbulb and variac with Kill a Watt on it. Luckily I have most of the caps in stash, but am in the process of moving my stuff (slowly) from my house to GirlFriends. #2 son is renting the house now.
 
So far there are 2 in the Apt. My '64 Custom Electra and her Mother's Admiral from about 1970. I'm working on getting the Executive in the Apt, mounting the 50" flat screen above it on the wall. That way i have everything I need in one cabinet (800c, Turntable, and Ampex R2R.) DVD/CDPlayer on top of Exec with the cable box. She's not against it, but there's a decided lack of wall space for a 5'5" console. The '65 Futura, '58 Contemporary, '51 Coronet, and the 510/60 & 560 are either in Storage or will be shortly.
 
I have one of those 260's Larry, it doesn't have a bottom for the chassis and I couldn't get one peep of sound out of it. So it sits in my to do pile collecting dust. :(
 
Steve; The bottom off the 230 will fit if you want it. Frannie gets the knobs and the IRON. Other than that I can do what i need to get the 260 running.
 
Nice project, Larry. It's always rewarding to see another piece of equipment get resurrected and put back into service.

I had a TA-260 and 230. Both decent units that I enjoyed for a while. Good luck with the rebuild!
 
Rebuild started.

Decided on overhauling the TA-260 as the output tubes (7355) tested a good deal above minimums on my Philco 9100 (Hickok 533A clone). Transformers all tested good. One 3 section Can cap shorted in one section. No power to it yet, as I had test the transformers disconnected from the unit. SO it begins.



12ax7 phono preamp, 12ax7 tone amp, and a Single 12AU7 for Driver/Phase inverter. Caps underneath are either Ceramics, or Radionics Wax caps with a brown bean type (.1uf 600V) on the tuner.
BEFORE PIC.
100_5481.JPG
AFTER
100_5483.JPG

Gotta get a NEW SOCKET for the Driver/Phase inverter. It's a mess in there as most of the pin have broken off at one time and were butt soldered back on. So everything is just tacked in on the Dr./P.I for now.

New 1n4007's for the 3 diodes are gonna go in, and all of the CAN CAPs have Nichicon replacements in hand. Gonna have to do some creative mounting on "T" strips for these. There are some grounds that are ganged on the single T strip next to the power transformer with a single wire to the buss line above. With the new can going there (220uf 50V) , and the Power resistor connected to that strip, Why not go directly to the strip. Also there is a wire from the other side below the 4 radionics that snakes to this strip. WHY? If all the grounds are actually tied to the BUSS WIRE, why did they run this wire across the chassis to tie it to the "T" strip and then to the BUSS. Why not just run it directly to the BUSS wire??? If there is no actually compelling reason for this, I'm gonna tie each component directly to the BUSS wire. And get that cross chassis ground wire tied into the BUSS above it on the other end. Then do away with the "T" strip there.
 
HKs are a bit of a mess from the get go,,, did you J-hook the new caps or dig down to the lugs and fasten them?
Maybe the long wires carry too much current to travel thru the Buss, and connecting them to the CT lug would be quieter?
Good luck with it!!
 
Is the tee strip where the buss ties to chassis? It has to connect somewhere, and having that be the power supply B- point makes sense. Not having the power supply caps connect to the buss where they can put ripple current on it also makes sense. Unless I'm not understanding what you mean here.

I usually figure if the witch doctors that designed this stuff 50 years ago did it, it was for a reason.
 
Knockbill; Dug down to the lugs. Someone prior to me had lap or butt soldered the remains of the lugs. Plus the socket had been replaced once. So it's coming out and a new socket installed.

Gadget; The 200uf 50V, Brown resistor, and the long wire from the other side, all tie to the "T" strip, then a short wire continues to the buss. Weird affair. The buss has a 1 lug "T" strip on each end of the chassis and is strung between them.

Here's simplified version of it as it is now. Proposed to separate the wire from the other end and tie to the Buss directly above, and do the same with he resistor and cap. I don't see any difference here.
Ground in question TA-260.jpg

And the Schematic part that this is. The black wire is the end of line ground from the Heaters (V12-13-14). The cap is C51c and R98.
Clipboard04.jpg
 
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The 260 is on hold while I do a rebuild on a RCA RS1168C out of a 1959 SHC-4 for a Fireman friend of ours. It was his Grandmom's and he wants to restore it. He's even got the companion spkr.
 
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