Hi AK'ers!
Hoping for both some general and maybe more specific advice on diagnosing receivers. I'm fairly new to the vintage audio game, and so far my method has been "recap and listen" with some luck tracking down bad transistors, resistors, etc. The work I've done has so far turned out great, the issue is... I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm handy with a soldering iron and am good at following directions, but when I run into an issue I come to a stop pretty quick. For the general side of things... does anyone have good resources to learn more about what I'm actually doing? Transistor matching, voltage testing, that sorta thing. People on here say things like "I've tested the voltage at Q408 and at the main filter caps, and all looks normal" and I have no idea how they know to test there, or what normal is! Lack of experience I'm sure, but I'm willing to learn!
To get more specific, I'm working on a Marantz 2226 (not the b model) that is getting some distortion in the right channel. I've so far replaced all electrolytic caps, but haven't touched the orange ceramics, films, or the blue tantalum drops. It sounds 90% of the way there, but distorts on high dynamics (the kick in "beat it" reveals it well). I've followed the schematic directions for power amplifier adjustment and power supply adjustments successfully, have replaced half of the transistors on the Pre/Tone Amp Board (I'm waiting on the rest to arrive), and by swapping left/right via Pre Out/Main In's, am fairly certain it is in the preamp section. The distortion switches to the left at least. It is audible both from Phono and Aux channels, the only two I've really critically listened to. I would suspect output transistors as I've not touched any transistors on the main amp board, but as it swaps with the Left/Right switch that seems unlikely.
I'm hoping this next set of transistors just does the trick, but any advice on how to more critically determine what my problem might be? Shoot now check later is getting to be very inefficient, and I'd love to know more about what's actually going on on these boards.
Thanks a ton, you folks are uber knowledgeable and us newbies really appreciate you passing it down!
Hoping for both some general and maybe more specific advice on diagnosing receivers. I'm fairly new to the vintage audio game, and so far my method has been "recap and listen" with some luck tracking down bad transistors, resistors, etc. The work I've done has so far turned out great, the issue is... I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm handy with a soldering iron and am good at following directions, but when I run into an issue I come to a stop pretty quick. For the general side of things... does anyone have good resources to learn more about what I'm actually doing? Transistor matching, voltage testing, that sorta thing. People on here say things like "I've tested the voltage at Q408 and at the main filter caps, and all looks normal" and I have no idea how they know to test there, or what normal is! Lack of experience I'm sure, but I'm willing to learn!
To get more specific, I'm working on a Marantz 2226 (not the b model) that is getting some distortion in the right channel. I've so far replaced all electrolytic caps, but haven't touched the orange ceramics, films, or the blue tantalum drops. It sounds 90% of the way there, but distorts on high dynamics (the kick in "beat it" reveals it well). I've followed the schematic directions for power amplifier adjustment and power supply adjustments successfully, have replaced half of the transistors on the Pre/Tone Amp Board (I'm waiting on the rest to arrive), and by swapping left/right via Pre Out/Main In's, am fairly certain it is in the preamp section. The distortion switches to the left at least. It is audible both from Phono and Aux channels, the only two I've really critically listened to. I would suspect output transistors as I've not touched any transistors on the main amp board, but as it swaps with the Left/Right switch that seems unlikely.
I'm hoping this next set of transistors just does the trick, but any advice on how to more critically determine what my problem might be? Shoot now check later is getting to be very inefficient, and I'd love to know more about what's actually going on on these boards.
Thanks a ton, you folks are uber knowledgeable and us newbies really appreciate you passing it down!
. Well and the trail& error of course, googeling stuff, watching some U-tubes now and then..