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Channel out - remedial help!

dave225

dave225

New Member
I have a Realistic SA-2001 amp that is having an issue with the right channel input.
  • The sound is very faint - even with the balance turned all the way to the right. It's staticky & pops like a weak AM radio signal.
  • As I type this, the sound became normal (but ...)
    • But when I switched to another input (tuner) the problem returned
  • All inputs seem to have this problem, and it's consistently the right channel - regardless of what input is selected. (I have replaced cables & switched them all around.)
  • if I switch the unit to Mono, the sound is loud & clear (So it's not the output or speaker)
Before I open up the case and start poking around, what should I look for? I know just enough to start a fire or blow a fuse - I mean, I can desolder & replace parts, I can test for continuity/ resistance/ voltage .. but I have no idea what to test or what the values should be. What's are the first things I should check?
 
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I'd make that stereo/mono switch my top suspect. Is there any way you can bypass it in stereo mode? Do all sources sound fine out of both channels in mono? Have you tried merely wiggling it while it's set to stereo to see if that helps?

By the way, you can download a service manual here. It has some specific troubleshooting steps, including things to test if only one channel works.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Kim G
Boston, MA

Where I can often get to the bottom of things by mere persistence.
 
Defeño said:
I'd make that stereo/mono switch my top suspect. Is there any way you can bypass it in stereo mode? Do all sources sound fine out of both channels in mono? Have you tried merely wiggling it while it's set to stereo to see if that helps?

By the way, you can download a service manual here. It has some specific troubleshooting steps, including things to test if only one channel works.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Kim G
Boston, MA

Where I can often get to the bottom of things by mere persistence.
Click to expand...
 
That makes sense as a likely culprit. I used DeOx in a few spots and found that the tape monitor switch was the worst offender - apparently the right side of the switch was dirty .. but the selector switch and even the input jacks seemed to benefit from cleaning. (Tape out was also not producing a signal, but a shot of DeOx in the jack fixed that. Maybe this receiver belonged to a smoker..)

So - good news for me, doesn't seem like anything needs to be replaced.
 
So what happened? Did you try to bypass the stereo/mono switch? You should be able to bypass it with jumper wires temporarily just as a troubleshooting measure.

Cheers,

Kim G
Boston, MA
Where I have a Marantz 2245 Receiver with a cranky stereo/mono switch.
 
I used a ton of Deoxit on the switches and the input jacks. The right channel still cuts out occasionally, and I can 'fix' it by jiggling the handle. :) It's not as good as I want it to be, but I can listen to a couple LPs before I have to flip the switch back & forth again. (I do think your instinct about the mono switch was a good one - but it appears to be the input selector switch that was the main culprit. The entire right side seemed(s) to be dirty.
 
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