Tu-s7 pretty awesome, but a bit flaky.

[loudnoises]

I've recently acquired a tu-s7, and in general it has lived up to the hype. Sound is excellent, tuning is very good. With a quad and single reflector i can pull in virtually anything from boston 50 miles south, if not stereo then crystal clear mono. I'm very pleased.

But it's got some flakiness i'd like to nail down. Occasionally it just doesn't tune a station. 89.1 will be tuned just fine witha strong signal, i'll switch to something else, scan back and it's gone. No signal repoted. tune up/down a bit and the station comes back. The most interesting thing was the one time it thought it was a tu-s9, and the 6 preset buttons were letting me direct tune for a moment before it remembered it didn't have that function and went back to being an s7.

Anyone been there before? I know the digitals aren't as renowned as the tu-x17 line but this tuner is no slouch. It's been acting better after a few weeks, hasn't tried to be an s9 recently, but i'm about to open it up to fix a broken mem/cal switch and am wondering if there's anything i should look into while it's on the bench. realigning this is out of my range right now, and it doesn't seem to need it. I feel like i should be chasing a leaky diode or a lifted solder pad.

Any thoughts?

 

[Hyperion]

I had your post moved here as it is more likely to get replies.

 

[loudnoises]

I had your post moved here as it is more likely to get replies.

Thanks, still learning the site.

 

[Hyperion]

Thanks, still learning the site.

Good luck with the problem, let's hope I am right about more replies here.

 

[Punker X]

Don't see these too often. The brochure says it should have 12 preset stations. I would recommend a recap. The auto tuning issue is more than like alignment related. Specifically the discriminator zero adjustment. Adjacent channel and multipath can also affect the ability auto-tune.

 

[Lesterbest]

As long as thje caps are not leaking or bulging, I'd leave well enough alone. Spring for an alignment. If you want to do both, do caps 1st.

 

[loudnoises]

Don't see these too often. The brochure says it should have 12 preset stations. I would recommend a recap. The auto tuning issue is more than like alignment related. Specifically the discriminator zero adjustment. Adjacent channel and multipath can also affect the ability auto-tune.

The TU-s9 has 12, the TU-s7 has 6. the "front end" of the two is identical (so says the internet gods), guessing jumpers tell it what it is at that point. I'm going to guess something is out of spec inside. Possible it's also related to a couple buttons that don't click right when pressed.

As long as thje caps are not leaking or bulging, I'd leave well enough alone. Spring for an alignment. If you want to do both, do caps 1st.

No clue on interior condition but the silver outside is clean even in the crannies. Haven't opened it up yet was tunerless till it arrived. I picked up an akai at-vo4 this week, and I'm going to swap that in and check out the TU-s7. The Akai is absolutely mint and there was barely a scratch on the power plug. The batteries in the memory were pre-1982 ray-o-vac logo, i doubt it was used much if at all. SO happy.

Caps. Part of me wants to replace every electrolytic cap in everything i own over 30yrs old. If something is obviously bad i've no problem replacing it. Actually just finished doing an audiocontrol d-520 minutes ago. But wont i be causing myself problems swapping out all the caps in a tuner, without being able to do an alignment afterwards? It's still voodoo to me, and even with my newly acquired SG, I'm a scope and lots of practice away from doing alignments to fix what i've broken. As far as paying someone, it's not out of the question once i figure out what tuner is worthy.

I'll have it open by the weekend, if i find anything i'll follow up. Thanks all!

 

[Lesterbest]

If you're serious about this tuner, get a pro alignment. If you replace the caps after the alignment, you'll spoil the alignment which is not a DIY job requiring special pricey test gear, plus experience & expertise.

 

[Punker X]

Brochure says 12. Only 6 buttons. Had to scroll down... Technically it is 12.. 6 FM and 6 AM..

 

[loudnoises]

Brochure says 12. Only 6 buttons. Had to scroll down... Technically it is 12.. 6 FM and 6 AM..

Doh. you are correct.

I was thinking of the s9 having enough presets to serve as digits...