My first McIntosh!! MC2125! now with restoration pics
- Thread starter moewillis
- Start date
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
when i have some time i will type it up. i have everything on my notepad and will have to sort it out to make sense of it in a post.
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moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
i never thought to check outside of the US ebay. i was having trouble finding reasonable dimension specs on the ones listed on ebay US. thanks for the suggestions! i just went ahead with whatever mac has in stock. it was a little expensive but i figured for all the work im doing im still ok. it would cost a FORTUNE to have someone else even do half the work im doing so i thought what the heck, at least i will know they are right and i'll still be money ahead. i tracked my shipment and should see them friday!
evoroadster
Active Member
I app
I, and I am sure others in the future, will appreciate it.
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
power board done! the guy used a ton of super glue to hold down his 2 replaced caps. that sucked to get them free.
![IMG_2152[1]](/forums/index.php?media/img_2152-1.9058/full&d=1484792862)
i tried to take a shot of the leds but @62caddy is correct, they look terrible in the pics. in real life they look amazing!!! nice and even and a deep blue! i havent had a new mac in front of me but i could see them wanting this color!
![IMG_2153[1]](/forums/index.php?media/img_2153-1.9059/full&d=1484792862)
one interesting note. the "limit" lights are both lit all the time. the speaker relay works fine when engaging and disengaging the switch but the lights never turn off. i wonder if the leds may not work well in that position. when the unit is powered down the normal and limit lights both stay light and slowly dim to nothing. i have a feeling i may be swapping those out (again) to normal bulbs. other than that everything went well.
i tried to take a shot of the leds but @62caddy is correct, they look terrible in the pics. in real life they look amazing!!! nice and even and a deep blue! i havent had a new mac in front of me but i could see them wanting this color!
one interesting note. the "limit" lights are both lit all the time. the speaker relay works fine when engaging and disengaging the switch but the lights never turn off. i wonder if the leds may not work well in that position. when the unit is powered down the normal and limit lights both stay light and slowly dim to nothing. i have a feeling i may be swapping those out (again) to normal bulbs. other than that everything went well.
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
not much else it could be. i have only recapped the 2 boards (about 10 caps) and they are all fine. from reading the owners manual it sounds like they shouldnt be lit together anyways. normal drops out and limit lights up. there isnt a whole lot it could be outside of the leds. i think they run on next to no volatage and the current draw is so small they slowly discharge after the unit is off.
i will work on getting that resolved before i do anything else. i havent even touched the underside of the unit and they were working fine before the bulb swap. i may just swap in the standard bulbs and see what happens. its not terribly difficult
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moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
Well my suspicions were correct. This has been eating at me all day so when I got home for lunch I pulled the board and swapped the 2 limit lights over to standard bulbs. I left the LEDs in place for the "normal" bulbs. Fired it up, no problems! There is minimal voltage on the limit lights even when not running but it must be enough to turn the leds on. That or the pair of new bulbs I installed are bad 
. Btw is there any good way to make the limit lights trip for testing purposes?
. Btw is there any good way to make the limit lights trip for testing purposes?
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
one amp card done. i feel like an idiot though. in one size i accidentally ordered bipolar caps. its a 3.3 uf @ 35v. im going to dig around in my spare caps bin and see what ive got. i really hate to put the old caps back in but im not really crazy about leaving the bp in place. may have to order some crap from mouser to make it worthwhile...
![IMG_2157[1]](/forums/index.php?media/img_2157-1.9065/full&d=1484880618)
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
im pretty hacked off right now. i was so excited to see my caps had arrived only to find mac labs only sent me 2. i clearly ordered 4 but for whatever reason they only sent 2. my invoice only lists 2 with no mention of any backorder.... guess i'll have to wait until monday to contact them again and order 2 more
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
i spoke with mac labs this morning. they apologized for the error and are shipping the pair out next day air (no charge on the shipping). i noticed that the date codes on the pair i received are 0207. they also did not send any new screws with them (which i know are included with them when they are originally sent from the manufacturer). i was told that they no longer have any screws available and these were the newest they had. in fact they said that the 2 shipping to me are the last 2 they have available. for paying a premium i am a little disappointed in that.
it was nice of them to correct their error but the fact that im getting 15 year old caps with out the terminal screws really irritates me. i dont need them i just feel like at full blown retail price they could at least send a complete cap.
in the mean time i placed another order with mouser to upgrade a few caps to ukw audio caps and i screwed up (again) and didnt order bipolar caps for the 2 on the input jack board. i should have everything in hand tomorrow and once i get everything sorted out i will post a finalized list. i have swapped some of the caps in the left channel board and am waiting to do the others until i get the ukw's in.
it was nice of them to correct their error but the fact that im getting 15 year old caps with out the terminal screws really irritates me. i dont need them i just feel like at full blown retail price they could at least send a complete cap.
in the mean time i placed another order with mouser to upgrade a few caps to ukw audio caps and i screwed up (again) and didnt order bipolar caps for the 2 on the input jack board. i should have everything in hand tomorrow and once i get everything sorted out i will post a finalized list. i have swapped some of the caps in the left channel board and am waiting to do the others until i get the ukw's in.
