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Sony STR-V7 rises from the grave (almost)

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Bought this about a year ago.
About the only thing that was honestly described by the seller were the cosmetics. (Which are excellent.)

:tears: She was basically DOA with bad sotter joints, a dead tuna, DC offset off the charts, and bad caps that were barely sufficient to put out any sound.
As a result of all her internal wounds it would take about 15 mins of warm-up before there was any output at all. (feeble as it was)
Just to add insult to injury the main dial lamps were some kind of cheesy non-original bright white lamps
that required sunglasses to sit in front of the thing. (My bad, should have asked before I bought it):scratch2:

Unfortunately, due to my schedule I didn't realize how bad the operational condition of the Sony was until a few weeks after the old girl arrived,
so it really wasn't reasonable to try to send her back to the seller.
(Would have gotten around to a re-cap job eventually anyway, but it would have been nice if at least at least the tuner worked.)

Thanks to Ak'er Pepa who generously provided a service manual (Thank you!), :thmbsp: one of my local tech friends was able to resuscitate her with a generous dose of lovin'
(well actually new caps, transistors and diodes and a lot of new sotter joints)
While he was at it, nifty new green LED's were installed to brought back the green glow the Mother Sony intended.

The tuna is still basically dead but when my other buddy who has the proper toys to repair FM has some time, we will try to get that tended to.

Been running her since yesterday on HPM-1500 speakers and she certainly
sounds impressive. (As I would hope, because when the project is complete, I will be the proud owner
of one of the most expensive STR-V7's on the planet.)

The $$$ aside it's nice to here her singing so beautifully....:music:

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That thing looks AWESOME! Almost intimidating. I love it. I might just have to fire up my STR-V5800SD. It's no V7, but it looks good, for a little sister.
Blurry pic, but ...
Thanks for sharing.
Mike
 

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mjennens said:
That thing looks AWESOME! Almost intimidating. I love it. I might just have to fire up my STR-V5800SD. It's no V7, but it looks good, for a little sister.
Blurry pic, but ...
Thanks for sharing.
Mike
Click to expand...

Thanks MJennens. That's a nice receiver.:thmbsp:
The 4800/5800/6800SDs are beautiful machines in their own right.
And they have a better build quality than the later V-series.

Cheers, my friend.
 
Here's my other Sony, STR-6036A. It's my system on my desk at work. I really like the Sony equipment from the '70s. I don't know what it is, but it just seems like it's all built like a tank.
I've thought about recapping both my receivers, at least the PS sections, but haven't ventured into those waters yet. Something I noticed with both of them is that the pots are all in great shape. None have needed de-ox'ed. They all are quiet and smooth.
Mike
 

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mjennens said:
Here's my other Sony, STR-6036A. It's my system on my desk at work. I really like the Sony equipment from the '70s. I don't know what it is, but it just seems like it's all built like a tank.
I've thought about recapping both my receivers, at least the PS sections, but haven't ventured into those waters yet. Something I noticed with both of them is that the pots are all in great shape. None have needed de-ox'ed. They all are quiet and smooth.
Mike
Click to expand...

Hi Mike. (and thanks for your service to the country. God bless you.):ntwrthy::ntwrthy:

The early Sony stuff from the late 60's through the late 70's was really wonderful gear that slips under the radar of many vintage audio buffs.
You have a a couple of very nice specimens there.

Going to open a can of worms here...because this has been a hotly debated subject in many posts before, so this is based on my experience and IMHO)

If you ever get around to it, recapping your Sony's will really transform the sound and reliability of them.
The caps, diodes and some of the transistors are approaching 35-40 years old (way beyond their service life).

Replacing (caps and diodes) on the all of the boards will transform the sound and dynamics of your rigs. (transistors only if they are marginal).
Generally transistors don't fail unless there's been an abnormal current pushed though them or they are continuously exposed to a high amount of heat.
 
Mighty fine receiver, I've been enjoying mine since last year.
 

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Do any of you STR V7 owners run whisper fans ?
I have one ontop (fan-side face down) of my STR V 7 grill over the power caps area vs. the tuner cap side.

I wonder though whether its better to have the fan push cool air into the unit and disbursing the warm air or reverse, helping the warm air flow outward from the top faster than gravity would have it.:scratch2:
 
Sonytubes said:
Do any of you STR V7 owners run whisper fans ?
I have one ontop (fan-side face down) of my STR V 7 grill over the power caps area vs. the tuner cap side.

I wonder though whether its better to have the fan push cool air into the unit and disbursing the warm air or reverse, helping the warm air flow outward from the top faster than gravity would have it.:scratch2:
Click to expand...

Mine runs very cool. The bias is not set very high on it.
Come to think of it all of my other vintage Sony's (TA-3200f's STR 6065/7065/6120) run cool.

Based on that, I'm thinking your Sony may be overbiased? :scratch2:

I do run whisper fans on my 4TB external HD's and the back of my Macs because they run warm to very hot and the fans cool them down about 80%.
 
Que Bella.:drool:

That is one receiver I dearly want, so rare over here in blighty.

One day, one shall be mine.......:sigh:
 
My V7 does not run HOT, but after a long play it will be warm on the grill.
I just run the fan for added measure.
It is a thing I got into with my tube gear... I had extra fans around...

thx.:music:
 
Sonytubes said:
My V7 does not run HOT, but after a long play it will be warm on the grill.
I just run the fan for added measure.
It is a thing I got into with my tube gear... I had extra fans around...

thx.:music:
Click to expand...

Didn't mean to offend (if i did)...:beerchug:

It's just that the Sony's I have experienced have never seemed to need any additional cooling.
I've always been of the opinion that a warm receiver is a happy receiver.

Now the Accuphase, SAE, Threshold amps..and big Marantz receivers, those can get pretty toasty if you run them hard.
So I could see using a small fan with those.:scratch2:
 
Hey your comments were well taken.
Don't worry.
Indeed such online queries are full of variables and thus a bit subjective.

Compared to say a Technics class A amp/receiver my V7 is cool.
But basic moderate volume operation over say 1-2 hours will produce a warm grill. Not hot by any measure.

I just figured additional heat dissipation was good.

You have me curious now.....

"I've always been of the opinion that a warm receiver is a happy receiver."-quoted

Sounds like you mean a regularly used receiver is a happy one versus cold boat anchor. (?)

So its all good !!:thmbsp:

Thanks !
 
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