Help with my "new" Sherwood S-7100

[Mikey$5]

Long time lurker here and first poster... so nice to meet y'all. I just picked up a Sherwood S-7100 in beautiful condition from craigslist in my area. It's honestly a beautiful receiver listing right now with headphones and it sounds stellar. And no power issues with the volume knob! *crosses fingers*

Only issue it has is when playing through speakers, the left channel volume is lower than the right. Approx 50% of the right. Here's what I've surmised with fiddling around with it:

- Using headphones, things are completely balanced and sound incredible
- No detectable static anywhere. Nothing when you turn knobs or flip switches. Things are smooth and quiet
- The left channel was low when I tested it and is doing it when I'm home. So that sort of rules out silly stuff like poor speaker wiring and such
- Does it with speakers hooked up to A or B

So yeah, I'm hoping someone points me in the right direction. I normally take the first step of opening and cleaning, but I'm a little gun shy because of stuff I've read about this unit and plastic components.

 

[roger2]

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sherwood/s-7100.shtml

Welcome to AK

It looks to me that the headphone output is coming straight off of the main outputs, which means the main outputs must be OK according to your description. The only thing the speakers have in their path that the headphones do not, is the speaker selector switch. Other than that, it might be possible that a ground connection somewhere is compromised in some way. My money is on the switch.

Is the speaker selector switch open such that you can see the contacts inside?

 

[59volvo]

my s-7200 does exactly the same. When its turned up louder it equalizes a little more. It got worse when I took apart the volume/power pot to try to fix the broken power tab it worked for a little while then the repair came unglued but it came apart with the power on so now I just use a power cord with a switch. do not spray deoxit in the volume control. This guy describes a repair replacing caps (too much for me though). Try exercising the speaker selector and other knobs with the volume down or power off. you might want to use a power cord with switch to turn on/off as its just a matter of time for that volume pot power switch to go.

 

[roger2]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/281463470106?epid=1237319169&hash=item418887b81a:g:NFEAAOSw8lBTonep

This is a nice little Deoxit kit. I am not affiliated with this seller, but have bought a couple of these kits and they are IMO a great deal and have a good selection of items to get you going.
The red Deoxit (100% solution) and one of those little black brushes in this kit, for cleaning inside the speaker selector switch...IF that switch is open, as many are, would be the place to start and good chance it would solve the problem.

Those black Caig brushes are also perfect for cleaning the insides of RCA jacks. Everyone should have these brushes

Yes, agree with 59 volvo, do not use anything inside the power/volume control, and yes go ahead and start using a power strip to power up/down, leaving the Sherwood power control on with volume down...