CDE caps I bought last summer from Mouser did have 0953 date codes, so they were also 7 years odd stock back then. Demand for these can´t bee too good. Actually German eBay NOS cap supplier seems to have freshest caps at lowst prices. I am curious were Mac replacemets rated at 10 000uF/50V like the original?
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
yes they were 10,000uf 50v. dimensionally identical. the only difference was they are blue with black tops. i like the blue black look though so that is fine. i think i took a shot of them... let me see if i have it on my phone
MY EYES!!!!! THE GOGGLES DO NOTHING!!!!! </Simpsons>
Seriously, though, those things look bright. Almost hurts my eyes just looking at that photo. Betting it's just something with the camera setting used, and that they look far better in person, but yikes.........
alright, working on a recap list. first board is the meter pc board (044-624). just completed the new caps list for it. i love how this guy just pulls right out! actually had a vented cap hiding in there. i also found that there are 2 service manuals. the one on hifiengine is for the earlier models. luckily after some head scratching i was able to locate the one that corresponds to my unit. there are a few value changes so be careful if you happen to tackle this yourself! i think im going to wait until i have the full list together and post a complete recap list
![IMG_2118[1]](/forums/index.php?media/img_2118-1.8985/full&d=1484266856)
if you look at the brown cap on the right, it has vented.
![IMG_2119[1]](/forums/index.php?media/img_2119-1.8986/full&d=1484266856)
maybe a better shot of leaky cap?
![IMG_2121[1]](/forums/index.php?media/img_2121-1.8988/full&d=1484271489)
more to come
Ah yes, the Rodersteins. Had to deal with them when I redid the lamp board in my MC2120. They hadn't blown their tops, but they'd caused the diodes to heat up, and the lamps were getting about half the voltage they should've been seeing. Bang & Olufsen used a whole bunch of the Maroon Menaces™ as well..........
power board done! the guy used a ton of super glue to hold down his 2 replaced caps. that sucked to get them free.
i tried to take a shot of the leds but @62caddy is correct, they look terrible in the pics. in real life they look amazing!!! nice and even and a deep blue! i havent had a new mac in front of me but i could see them wanting this color!
one interesting note. the "limit" lights are both lit all the time. the speaker relay works fine when engaging and disengaging the switch but the lights never turn off. i wonder if the leds may not work well in that position. when the unit is powered down the normal and limit lights both stay light and slowly dim to nothing. i have a feeling i may be swapping those out (again) to normal bulbs. other than that everything went well.
Much better!
Guessing both yours and 62's amps look far better in person than in photos, but at least the meters in that photo don't look like they're about to go nuclear. I'm inclined to stay with incandescent bulbs behind the meters of my 'new' MC2505, but we shall see. Both it and my 'new' C26 have a couple of burned-out bulbs behind the front panel, and I'm still mulling over my options.As for the LED issues with the limit lights, as a collector of rotary-dial phones, I can believe it. Back in ye olde days, the Princess phone was designed to use an incandescent lamp to light its dial, since white LEDs were a half-century or so away. The design included a 'night light' feature, where the lamp illuminating the dial would stay lit dimly when the handset was on-hook (it could be set to turn off entirely if desired), and a large resistor was used for said dimming.
There are LED replacements available for the old wedge-based incandescent lamps, but when using them, the night light feature no longer works, as the LED stays lit at full brightness with the handset on-hook in spite of the aforementioned resistor. I've also heard of similar issues in devices like early computers where all of the incandescent bulbs were kept dimly lit at all times to prevent filament burnout. There are probably ways to make LEDs work properly in that circuit, but it would likely require a complete redesign, methinks.
-Adam
moewillis
just to recap, i love recapping
Got a bunch of parts in today. Also got a chance to do some work. I started with the amp boards.
I should have used low leakage caps but I'm trying a few audio ukw's on the amp boards. If I don't like them I can always go with the ukl's
Everything back together
I also got the 2 bipolar caps on the input board changed. Probably the biggest pain to change out of them all.
I should have used low leakage caps but I'm trying a few audio ukw's on the amp boards. If I don't like them I can always go with the ukl's
Everything back together
I also got the 2 bipolar caps on the input board changed. Probably the biggest pain to change out of them all.
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