I'd already considered that, unfortunately I don't really have options when it comes to the location of the speakers or the stereo as a whole. The way the house is laid out, combined with locations of furniture, etc... I'm pretty much stuck with what I have for now as far as my setup goes.
Confused about wattage...
- Thread starter mrkmpn
- Start date
I'd already considered that, unfortunately I don't really have options when it comes to the location of the speakers or the stereo as a whole. The way the house is laid out, combined with locations of furniture, etc... I'm pretty much stuck with what I have for now as far as my setup goes.
Good question... how do I determine that?
Adda
Super Member
We need a spec sheet, I have tried finding one, but couldn't find one with an efficiency rating.
But if you don't go beyond a 12:00 position on your amp, it should have power to spare.
Well unless it's power caps have gone bad, does the sound become more grainy and muddy as you crank the volume?
Not that I've noticed. Before I turned up the tone controls, it seemed like the more I turned it up, the more the highs seemed to over power the bass.
And I've also had no luck finding any documentation on them.
Adda
Super Member
Hmm, the bass requires more power then the highs, and as you turn up the volume, more power is required.
If the caps are bad, that power won't be available, it sounds reasonable to me that the bass would suffer at louder volumes.
The caps haven't been replaced have they?
What do others have to say, does this sound like a case of bad main power supply capacitors?
Nothing has been replaced to my knowledge, this thing looked like it had been kept in a barn when I got it. It took a lot to clean the board, and a lot of deoxit to get it working right. I got it on Craigslist for $35. It was supposed to be $70, but the womans husband didn't know how to hook up an FM antenna, had problems getting a station tuned in, and thought a small break in the arm of the rod antenna might be the cause, so they dropped it by half in case I had to put any money in it. I was about to tell her I don't even listen to radio at home when she told me that... was glad I kept my mouth shut. lol
I did look at it... cobwebs and dust don't mean something wont work, and as for the knobs and switches, from what I've seen on this forum, it's extremely common for old gear like this to need to be gone through and cleaned, relubed, etc...
Beating a half dead horse won't make it race
No, but bringing one back to health might...
Adda
Super Member
Yup, electrolytic caps usually last around 20 years, that includes the main power caps, there are a few exceptions though.
Yeah, I looked at all of them, and none were obviously bad. I'll take a look at the service manual, and maybe just replace them and see how it goes.
Adda
Super Member
Did you test them electrically?
I think you can safely assume they are way off spec at least.
Also see if DC offset and bias current is set right, the service manual should explain the procedure.
No haven't tested, as I stated in an earlier post, I've read that without a certain type of tester you can't really fully test caps without taking them off the board. And that testing with a multi meter only rules out certain type of failure, and if it passes that, they can still be bad. As you said, as old as it is, with obvious signs of years of unuse, it can't hurt to change em.
I'll check those other things as well. Thanks for the tips.
Adda
Super Member
Good luck, I hope it works out :thmbsp:
Superampman
AK Member
You've implicitly answered your own question. I've bottomed out the woofers in my KEF 105/2s momentarily, quickly turned down the volume, no harm done. Same thing can happen with some large JBL accordian surround drivers. Some are quite soft with a lot of give, especially when they get older.
Adda
Super Member
Just another one of those situations where we simply cannot generalize.
My GAMMA's have rubberized cloth surrounds, very tough and strong.
One of my GAMMA's is so worn down that the surrounds and spider have become stretched, so the cone is no longer suspended, it just hangs there.
Still I can't push the cone down far enough to touch the bottom, I'd have to rip the suspension to do so.
I think they where made that way because the aluminum voicecoil former is very delicate, if it did bottom out, I'm quite sure it would get dented, ruining the woofer.
Edit: ah well I could probably remove the magnet and bend the voicecoil back in to shape maybe, I won't have to though.
Superampman
AK Member
However the act of bottoming out doesn't necessarily connote an impact per se. But it can still sound like it. As has been stated, you simply have to keep your ears open when you're probably very well aware you're pushing it. Not all speakers have the ability to rock the house.
Ok, so when I got home today I decided to try listening to a CD through the stereo and when I switched it over to AUX I lost sound on the right channel. I forgot when I 1st cleaned this out I forgot to hit the input selector knob with deoxit. It had some kind of cover that prevented me from getting to it so I was going to go back to it after I did all the other pots and switches... and forgot about it.
I didn't realize there was a problem until I switched from phono to FM to test out the radio, and when I switched back to phono... I had a missing right channel. I moved it back and forth a few times and got the right channel back and just left it at that, and then just forgot all about it.
I took it back apart today and realized the input selector knob has a cable going to a switch mounted on the PCB towards the back of the amp. I cleaned it with deoxit and let it dry for awhile and now it sounds MUCH better. The bass is much better now.
I still need to move the tone controls two notches up from flat for it to sound the way I like, but at just below 12:00 on the volume, it sounds great.
I didn't realize there was a problem until I switched from phono to FM to test out the radio, and when I switched back to phono... I had a missing right channel. I moved it back and forth a few times and got the right channel back and just left it at that, and then just forgot all about it.
I took it back apart today and realized the input selector knob has a cable going to a switch mounted on the PCB towards the back of the amp. I cleaned it with deoxit and let it dry for awhile and now it sounds MUCH better. The bass is much better now.
I still need to move the tone controls two notches up from flat for it to sound the way I like, but at just below 12:00 on the volume, it sounds great.
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Kingshead
Professor
Maybe post a pic of your listening space.
Speaker placement is everything, no amount of money spent on a speaker can make it sound good dropped down a well. So unless you have a new AVR that will automatically set the EQ for room boundaries you have what you have to deal with however you can, and your using the tone controls to accomplish this is basically the same thing only not as sophisticated.
Just read your last post, glad to see you may have solved your issue and are now listening to beautiful music.
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Thanks Kingshead, I might take a couple pics later, but I'm pretty happy with how it sounds now. It's not perfect, but as you said (which I already knew) speaker placement makes a huge difference. I remember reading some articles years ago about concert setups, and how speaker placement could solve issues that doubling amp power couldn't. (seems like I remember doubling power only adds about 3db or something to that effect?) but like I said, I really have no other options as to where to place the stereo and/or speakers. Although, I think if I raise the speakers off the floor it might help some.
My "living room" is basically what, at one time, was a dining room and living room. Like I said, it's a very small house. I noticed tonight, after getting the switch cleaned, that if I sit right about where the dining room/living room meets, it's just about perfect. I do wish the bass was a little more tight/thumpy, if that makes sense, but at this point I really can't complain... the music is now really really clean and balanced sounding compared to what it was.
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I've finally done what I should have before and looked around to see what your speakers are. So, if they are '70s vintage, have you de-ox'd the L-pads? Have the caps been replaced? I looked back through the thread but haven't seen anything said about the speakers themselves other than placement.
Cheers,
James
Cheers,
James