mas993
New Member
Flipping thru CL ads the other day I saw a listing for some vintage stereo equipment. The classic semi focused photos showed two receivers and a Dual 1219 turntable. Called quickly and told him I was interested and would be there tomorrow morning.Found that the receivers were a little dusty, turned on and drove speakers, scratchy volume controls, looked unmolested and not as if they had a hard life/abused/dropped off a shelf.
Did a little negotiating and loaded them up in the cab of my truck went surfing and then got home and started checking them out in detail.
First and foremost I want to thank all those who have given accurate and detailed info on the forums here on audio karma!
I love working on my air cooled 911, have lots of car tools, I'm left hemisphere oriented and mechanically biased and was very motivated to get these receivers tuned up and playing.
I'm certainly glad I read the posts on the forums about deoxit and the proper way to clean up oxidized components.
I would rather learn from others experiences and mistakes than make the same mistakes again. History repeats itself is a good saying, doing your homework before undertaking a new project is a prudent move, I've kicked myself when making goofs while working on cars because I simply didn't read about tips and pitfalls on car forums before doing it!
I almost was going to use auto grade electrical cleaners instead of deoxit. After seeing how well deoxit worked in my case and reading many posts about gambling with any other solutions, I can only say only use deoxit.
4 of the five dial lights were out on the FM/AM display and the one of the two lamps for the fm tuning and signal strength was dead.
Ordered them from a eBay site, here in two days, free shipping, $8 for 7 white fuse lights, went down to the local music/guitar store and got some deoxit D5.
Cracked the top and looked over the guts which seemed slightly dirty but all original.
Spent 2-3 hours checking out every square centimeter of the interior and understanding the layout. My father was a pilot and a A&P mechanic and told us that "if you want it done right better do it yourself".
Cleaned, lubed and marveled at a 40 year old piece of equipment that I had fond memories of, listening to music back in 1970's. Some of my friends were marantz owners and I was always awed by their performance and styling even as a 19 year old.
The plastic tabs for the fuse lights were just as advised, super brittle and one snapped off when trying to removed the dead fuse lights. Just don't break both tabs when removing the old lights.
After cleaning everything pointed out in all the posts I put it back together and fired it up.
I have not heard such clean, detailed, clear powerful music in many many years!
I have my Advent prodigy towers and baby advents(refoamed) hooked up to the 2238b and it seems to be a perfect match. The listening room is 24' X14' opened beam area and it sounds as if I'm in the recording studio with the artist it's so precise and full sounding.
I have no inclination of ever selling this beautiful piece of equipment.
My wife said its like comparing a VHS tape to a blue ray DVD.
No wonder these receivers are so revered.
I haven't even checked out the Sansui 5000a yet but from reading about it online and on audio karma I think I'll have a second powerhouse for the loft in my home. I have a small home but believe me it will sound good!
Just have to find some vintage speakers for the Sansui.
Thanks again to all those who appreciate this era of audio equipment and sharing their knowledge on this great site!
Audio karma no ka oi!!
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