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onkyo t-9

terra1 said:
Does it have a Sensor switch in back with Low, Normal, High? The Sensor switch controls the sensitivity of the tuning knob. The manual on my T-9 says set it to Low initially. The TUNED lamp in normal operation should light steady but go out momentarily as you touch the tuning knob, and come back on when you release the knob. If the TUNED lamp doesn't turn off when you touch it then move it up to Normal. Setting it at High causes some of those flickering and tuning problems for me.

Also you may want to make sure the antenna wire is not touching any power cords or cables.

If flicker occurs on just certain stations, it may be a signal too weak for the tuner (maybe try a different antenna) or it may need alignment. Another thought is to check some of the threads on cleaning the tuner.

Also on my T-9, the De-Emphasis switch settings are 75 usec for US, 50 usec for Europe, 25 usec for Dolby recording.
Click to expand...

Yes, it has the three position switch, and I tried all 3 positions. For a while the tuner would at least tune in stations so that the red stereo indicator lit, but the green "tuned" light never would light. Recently, sometimes the "tuned" light would flicker in, and the sound would flicker, too. This happened even on strong stations. So I simply defeated the auto tuning with the wood block, probably due to the weight.

I've found that antenna wire placement is very sensitive. It's as if all the audiophile obsessions on speaker wire, when they're applied to antenna wire, actually make a huge effect on reception. I've tried to keep the wire away from all metal, power cords, etc., but there may be something around the wire somewhere that's causing the problems.

Yeah, my tuner probably needs an alignment of some kind, or more likely a repair. But it does pull in stations and sounds good.
 
shocley said:
Yes, it has the three position switch, and I tried all 3 positions. For a while the tuner would at least tune in stations so that the red stereo indicator lit, but the green "tuned" light never would light. Recently, sometimes the "tuned" light would flicker in, and the sound would flicker, too. This happened even on strong stations. So I simply defeated the auto tuning with the wood block, probably due to the weight.

I've found that antenna wire placement is very sensitive. It's as if all the audiophile obsessions on speaker wire, when they're applied to antenna wire, actually make a huge effect on reception. I've tried to keep the wire away from all metal, power cords, etc., but there may be something around the wire somewhere that's causing the problems.

Yeah, my tuner probably needs an alignment of some kind, or more likely a repair. But it does pull in stations and sounds good.
Click to expand...

At the HIGH setting, my TUNED lamp would have trouble staying on. So best to have it at LOW or Normal. I also noticed when I had it on HIGH, if I was too close to the tuning knob my body could cause it to flicker and go haywire too.

I have been playing with it since and I did have a period where I got some flicker and distortion. But I think I got it back to where it was. I'm pretty sure it's an alignment and adjustment issue for me.

But hey block of wood or no, as long as it works is my motto. Play with anything too much and you can make it worse.
 
terra1 said:
At the HIGH setting, my TUNED lamp would have trouble staying on. So best to have it at LOW or Normal. I also noticed when I had it on HIGH, if I was too close to the tuning knob my body could cause it to flicker and go haywire too.

I have been playing with it since and I did have a period where I got some flicker and distortion. But I think I got it back to where it was. I'm pretty sure it's an alignment and adjustment issue for me.

But hey block of wood or no, as long as it works is my motto. Play with anything too much and you can make it worse.
Click to expand...

I've noticed the same thing when I get close to my T-4090. The other part of the story is that I also have a T-4040, and it tunes in fine - the tuned lamp lights up and doesn't flicker. I do recall doing the same sort of playing with the T-4040 as you did with your tuner. The T-4040 fine tuned automatically doesn't seem to sound any better than the T-4090 tuned by hand, using the left/right green arrows and the stereo indicator light.

The T-4090 is in a basement system (with the T-4040), so a block of wood hanging from the tuning knob isn't an aesthetic horror (though I cut out a hole in a slab of wood with a drill for the tuning knob to fit through so it doesn't look too jury rigged). Maybe someone else with the same problem can use this quick and dirty and cheap fix to keep their tuner going.

