Spec 2 went into Protection after shipping damage

cnyel1967

Super Member
Received a Spec 2 today that had taken a hit on the front left. Was enough to bend the otherwise stout rack handle. Popped the lid and no apparent internal damage and looked over the rest of unit and then hooked to a matching Spec 1. Everything powered up fine and had good sound on both channels. Both CD and tuner inputs worked fine. Then after about 30 mins of low to mid volume listening, the right speaker made a series of loud pops and amp went into protection mode. Turned amp off and back on and left meter shot up (right stayed still) and stayed in protection. Checked all connections and let unit sit for about 10-15 mins and turned it on again and everything was fine. I did not leave it on long after that as I'm concerned about further damage.

My questions is... would the jolt that bent the rack handle be enough to cause the amp to intermittently go into protection? Or could this simply be a prior issue? What would possibly cause unit to go into protection after 30 minutes (after getting warm) and then be functional again after 10 mins? Could it be the test speakers I was using? They are 50 watt, 6 ohm speakers that I use to test most of my new stuff. Again, it was mostly lower volume testing as I know how much power these amps push but those speakers may not have been a match. If it was the speakers, I'm willing to hook it up to my Kappa 8.1's and re-audition. I'm just worried that it will go back into protection if it's not the speaker.

Seller stated everything worked great prior and I have no reason not to believe him. I have contacted him about the damage to the unit and protection mode issue and waiting to hear back. I like the unit but don't want to invest too much time and $$ into a possible costly repair. Pics attached. Thanks for any input
 

Attachments

  • 11-2-17 040.JPG
    11-2-17 040.JPG
    85.5 KB · Views: 57
  • 11-2-17 041.JPG
    11-2-17 041.JPG
    90.8 KB · Views: 51
  • 11-2-17 033.JPG
    11-2-17 033.JPG
    67 KB · Views: 53
  • 11-2-17 039.JPG
    11-2-17 039.JPG
    85.9 KB · Views: 53
I've noticed on the last two Spec 2 amps that the main amp boards can get hot around the driver transistors where the solder melts and causes cold or no connections. At first, it looked like a butcher repair but after inspecting the area it's actually inherent to the sets. I suspect the ones that are driven hard with 4 ohm speakers and high volume settings may contribute to it.
The damage could be the cause but more so would be an old age issue and and to a lesser extent, both.

This and all vintage equipment is an incident waiting to happen. They all need a good look see before expecting any reliability.
 
Last edited:
Ouch, that sucks. Sounds like it might be an intermittent connection or a cracked solder joint as Zeb suggested, the amount of force required to bend that handle is pretty significant and could have broken something internally as well. A complete visual diagnosis of all the internal boards and connections would be a good place to start in tracking down the problem. I wouldn't recommend running it again until the problem's cause is determined.
 
main amp boards can get hot around the driver transistors where the solder melts and causes cold or no connections

Sounds like it might be an intermittent connection or a cracked solder joint

Thanks for the feedback. A friend of mine suggested the same thing. I'm still waiting to hear back from seller and I'm on the fence about keeping it (with a negotiated discount) or returning for a refund.
 
Ouch, that sucks. Sounds like it might be an intermittent connection or a cracked solder joint as Zeb suggested, the amount of force required to bend that handle is pretty significant and could have broken something internally as well. A complete visual diagnosis of all the internal boards and connections would be a good place to start in tracking down the problem. I wouldn't recommend running it again until the problem's cause is determined.
I would also agree about a cracked solder joint...I had a SPEC 1 and SPEC 4.

The Amp needs a complete Restore (Recap, Diodes, etc) no matter what other's say. So...Depends what you purchased SPEC 2 at and what the Seller will credit you back.
 
Thanks for the feedback. A friend of mine suggested the same thing. I'm still waiting to hear back from seller and I'm on the fence about keeping it (with a negotiated discount) or returning for a refund.

I would keep it myself, the SPEC-2 is an amazing amp and well worth restoring. I have one here that was given to me I'm currently restoring and I've restored others for people. Never fails to impress, they have a LOT of power and an awesome sound.
 
I usually find the NEC TO-220 xsistors mounted on the small heat-sinks to be leaky. The last one I worked on with shipping damage had a damaged protect/meter PCB. The power xfmr had shifted enough to come in contact with that board and crack it along with several broken traces. Or maybe it was the faceplate that shoved in to make contact with the power xfmr, anyway it was a mess.
 
I would keep it myself, the SPEC-2 is an amazing amp and well worth restoring. I have one here that was given to me I'm currently restoring and I've restored others for people. Never fails to impress, they have a LOT of power and an awesome sound

Thanks Matt- I'm working with seller on a claim, so depending on how that goes, I may end up keeping with a fair discount to put towards repair/restoration. Beyond the bent rack handle, it's in nice shape. Great talking to you the other day.

Could be unrelated to the shipping damage, Pioneer used a lot of transistors that go noisy. Could also be a cracked pc board

Thanks dr*audio- from the feedback I'm getting, I'm leaning towards something on a board going bad or damaged.
 
The symptoms sound familiar to the typical tired SPEC 2 symptoms.

When in protection, is the left meter at 1/2 or either meter?

There was some threads here in AK talking about SPEC 2 stuck in protect with the one meter being up at 1/2 or so.

Those threads scared me about the SPEC 2 when I was new to fixing vintage. Once I actually did repair and restore one, I found that they are not bad at all. The reed relay issue is the tricky part but the dead bug fix that echowars posted takes care of that.

It’s possible that the shipping damage caused weak points to weaken. It’s not dead, just not as heathy as the seller claims.

The SPEC 2 should be restored. Probably all SPEC 2 should be restored. They have their weak points (reed relays) and are getting very old.

Buying vintage expecting perfect function for a long time without restoration is silly, especially TOTL.

That’s like buying a 40 year old sports car and expecting it to look and work like new.

Collect shipping damage if possible.
Packing was either insufficient or it was miss-handled.

Then either you or the seller need to get it looked at by a vintage competent tech.

FWIW, outside of the Pioneer cult here at AK, I don’t know of any techs that can do the proper work in those. I fixed one because I learned from the masters here. That one had been to the repair shop once or twice and they could not do what it needed.
 
Just digging through reading the older threads on the SPEC 2 to see the inherent issues they may have. I still am looking for one. Hopefully one will pop up. Good luck on your unit, I hope your claim gets resolved.

Jeff
 
Back
Top Bottom