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In at the shallow end. 2215B recap and such

Rob DeFries

Rob DeFries

Active Member
So I got this goodlooking girl, with an Akai receiver, for cheap. A recap was in my mind already and after switching the thing on (onB&O variac) it lacked all the lights but there was sound. With plops and cracks.
First inspection underneath did show nice soldering and no cold solder joints.
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Let's get the magnifier.....
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Looking at the top, the only thing I could think was: glue...... soooo much glue.....
 
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The easiest thing is change the bulbs. No LED's, no need for that.
Stereo bulb I used 8V 40mA. The only type I have and can get.
The whole machine is covered in this grey yellow patina and it does smell a bit like cigar......
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With all the lights in place is does look cute!

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With the first looks around the power supply I noticed a 100uF cap which had 220uF value in the manual. Don't know if it's a error in the SM, but I'll upgrade it to 220 anyway.
AND I found my first ever leaking Nippon Chemical cap. Never seen that before.
And all the glue.......20160903_141932-1.jpg
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Marantz does love their PC board glue. Good looking unit. It will sound great when you get it all cleaned up. Is that balance control just missing a knob or is the shaft broken?
 
Ahhhh. So you have all of the knobs. Great looking unit! :thumbsup: I dove into the shallow end and swam quickly toward the deep end. I'm now barely holding my head above water.
 
I did find some wacky spots on the main board. L701 was lose on one end and some cracks on the output transistor soldering H711.
For the rest it was straight forward cap swapping. Some higher values here and there and a couple of Wima's for the Tantalums.
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It's been running for an hour now, no weird things, no rattles, pops or hum. Idling needs another adjustment, but that's for tomorrow.
 
Mainly because this is very much an entry receiver, I didn't want to spend a fortune on it. When I first got it I downloaded the wrong SM. I saw all those 2SC458's and 1212 and 1213 and 4711 and 65983245 and and.
Than I quickly opened the receiver and the first thing was: "dang, IC phono amp". I had another look and it was clear I missed the B on the front plate.
That saved me from swapping all these bugger noisy transistors.
 
When I listened to it at first, without the recap, I didn't like the sound at all. Very clean, bit aggresive highs, lack of bass. Stereo placing was ok and things happened in front- and behind the speaker. Which is always a good thing.
I upped the big cap in the power supply to 4700 uF/63V for a bit better bass response and maybe some new rectifying diodes might do some change. But that's for later.
Now, with all the new caps in, highs are much easier on the ear, certain subtle accents in the music comes out clearer. But bass is still nothing. Oh yes, if you press loudness, the amount of bass is even way too much, imo. There must be a way to get atleast a little boost.
Or maybe I have to be patient.... Let it play for a couple of days.

I compared the sound with a Superscope 245 I have. The power amp config inside looks like the 2215B. Same output transistors, if you ask me.
That Superscope has a more even output, bass is more levelled with the overall sound.

Naww, both power amps are different. The way to mount them to the cooling plate is the same :biggrin:
 
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