But I think a service manual is in order for the T-4090, as it has a reputation as a tuner with some class, though maybe not quite on the level of a T-9. The only problem is, as soon as it calls for a sweep generator or distortion analyzer, I'm out of luck, as the cost of these would buy me a truly excellent tuner in excellent conditon. What's intriguing is that I've heard about experts who can do an alignement without any specialized instruments.
 
Hi guys,

My understanding of the way that knob works is that there's a circuit which detects the capacitance in your hand (body) to unlock the station. I read somewhere that the adjustment in sensitivity is just for differences in you and your surroundings due to humidity etc.

I checked the schematic for the T-9 and there's no adjustment for this part of the circuit. An alignment might work, but I'm not sure if it definitely will. I guess if it's just not actually tuning properly it'd do this as well, though.

However, there's a couple of small caps between the knob and the opamp which drives the sensor circuit (looks like a filter circuit) - maybe these are out of spec? On the T-9 they're a 1uF/50v electro and what looks like a .022uF mylar (polyester/greencap). The electro is in series with the opamp input and is the main suspect. I'm only mentioning this because it's a five minute job and the cap is worth about 30c so there's no biggie if it doesn't work...

By the way, this function on my T-9 is flawless.

In the meantime, if I were you I'd make sure the sensitivity switch is fully functional with a bit of deoxit and a flick back and forth, just in case it's not. Worth a try.

Cheers

Stuey
 
I have two of these...one in use, matched with the A-10, which for my ears, is a VERY sweet combo.

http://picasaweb.google.com/zr1gary/OnkyoA10AndT9#5260002090799596098

My T-9s are very good at picking up and locking onto weak stations. All I have for antennas are simple wire ones. I can only imaging having a good external one!

Neither of my units have been aligned, and both outperfom, or match, most of my other tuners...including Sansui, Marantz, Pioneer, SAE, Carver.

Not to say that they are better than, say my Pioneer 9800s, but in my rotation test....in my house...they match the sound and performance.
Others may have different views/experienes with the T-9...but I really like them...AND the A-10 Amp.
 
To shocley and others:
I have had an Onkyo T9 for several years. Early on, I discovered an easy way to defeat the touch tuning, which I consider to be a useless gimmick. I wish that Onkyo had instead chosen to include variable i.f. bandwidth instead, which would have been of real benefit to users. The touch tuning is merely an elaborate glorified AFC system, which no tuner worthy of the name needs, INCLUDING the T9.
To retrievably defeat the touch tuning, merely move the touch tuning sensitivity switch on the back panel to an intermediate position between the "lo" and "norm" settings (the "locked" light will go out). Doing this will actually make the tuner slightly quieter, as the touch tuning circuitry causes a barely audible background noise during quiet passages. I find that my T9 does not drift perceivably from a cold start with the touch tuning disabled, proving that it was never needed in the first place.
If one wishes to have the tuner more readily accept weaker stations without muting in the stereo mode, rotate R354 (on the unshielded part of the front end circuit board) fully clockwise. Either of these suggestions can be returned to "normal" operation at any time with minimal effort and no circuit modification.
2chanman
 
goof correction

I meant to say, the "tuning" lamp will go off when the touch tuning is disabled; not the "locked" lamp. Sorry about that.
2chanman
 
2chanman said:
To shocley and others:
I have had an Onkyo T9 for several years. Early on, I discovered an easy way to defeat the touch tuning, which I consider to be a useless gimmick. I wish that Onkyo had instead chosen to include variable i.f. bandwidth instead, which would have been of real benefit to users. The touch tuning is merely an elaborate glorified AFC system, which no tuner worthy of the name needs, INCLUDING the T9.
To retrievably defeat the touch tuning, merely move the touch tuning sensitivity switch on the back panel to an intermediate position between the "lo" and "norm" settings (the "locked" light will go out). Doing this will actually make the tuner slightly quieter, as the touch tuning circuitry causes a barely audible background noise during quiet passages. I find that my T9 does not drift perceivably from a cold start with the touch tuning disabled, proving that it was never needed in the first place.
If one wishes to have the tuner more readily accept weaker stations without muting in the stereo mode, rotate R354 (on the unshielded part of the front end circuit board) fully clockwise. Either of these suggestions can be returned to "normal" operation at any time with minimal effort and no circuit modification.
2chanman
Click to expand...

