kandetvara
New Member
Hi there,
During the last 3 months I put my dream Sansui combo together. The plan was to get a combo which was not too expensive, but in very good optical/cosmetically condition. Technically it was supposed to be OK, in case of break downs it had to be repairable. I did not want to buy a redone/recapped unit – I want to do this myself with my son. I went to a couple of estate sales, looked out for ebay auctions and checked out the goodwill stores and their online offerings. Particularly the estate sales shocked me – it seems that everything which is a turntable gets a price tag of at least $150 – no matter what the thing looks like. Saw really nice 9090 combos with Thorens turntables – in really good shape, but he wanted to have $1800 in total – hardly any room for negotiation – so I left – not only once…
So here is what I got by now:
· SD 5050 Reel to Reel
· FR 4060 Turntable
· QRX 5500 Quad Receiver
As speakers I use a pair of Klipsch Heresy’s, which were connected to my Fisher 800C. So the fisher is currently without speakers
During the last week I started to take the gear apart. Here is the status before I took it apart:
1) QRX 5500 – worked just fine. Only one VU meter is not working. No humming or crackling whatsoever. All parts are there. There is some light rust on the bottom of the housing if you take it out of the wooden cabinet. The cabinet has no scratches whatsoever. The same applies for the display. No cracks, no scratches, no nothing. The buttons (not the knobs, the buttons where you select for example tape monitoring) are showing some use.
2) FR 4060. Did not move at all. Not spinning no sound. No nothing. Cosmetically again in very good condition. No scratches. The wooden frame is superb. No rust whatsoever. The lid shows some usage and wear, but no cracks and no scratches other than from cleaning. Both head shells are there. One in original packaging. Even the original oil “can” was there – unopened. The needle was a write off, the cartridge is ok. The only thing missing is one particular additional counterweight. I have not found out where this should go though. The normal counterweights are all there. But the whole unit non operational.
3) SD 5050. Moved. Some music audible. Fast forward and reverse worked but the tape was still on the heads and did not lift. Counter did not work. Reverse play did not work. Once the reel was at its end the machine would not switch off and continue fast forwarding forever. Housing has no scratches or dings or whatsoever. No rust. Neither inside nor outside. All plugs (DIN echo plug as well as remote dummy plug) came with the unit. Cosmetically in a very good condition, the front plate has some corrosion to take care of. Nothing major.
For what it’s worth – I have for all three units the original packaging. In mint condition Problem with the 5500 and the 5050 seems to be that the original owners where HEAVY smokers. I come later to the cleaning, but the smell is really hard to get under control….
So I spent the last 7 days in taking all of the equipment apart and put it back together. This was just to get a perspective of what can be done immediately and what has to be done at a later stage.
1) QRX 5500: I cleaned all the potentiometers with deoxid (by the gallon). I cleaned the whole unit with deoxid, pure alcohol and every other chemical the North American chemical industry came up with. It looks splendid! I took everything apart, but did not touch the electronics (yet). I disassembled the display, took off all knobs, removed the housing, cleaned the back etc.pp. Not one part missing. The unit was taken care of very well. I literally took everything apart and gave it a good cleaning. There is some corrosion inside. I guess it was stored in the attic for too long, but nothing serious. There is NO cracking sound whatsoever on all the switches. The only thing which is not working is one VU meter – it is not the fuse – I swapped this. I think the meter blew at some stage.
In general it sounds really good!!!
