genesmasher
Active Member
Seeking direction from all Audiokarma gurus 
Always wanted to learn electronics repair, never had the time. Now that I'd retired, thought I'd finally pick up a new hobby. Got some basic supplies from the sticky here - soldering station with consumables, power supply, a few books. Eager to get my hands dirty!
Just picked up an inoperable Luxman R-105 receiver, to use as my first test subject. The unit is in great shape cosmetically, but doesn't seem to produce any audio. More precisely, I CAN hear the FM radio sound through my headphones hooked up to the phone jack, but only at a very low volume, with volume knob turned up almost to the max. The fact that I can hear the broadcast suggests that the tuner board is working properly? I guess the issue must be with the amplifier.
To my untrained eye, visually the only abnormal thing inside was the two large capacitors near the power supply. The tops were bulging, indicating that these old electrolytics have degraded. Ordered a couple of new Rubycon ones from Mouser and installed them today. These were a tight fit (~5mm larger diameter than originals), but I put some tape around to insulate a few small resistors mounted in the vicinity. Unfortunately, that didn't solve the issue, and now I need someone to point me in the direction of what to try next. Keep in mind that my electronics knowledge is very rudimentary, but I learn fast (former biological scientist), pretty good with my hands (learned to repair mechanical film SLRs in the last couple of years, etc), and willing to experiment and troubleshoot for hours on end (or until my wife starts yelling). Would be super grateful for any ideas or pointers, or general guidance from all of you experts Couple of pictures of the main board attached, and I can certainly provide more information, as needed.
Always wanted to learn electronics repair, never had the time. Now that I'd retired, thought I'd finally pick up a new hobby. Got some basic supplies from the sticky here - soldering station with consumables, power supply, a few books. Eager to get my hands dirty!
Just picked up an inoperable Luxman R-105 receiver, to use as my first test subject. The unit is in great shape cosmetically, but doesn't seem to produce any audio. More precisely, I CAN hear the FM radio sound through my headphones hooked up to the phone jack, but only at a very low volume, with volume knob turned up almost to the max. The fact that I can hear the broadcast suggests that the tuner board is working properly? I guess the issue must be with the amplifier.
To my untrained eye, visually the only abnormal thing inside was the two large capacitors near the power supply. The tops were bulging, indicating that these old electrolytics have degraded. Ordered a couple of new Rubycon ones from Mouser and installed them today. These were a tight fit (~5mm larger diameter than originals), but I put some tape around to insulate a few small resistors mounted in the vicinity. Unfortunately, that didn't solve the issue, and now I need someone to point me in the direction of what to try next. Keep in mind that my electronics knowledge is very rudimentary, but I learn fast (former biological scientist), pretty good with my hands (learned to repair mechanical film SLRs in the last couple of years, etc), and willing to experiment and troubleshoot for hours on end (or until my wife starts yelling). Would be super grateful for any ideas or pointers, or general guidance from all of you experts
Couple of pictures of the main board attached, and I can certainly provide more information, as needed.
