Hello, so this is my first time on this forum so I might be posting this in the wrong place and let me know if I am. I was wondering if you tech gurus could help me solve a puzzle.
I recently bought an Akai AA-6600 at goodwill for 15 bucks. It's my first real receiver and really my first piece of vintage audio equipment and I thought it would be a fun thing to tinker with. So the receiver was essentially bought DOA. All of the lights turn on, the volume control works, the knobs and switches all seem to be in working order as far as I can tell, and theres basically absolutely no wear and tear on the body...which is neat considering the things nearly 50 years old. HOWEVER this is where my problem comes in: the audio doesn't work.
So the audio is very distorted and very low volume. I tried with multiple sources and tried plugging into various inputs and it's pretty much all the same. My main test in a newer audio technica record player that I for sure know works properly. When I plug into the AUX input ports, the audio is basically a whisper and I have to max it out to hear anything, and even then its very distorted. The only input that really has good pick-up is the port used for the tape recorder, has (somewhat decent) audio volume however its highly distorted and a humming whenever its in idle and not playing anything (which might be normal). The distortion gets worse the higher the volume. This happens both through the speakers and through the headphone jack.
So, in my head this sounds like a power issue due to the raising of volume causing distortion. So I check the fuses and the main fuse looks fine however the protection fuses are the wrong amp size. So i go and change out all the fuses to the correct amperage and all of the sudden...it works! No more distortion and the volume seems to be working properly. However, now I have an issue where the headphone isnt picking up on the left side, its just white noise and humming. So I start fiddling with the balance and the volume controls to see if I can hear any changes when all of the sudden there's a loud "pop" in headphones, and the audio goes back to being distorted and quiet. So I think I've blown a fuse and I go and check and all of the fuses appear to be fine and I test them with my multimeter and they're holding properly. So I start eyeing around the solders and as far as I can tell, everything looks decent. No visible corrosion on any of the boards and no signs of anything that was on fire at one point. I looked at the capacitors and none of them were bulging or poorly connected.
So at this point I've maxed out on my knowledge of what to look for. I know computers but I don't know this stuff. I should probably just call it fried and go and try and find one in better working order but unfortunately Im stubborn and don't give up easily. So If you guys have any ideas as to what to look for that would be appreciated....Also I could just try and take it to vintage audio repair place down the road however thats not as fun.
I recently bought an Akai AA-6600 at goodwill for 15 bucks. It's my first real receiver and really my first piece of vintage audio equipment and I thought it would be a fun thing to tinker with. So the receiver was essentially bought DOA. All of the lights turn on, the volume control works, the knobs and switches all seem to be in working order as far as I can tell, and theres basically absolutely no wear and tear on the body...which is neat considering the things nearly 50 years old. HOWEVER this is where my problem comes in: the audio doesn't work.
So the audio is very distorted and very low volume. I tried with multiple sources and tried plugging into various inputs and it's pretty much all the same. My main test in a newer audio technica record player that I for sure know works properly. When I plug into the AUX input ports, the audio is basically a whisper and I have to max it out to hear anything, and even then its very distorted. The only input that really has good pick-up is the port used for the tape recorder, has (somewhat decent) audio volume however its highly distorted and a humming whenever its in idle and not playing anything (which might be normal). The distortion gets worse the higher the volume. This happens both through the speakers and through the headphone jack.
So, in my head this sounds like a power issue due to the raising of volume causing distortion. So I check the fuses and the main fuse looks fine however the protection fuses are the wrong amp size. So i go and change out all the fuses to the correct amperage and all of the sudden...it works! No more distortion and the volume seems to be working properly. However, now I have an issue where the headphone isnt picking up on the left side, its just white noise and humming. So I start fiddling with the balance and the volume controls to see if I can hear any changes when all of the sudden there's a loud "pop" in headphones, and the audio goes back to being distorted and quiet. So I think I've blown a fuse and I go and check and all of the fuses appear to be fine and I test them with my multimeter and they're holding properly. So I start eyeing around the solders and as far as I can tell, everything looks decent. No visible corrosion on any of the boards and no signs of anything that was on fire at one point. I looked at the capacitors and none of them were bulging or poorly connected.
So at this point I've maxed out on my knowledge of what to look for. I know computers but I don't know this stuff. I should probably just call it fried and go and try and find one in better working order but unfortunately Im stubborn and don't give up easily. So If you guys have any ideas as to what to look for that would be appreciated....Also I could just try and take it to vintage audio repair place down the road however thats not as fun.