2) FR4060. I took it completely apart. No corrosion or rust – nothing. I deoxid all the switches and lubed all the mechanical parts. I removed the bearing/spindle which was hardly turning and heated it up in the oven at 150 F. After that I oiled it again – it now spins like a dream. I swapped the belt(as a matter of fact the old one disintegrated over the years – just rubber parts remaining) and replaced the needle (with a cheap one – just to test). Still nothing – the turntable now spinned in the repeat mode but no audio. Then I realized that the second motor for the tone arm is connected as well to the 110/220 volt switch and I assumed that the audio will only be switched on once the arm will move. So I had a closer look at the switch and removed it, deoxided it and switched it a couple of times. There was a slack joint. This did the trick. Once the motor for the tone arm worked the whole thing came to live. It runs, I have audio and it sounds beautifully. I continued with the cleaning and lubed all the mechanical switches and oiled the pulley and the motor (the original sealed oil tube was still there..) Everything is working fine now. Exception: The little lamp showing that the turntable is on doesn’t work (not sure if it is the lamp or the cable – have to look into that)
I calibrated the tone arm and set the values new for auto in and auto out. I took the reed contact apart and realigned the magnet on the tone arm which triggers the auto out. I lubricated every moving part. It works now like a charm…
One thing I noticed. During the initial test phase, once I switched it on, there was always a relatively loud “bang” once I moved the switch to start. Just for a split of a second, so I had to turn down the volume to make sure that the loudspeakers were not damaged. Now I played 10 records or so and the “bang” is gone. This has to be something electronically – any help or advice is welcome. Faulty capacitor?
I still have the original stylus and cartridge on one of the head shells. On the other original head shell (was still originally packed) I installed an audio technica cartridge (dirt cheap) for being able to test. It works.
What would you recommend for a new cartage and needle and do you think that I can fix the old original one (seems that you can put in a new needle manually?) Or is it not worth the effort?
3) SD 5050. Took it completely apart and gave it a thorough cleaning. Removed the tone head section and took out all moving parts. Deoxided everything (with the exception of rubber parts – for sure). Swapped the belts of the main motor and the counter (all were old and stiff) removed all old rubber. No corrosion on the inside at all. Just dust. Took the wheels apart, cleaned and lubed everything afterwards again. Took the whole amplifying section apart and cleaned all switches and the display. Cleaned the heads with pure alcohol. Cleaned all inputs and outputs with deoxied. Put it back together. Results: No scratching noises from the mechanics anymore. All switches work and there is no humming or scratching from the switches. Reels are spinning freely. The tape is now while fast forwarding not touching the heads anymore. Reverse and forward playing works just fine. Recording works just fine. Got some new tapes from ATR – just perfect. It automatically stops once the tape comes to its end.
Initial problems: If you are at the end of the tape and then reverse the direction, it got stuck and needed some “help” in picking up the right speed. I found out about 2 issues:
1) the pressure of the pinch roller was not high enough. I adjusted it. Seems that the spring lost tension over the years.
2) One of the clamps of the torque adjusting resistors broke. I assume that the torque is now too low, since it only “passes” thru. I ordered I new clamp over ebay. Well it is second hand stock of a dismantled SD 7000 but will suffice.
Once I adjusted the pinch roller everything worked fine again. I will wait for the spare part and thru this will increase the torque slightly again.
What I don’t get under control is the smell….2 of the units were packed in the original foil when I bought it – in the original boxes. I guess it was sitting in there for more than 20 years and couldn’t “breath”. The smell is just absurd. It is not the old good electronics smell. This is a combination out of smoke, mold, mothballs, old paper – hard to describe (no worries – there is no mold). The SD 5050 and the receiver are the worst. You switch them on and once they get warm the stinking starts. I am at the end of my wisdom. I really cleaned both units with deoxid, alcohol, furniture polish, windex – just everything. The bad scent will not go away. It has become better, but it is still there and is utterly annoying… ANY ideas?
I worked on the three devices now with my 12 year old for 6 days in a row. The money I overspent on the gear was easily made up for by a 6 days “dad and son” workshop and an introduction into hifi and an introduction into fixing hifi mechanics…
I will move back to Europe in a couple of weeks. Any suggestions which spare parts I should buy once I am still in the US? I would consider myself as being technically savvy at least with the mechanical parts – but I can handle a soldering gun and can read circuit diagrams as well.
Does anybody have the manual for the SD 5050? I have the original one for the qrx 5500 and a copy for the 4060. I have the connection “card” for the SD 5050 and the service manual, but not the manual. This beast is not easy to understand…
Any idea where I could get the strips from which trigger the auto reverse for the SD 5050?
What do I have to look out for and where is the risk? Where do I get spare parts – in particular the VU meter for the QRX 5500?