I've tried the moving the switch in back to an intermediate position idea, and it seems to work! I agree with your opinion on the touch-tuning system. Just another one of those things that are supposed to make it easier on the consumer but end up making things a lot harder.
 
Stuey said:
I'd have one more go at R214 before I go wholesale replacing the caps. I CAREFULLY place my multimeter, set on frequency, between pin 10 of the HA1156 chip and ground. This pin outputs 19kHz, or it should. It was putting out about 17kHz, so I adjusted R214 to give 19.00 and IT WORKED!!!
Click to expand...

This is an old thread but thought I would post my experience with the stereo light in case someone else is trying to fix their T-9. I recently picked up a new antennae for the old T-9 so I thought I would give it a "tune up" and fix that stereo light. Thanks to Stuey's post about adjusting R214 I verified that my frequency was out and adjusting it to 19kHz would make the stereo light go on, but as soon I disconnected the ground to my DMM the stereo light would go out :( I then found a wire wrap peg at the back of the board marked "19KHz". I moved my DMM connection from pin 10 to this peg and readjusted R214 to show 19kHz. This time the stereo light stayed on when I disconnected the DMM, and I have stereo again :music:
 
Back from the dead with this thread, I just picked up one of these tuners and will need to do some maintainence on it. So far it's looking pretty clean and corrosion free on the inside, but the actual wires and lamp holder for the pointer lamp are missing from this one and I don't really know where I would find a replacement. Do these panel/ tuning/locked/stereo lamps have to be exactly as posted in the service manual for the radio to function properly? What I'm getting at is that I would like to be able to replace them with LED's to keep from having to source these tiny lamps here in Germany.

Thanks,
Parker
 
Hi,
I am glad you did bring it back from the dead. I picked up one of these tuners with amp, cass and turntable just before Xmass.
I have little experience with this stereo stuff but with the help of the info available through this thread I have been able to get the tuner up and running.
The two lights for the metres are not working and I think it could do with an alignment (or a better arial) but other than that it works fine.

Thanks’ to the forum for all that is available here.


DSC08815.jpg
 
It has a lot of fans here. It was Onkyo's top-of-the-line tuner before they went digital.
 
Here's another T-9 owner who is in love with R214 (thanks for the stereo tip!).

I've replaced the meter lights with LEDs, and did it with the pointer light as well, but I'm not happy with the latter, as it only lights the pointer, and leaves the dial scale unlit. I'm considering adding some flanking LEDs to shine down on the scale as the pointer moves, so I can see approximately where I'm tuning.
 
Another dredge from the dead for this thread.
I picked up a T-9 with an A-5 last week and had the same problem with no stereo signal.

I tried adjusting R214 with a noninsulated screwdriver first, but it didn't work. When I found an insulated screwdriver, it did the trick and I now have a great stereo signal!

It's a great tuner I love it.
 
I bought mine in 1975 or 76
just got another at goodwill for $8.00
The 2nd one i opened and saw the audio output wires are not shielded.
and they run them right next to the power wires.
I rerouted them and will change to shielded cables later.
Cheapest inprovement you can do to this tuner.
This has got to pick-up line noise.
too bad not much info on modding these tuners.
 
The lights on mine Just stoped working... adjusted the r-214 and Still nothing :idea:

EDIT
now woks fine...
deoxit the pot and is ok
 
Last edited:
fandersen said:
This is an old thread but thought I would post my experience with the stereo light in case someone else is trying to fix their T-9. I recently picked up a new antennae for the old T-9 so I thought I would give it a "tune up" and fix that stereo light. Thanks to Stuey's post about adjusting R214 I verified that my frequency was out and adjusting it to 19kHz would make the stereo light go on, but as soon I disconnected the ground to my DMM the stereo light would go out :( I then found a wire wrap peg at the back of the board marked "19KHz". I moved my DMM connection from pin 10 to this peg and readjusted R214 to show 19kHz. This time the stereo light stayed on when I disconnected the DMM, and I have stereo again :music:
Click to expand...


Thanks for this post, this helped me fix my same exact problem.
 
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