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Akai AM-35 amplifier suddenly stops sounding or sounding extremely bad/low on one channel

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akaiplswork

New Member
Hello everyone! First time posting here. I've read many threads and after not being able to get help elsewhere, I've created an account and am now posting here.

To keep it short and simple, I bought an amplifier, brand Akai, model AM-35 (apparently it was sold in the UK and Germany). It sounds really nice and I like a lot, but the guy who sold it to me didn't tell me it has an intermittent problem which is that one channel (usually the right channel) stops sounding or sounds horribly low in volume and quality.

Took it to a guy who fixes electronics, he didn't find anything wrong. What I've found works is pushing the selector keys (particularly the AUX key, which is the source I use) and it generally gets back to normal. Sometimes pressing the key again makes everything bad once more, but after a few pushes it's back to normal.

What do you guys think this could be? Thanks in advance.
 
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akaiplswork said:
What do you guys think this could be? Thanks in advance.
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Welcome to AK!

I don't see much room for doubt that the switches are the problem. I think these are "tact switches". Not very feasible to clean them with DeoxIT or similar contact cleaners - but often feasible to replace.

They are probably what are known as 6 millimeter parts, which refers to the footprint that they occupy on the circuit board. The only other thing you really need to know when choosing replacements is their height. You can check my admittedly-weak advice by measuring the dimensions, if you can access the switches.

You will probably find many options for replacements from a first-tier supplier such as Mouser. Among the options will probably be a range of actuation force specifications. I wouldn't worry too much about that, but higher force specs are probably best for home hi-fi equipment

(If this amp had a speaker relay, that would have been my prime suspect, but it doesn't look there is one.)
 
Dirty controls. You can probably shoot some Deoxit into the switches and work them back and forth a bunch and see if that solves it.
 
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