Thanks, and if there is interest I will keep you posted…
Kandetvara
During the last 3 months I put my dream Sansui combo together. The plan was to get a combo which was not too expensive, but in very good optical/cosmetically condition. Technically it was supposed to be OK, in case of break downs it had to be repairable. I did not want to buy a redone/recapped unit – I want to do this myself with my son. I went to a couple of estate sales, looked out for ebay auctions and checked out the goodwill stores and their online offerings. Particularly the estate sales shocked me – it seems that everything which is a turntable gets a price tag of at least $150 – no matter what the thing looks like. Saw really nice 9090 combos with Thorens turntables – in really good shape, but he wanted to have $1800 in total – hardly any room for negotiation – so I left – not only once…
So here is what I got by now:
· SD 5050 Reel to Reel
· FR 4060 Turntable
· QRX 5500 Quad Receiver
As speakers I use a pair of Klipsch Heresy’s, which were connected to my Fisher 800C. So the fisher is currently without speakers
During the last week I started to take the gear apart. Here is the status before I took it apart:
1) QRX 5500 – worked just fine. Only one VU meter is not working. No humming or crackling whatsoever. All parts are there. There is some light rust on the bottom of the housing if you take it out of the wooden cabinet. The cabinet has no scratches whatsoever. The same applies for the display. No cracks, no scratches, no nothing. The buttons (not the knobs, the buttons where you select for example tape monitoring) are showing some use.
2) FR 4060. Did not move at all. Not spinning no sound. No nothing. Cosmetically again in very good condition. No scratches. The wooden frame is superb. No rust whatsoever. The lid shows some usage and wear, but no cracks and no scratches other than from cleaning. Both head shells are there. One in original packaging. Even the original oil “can” was there – unopened. The needle was a write off, the cartridge is ok. The only thing missing is one particular additional counterweight. I have not found out where this should go though. The normal counterweights are all there. But the whole unit non operational.
3) SD 5050. Moved. Some music audible. Fast forward and reverse worked but the tape was still on the heads and did not lift. Counter did not work. Reverse play did not work. Once the reel was at its end the machine would not switch off and continue fast forwarding forever. Housing has no scratches or dings or whatsoever. No rust. Neither inside nor outside. All plugs (DIN echo plug as well as remote dummy plug) came with the unit. Cosmetically in a very good condition, the front plate has some corrosion to take care of. Nothing major.
For what it’s worth – I have for all three units the original packaging. In mint condition Problem with the 5500 and the 5050 seems to be that the original owners where HEAVY smokers. I come later to the cleaning, but the smell is really hard to get under control….
So I spent the last 7 days in taking all of the equipment apart and put it back together. This was just to get a perspective of what can be done immediately and what has to be done at a later stage.
1) QRX 5500: I cleaned all the potentiometers with deoxid (by the gallon). I cleaned the whole unit with deoxid, pure alcohol and every other chemical the North American chemical industry came up with. It looks splendid! I took everything apart, but did not touch the electronics (yet). I disassembled the display, took off all knobs, removed the housing, cleaned the back etc.pp. Not one part missing. The unit was taken care of very well. I literally took everything apart and gave it a good cleaning. There is some corrosion inside. I guess it was stored in the attic for too long, but nothing serious. There is NO cracking sound whatsoever on all the switches. The only thing which is not working is one VU meter – it is not the fuse – I swapped this. I think the meter blew at some stage.
In general it sounds really good!!!
