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MX130, FM not working as designed

Descartridge

Descartridge

Stereos been berry, berry good to me!
My MX130 barely picks up FM stations. I have tried several antennas and discovered that the same condition continues also without an antenna.
Do you have any ideas as to why the MX130's FM section is not connecting to the antenna? Or any solution?
The MX130 is in fine condition and has not been abused.
Thanks.
 

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Does the MX-130 use the McIntosh TM-1 tuner module for it's AM/FM section? If so, you can align it using the instructions found in the MX-119 Service Manual at Berners.ch. I could not find an MX-130 Service Manual on the web anywhere.
 
Oh... Pardon my ignorance. The MX-130 seems to not have much "press" as the other models from around its timeframe. I am kind of jealous of your MX-130 (I have an MX-119) since it has a built-in Dolby AC-3 decoder which the MX-119 lacks. I have a McIntosh LaserDisc player (model MLD-720) and the outboard McIntosh Dolby AC-3 decoder (model RFD-2). It would have been soooooo nice to have the AC-3 decoder built into the unit!
 
Do you mean that if you push the end of a three foot piece of wire into the 75 ohm antenna connector there is no improvement in signal strength? Did you open the cover of the preamp and see if the shielded wire going from the antenna connector to the tuner module is connected at both ends? Do you get any local stations?
 
jlovda said:
Do you mean that if you push the end of a three foot piece of wire into the 75 ohm antenna connector there is no improvement in signal strength? Did you open the cover of the preamp and see if the shielded wire going from the antenna connector to the tuner module is connected at both ends? Do you get any local stations?
Click to expand...


I've tried a 75 ohm trek and a dipole with converter.
To capture a local high powered local station, I do receive it with only 1 bar and I should get 5 bars.
I will open the cover next. I'd be surprised if mcintosh skipped a shielded wire.
I do get some local stations -- weakly.
 
Sounds like you need to get it to a tech. With the correct FM signal generator they can actually measure the tuner's sensitivity.
 
RDecartridge said:
I will open the cover next. I'd be surprised if mcintosh skipped a shielded wire.
Click to expand...
Was it this way when you got it or did it work OK for awhile? Are you the original owner? I would take a wild guess and say there is some semiconductor (transistor, IC or varactor) in the RF or IF section that is bad. However, if you are not the original owner you really have no idea what could have happened to it before you got it.
 
You could call McIntosh service department or Audio Classics service and ask the service tech if he's seen other units that have had your problem.

I did this with my malfunctioning MX-119 when it went bad after a static electricity problem and the tech at McIntosh pointed me right at the problem. I bought a few chips from their parts department, took the MX-119 apart, and fixed it in about 2 hours for $20 worth of parts.
 
The MX130 has the same tuner section as the MR7083, not the MR7084. There is a big difference.
Mine works with bith an unpowered omnidirectional and a powered direcional antenna. It pulls in more stations with the omnidirectional. AM reception is not great, probably due to poor quality of local stations.
 
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