In comparison to other H/Ks of the era, information on repairing a 630 is pretty lacking. I'm concluding that these just aren't all that common. I bought one with the intention of restoring it fully in hopes it might sound similar to a Marantz 2238 I recently finished for someone. That really didn't turn out to be the case, each sounding uniquely their own.
The Service Manual for the 630 has frequent errors, and numerous differences in parts from stock components that I found in my untouched unit. The PCBs are free of any silk-screening on the component side of the boards, just blank. The PCB's solder side has a few markings to designate some board to board wiring, but that's really about it. So you're left at the mercy of potential replacement errors without a plethora of photographs to guide you.
I intended to do some documenting here, to help uncover some things for those in the future who might try to do a restoration for themselves, but I feel like the amount of effort required to provide thoroughly useful information would prove lacking for a number of reasons.
Firstly, as I got into my own unit I found that two of the shielded IF transformers were broken internally allowing the top slug to move freely up and down. So without buying a replacement board I'm not sure I'd ever be able to sort that out. Secondly, its not uncommon for the unobtainable MPX IC in these to go bad, which would only be determined once I got the IF section working. Thirdly, I have other tuners in my collection that far surpass the capabilities of the FM section in the 630 anyway, so it seemed rather pointless for me to bother with a restoration in these areas for a piece intended for my own collection.
Knowing that this was going to be an incomplete restoration I opted not to do the phono EQ board as well. I rarely listen to LPs, but when I do I typically prefer to use my Kenwood KA-9100. My primary objective at this point was to make the power supplies, tone amp, and power amp the area of focus. As I said before my main motivation was seeing how this stacked up against a Marantz 2238 and introducing myself to the H/K Contour circuit that seems well appreciated.
That said, I'll be posting some information in the coming days to act as a starting point at the very least since there is so little about this model out there.
The Service Manual for the 630 has frequent errors, and numerous differences in parts from stock components that I found in my untouched unit. The PCBs are free of any silk-screening on the component side of the boards, just blank. The PCB's solder side has a few markings to designate some board to board wiring, but that's really about it. So you're left at the mercy of potential replacement errors without a plethora of photographs to guide you.
I intended to do some documenting here, to help uncover some things for those in the future who might try to do a restoration for themselves, but I feel like the amount of effort required to provide thoroughly useful information would prove lacking for a number of reasons.
Firstly, as I got into my own unit I found that two of the shielded IF transformers were broken internally allowing the top slug to move freely up and down. So without buying a replacement board I'm not sure I'd ever be able to sort that out. Secondly, its not uncommon for the unobtainable MPX IC in these to go bad, which would only be determined once I got the IF section working. Thirdly, I have other tuners in my collection that far surpass the capabilities of the FM section in the 630 anyway, so it seemed rather pointless for me to bother with a restoration in these areas for a piece intended for my own collection.
Knowing that this was going to be an incomplete restoration I opted not to do the phono EQ board as well. I rarely listen to LPs, but when I do I typically prefer to use my Kenwood KA-9100. My primary objective at this point was to make the power supplies, tone amp, and power amp the area of focus. As I said before my main motivation was seeing how this stacked up against a Marantz 2238 and introducing myself to the H/K Contour circuit that seems well appreciated.
That said, I'll be posting some information in the coming days to act as a starting point at the very least since there is so little about this model out there.
