Minor CR-1020 Restoration

[Greyfixer]

First, here is the finished product:



Here is the unit the day I bought it. I got it off a guy from Facebook Marketplace for $100. It turned on but wouldn't play any sound. It was a bit grimey and had a few dents in it but it was in good condition otherwise.


Lots of grime...


A few scratches but nothing too terrible.


Here is the outside after a good cleaning. I used a melamine (Magic Eraser) sponge to clean everything. I had to wash the sponge probably six or seven times to clean off all the grime and tobacco I was pulling off the unit.


The front cleaned up pretty good as well. I may have lucked out as I found out afterwards the melamine can be a little overly abrasive and remove the lettering but I didn’t have any issues. I also ironed out the dents immediately after this taking this photo but I didn’t take any pictures of the process.

 

[Greyfixer]

I took the case off to start troubleshooting and to try to figure out why it wouldn’t turn on.


Everything was covered in a layer of dirt but there was nothing obviously burned or damaged. The good news: I got the unit to turn on simply by tapping on the relay. It was sticky at first but after giving the relay a few taps after flipping the power switch, the relay began to click on reliably every time I turned it on. I feel like it may have just been stuck from a lack of use like it had been in storage for many years.


Here is the plywood-and-veneer case removed from the unit. Notice the dents are gone for the most part. You can’t really see the flaws in this pic because of the lighting but they’re there.


Here you can see the condition of the veneer a bit better.


Here is a 50/50 split of the oiled side on the left and the non-oiled side on the right. I used Danish Oil with a light walnut tint. It does slightly darken the overall appearance but that’s what I wanted.


Top while still wet.


I let the oil set in for about 15 minutes then I would wipe off the excess with a cloth. I did this 3 times and then spot treated for a 4th pass.


Here is the finished case.

 

[Greyfixer]

Now to start recapping the power supplies and amplifier boards. This is my makeshift soldering station in my home office since it’s too hot to work in the garage during the Florida summer. I cleaned as much as I could on the inside using compressed air and a damp rag.


The amplifier boards came out easy enough. The only issue was two of the wires on the top were on the verge of breaking off so I went ahead and re-soldered them when I put everything back together.


Here are the power supply boards removed from the unit. I had to de-solder the two blue wires on the left side to wiggle these two free but it made everything else from then on out a lot easier.


Most of the new capacitors (right) were smaller that the originals (left) they replaced.


This is the original left amplifier board.


This is the right board.


Here is the recapped amplifier board. I used all Nichicon capacitors. I used a mix of PW, FG, KZ, KT, and KA series caps. A lot of the values I had looked for were out of stock in certain series so I just went with the best available at the time.


Another recapped board.


Here is one of the recapped power supply boards. I did this board last because it was the most difficult and I wanted to knock the rust off my soldering skills before attempting the task. It was slow and tedious but I enjoyed working on it. The little black markings are where I marked the negative lead of the caps I was removing.


Here is the other power supply board. I didn’t change out the two large caps because they are not known to go bad. I performed the service bulletins for the similar CR-2020 by replacing three of the resistors and re-soldering the 6-pin connector just as preventative maintenance. I would like to mention the capacitor at the very top of the picture has a known misprint on the circuit board and the polarity is actually the opposite of what is marked. I discovered this on my own and then went online to verify. Misprints on circuit boards do happen so be careful and pay attention to the polarity when you are removing old caps.

 

[Nashou66]

Very nice and for 100 bucks was a steal!!!

Nashou

 

[Greyfixer]

Cleaning everything up and putting it all back together. I cleaned the aluminum with Brasso and then put a layer of Klasse All-in-one on top to protect it from oxidation. I used 303 on the back panel to give it a nice matte sheen.


Here is the finished product. I went ahead and sprayed DeOxit on the contacts of all the switches and rheostats. I also put some on cotton swabs or pipe cleaner and cleaned all the RCA inputs, headphone jacks, and speaker jacks.


Giving it a test-listen before putting the case back on. It sounds beautiful and everything works perfectly!


Here is the finished product with the case back on.


Another pic of the final result. I’m very pleased with how it came out.


Giving it another listen with the Yamaha NS-690s I picked up along the way.


The 690s are amazing but need some work.

A few more shots of the final result.

 

[Greyfixer]

No more grime.


The scratches are still there but are barely noticeable. Now they’re more “character” than “flaw.”




Not great pictures of the back but I’m proud of how well everything cleaned up.



Lighting has a big impact on the case. Under some lighting, it looks copper-ish, while under other conditions, it takes on a darker walnut color (like this one).

 

[avionic]

Looks nice..

 

[Oldsansui441]

Nice work Greyfixer, looks great.

 

[itsikhefez]

Very nice job, beautiful receiver.

How difficult was the recapping? Are the boards fairly accessible?

 

[Greyfixer]

Very nice job, beautiful receiver.

How difficult was the recapping? Are the boards fairly accessible?

Recapping was not too difficult. I just went slow and took my time with it. There is a misprint on one of the boards so you have to pay close attention to get the polarity right. I also had a few traces come up that I had to tack back down. The boards are a little tricky to get to. Yamaha's are known for being some of the more difficult receivers to work on because everything is buried in there but it wasn't too bad. I had to desolder a few wires to get the power supply boards out.

 

[itsikhefez]

Thanks for the info. I've recapped a few Sansui's (5000X, Eight, AU-9500, TU-717) some were easier than others...
I may be buying one of these so wanted to get an idea how difficult it will be