2) FR4060. I took it completely apart. No corrosion or rust – nothing. I deoxid all the switches and lubed all the mechanical parts. I removed the bearing/spindle which was hardly turning and heated it up in the oven at 150 F. After that I oiled it again – it now spins like a dream. I swapped the belt(as a matter of fact the old one disintegrated over the years – just rubber parts remaining) and replaced the needle (with a cheap one – just to test). Still nothing – the turntable now spinned in the repeat mode but no audio. Then I realized that the second motor for the tone arm is connected as well to the 110/220 volt switch and I assumed that the audio will only be switched on once the arm will move. So I had a closer look at the switch and removed it, deoxided it and switched it a couple of times. There was a slack joint. This did the trick. Once the motor for the tone arm worked the whole thing came to live. It runs, I have audio and it sounds beautifully. I continued with the cleaning and lubed all the mechanical switches and oiled the pulley and the motor (the original sealed oil tube was still there..) Everything is working fine now. Exception: The little lamp showing that the turntable is on doesn’t work (not sure if it is the lamp or the cable – have to look into that)
I calibrated the tone arm and set the values new for auto in and auto out. I took the reed contact apart and realigned the magnet on the tone arm which triggers the auto out. I lubricated every moving part. It works now like a charm…
One thing I noticed. During the initial test phase, once I switched it on, there was always a relatively loud “bang” once I moved the switch to start. Just for a split of a second, so I had to turn down the volume to make sure that the loudspeakers were not damaged. Now I played 10 records or so and the “bang” is gone. This has to be something electronically – any help or advice is welcome. Faulty capacitor?
I still have the original stylus and cartridge on one of the head shells. On the other original head shell (was still originally packed) I installed an audio technica cartridge (dirt cheap) for being able to test. It works.
What would you recommend for a new cartage and needle and do you think that I can fix the old original one (seems that you can put in a new needle manually?) Or is it not worth the effort?
3) SD 5050. Took it completely apart and gave it a thorough cleaning. Removed the tone head section and took out all moving parts. Deoxided everything (with the exception of rubber parts – for sure). Swapped the belts of the main motor and the counter (all were old and stiff) removed all old rubber. No corrosion on the inside at all. Just dust. Took the wheels apart, cleaned and lubed everything afterwards again. Took the whole amplifying section apart and cleaned all switches and the display. Cleaned the heads with pure alcohol. Cleaned all inputs and outputs with deoxied. Put it back together. Results: No scratching noises from the mechanics anymore. All switches work and there is no humming or scratching from the switches. Reels are spinning freely. The tape is now while fast forwarding not touching the heads anymore. Reverse and forward playing works just fine. Recording works just fine. Got some new tapes from ATR – just perfect. It automatically stops once the tape comes to its end.
Initial problems: If you are at the end of the tape and then reverse the direction, it got stuck and needed some “help” in picking up the right speed. I found out about 2 issues:
1) the pressure of the pinch roller was not high enough. I adjusted it. Seems that the spring lost tension over the years.
2) One of the clamps of the torque adjusting resistors broke. I assume that the torque is now too low, since it only “passes” thru. I ordered I new clamp over ebay. Well it is second hand stock of a dismantled SD 7000 but will suffice.
Once I adjusted the pinch roller everything worked fine again. I will wait for the spare part and thru this will increase the torque slightly again.
What I don’t get under control is the smell….2 of the units were packed in the original foil when I bought it – in the original boxes. I guess it was sitting in there for more than 20 years and couldn’t “breath”. The smell is just absurd. It is not the old good electronics smell. This is a combination out of smoke, mold, mothballs, old paper – hard to describe (no worries – there is no mold). The SD 5050 and the receiver are the worst. You switch them on and once they get warm the stinking starts. I am at the end of my wisdom. I really cleaned both units with deoxid, alcohol, furniture polish, windex – just everything. The bad scent will not go away. It has become better, but it is still there and is utterly annoying… ANY ideas?
I worked on the three devices now with my 12 year old for 6 days in a row. The money I overspent on the gear was easily made up for by a 6 days “dad and son” workshop and an introduction into hifi and an introduction into fixing hifi mechanics…
I will move back to Europe in a couple of weeks. Any suggestions which spare parts I should buy once I am still in the US? I would consider myself as being technically savvy at least with the mechanical parts – but I can handle a soldering gun and can read circuit diagrams as well.
Does anybody have the manual for the SD 5050? I have the original one for the qrx 5500 and a copy for the 4060. I have the connection “card” for the SD 5050 and the service manual, but not the manual. This beast is not easy to understand…
Any idea where I could get the strips from which trigger the auto reverse for the SD 5050?
What do I have to look out for and where is the risk? Where do I get spare parts – in particular the VU meter for the QRX 5500?
Thanks, and if there is interest I will keep you posted…
Kandetvara
