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My sx 1980 story

jiml2001

jiml2001

New Member
Hi everyone, I purchased this sx1980 off ebay for a fair price considering what these bring these days. Long story long , it shipped from Canada. It got lost with ups with several delays, customs inspection ext. Well it showed up finally with no box and two wraps of bubble wrap around it. I couldn't belive my eyes at first. My ups guy who knows me said he never seen anything like this happen. Upon opening the 1/2" layer of bubble wrap i found my new to me sx1980 with a broken dial glass, broken tuner knob, broken wood cabinet (the second i took it off it fell into three pieces), dented bottom cover and broken heat sink fins. Luckily the chassis itself was not bent or tweaked. In addition to this the unit was stuck in protect (minor issue on the powersupply). Honestly surprised it was even somewhat still intact. Got in contact with the seller (stand up guy) he refunded me 90% of my money and told me to keep it.

So I present my shipping damaged 1980 before and after. I repaired it as best as I could this past week.

Repaired powersupply. 80v rail failure

New dial glass

Tuning dial bushing repaired with new piece i had my buddy make up at his cnc shop.

Bottom cover rebent and new feet

cleaned throughout

Knobs and shafts straighten

existing top cover glued back together and clamped for the night. One coat of restore a finish.

***If anyone has a good 1980 heat sink or parts unit please reach out to me. I'm willing to pay out well for a good heat sink.
 

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kwayde said:
I would have told the driver to return it to the sender and asked for my money back.

The seller can take up damages with UPS.
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Trust me that was my plan. But when he offered to refund me everything other than shipping cost I decided to keep it. Glad I did because this would have probably ended up on ebay in pieces. Now I'm enjoying it in my living room and it looks and sounds great other than the cracked fins on the heatsink.

Ps the top cover is ok. Just have it off to check the bias again.
 

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I have had two experiences (Cambridge Soundworks 88CD and my Lab-80 Turntable) buying electronics off of ebay. Both were bad. I will never buy any electronics this way again. If it isn't close enough for me to go get it in-person, I can do without it.
 
Do you have the broken off pieces from the heat-sink? If so, maybe you could epoxy them back on.
 
Nice work fixing it up, real shame about the shipping. Iirc there was a thread where aluminium epoxy was used to fix the bent/ broken heatsink fins
I see heatsinks come up on eBay every once and a while, of course costly due to being rare.
 
someone decent with a tig can rebuild those fins if you wanted. Then you can have them re-anodized.

I've tig-ged up fins before on motorcycle heads and blocks that are hard to find.

A good tig welder guy won't be cheap though....
 
tourmax said:
someone decent with a tig can rebuild those fins if you wanted. Then you can have them re-anodized.

I've tig-ged up fins before on motorcycle heads and blocks that are hard to find.

A good tig welder guy won't be cheap though....
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Funny you mention this, I was considering making some phone calls to see if anyone in my area wants to take it on. i feel it certainly can be done
 
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jiml2001 said:
Funny you mention this, I was considering making some phone calls to see if anyone in my area wants to take it on. i feel it certainly can be done
Click to expand...
Certainly can. I've seen old hands tig pieces of cigarette foil together. I'm no where near that good, but they're out there.

It's just a matter of "how much"....
 
jiml2001 said:
Hi everyone, I purchased this sx1980 off ebay for a fair price considering what these bring these days. Long story long , it shipped from Canada. It got lost with ups with several delays, customs inspection ext. Well it showed up finally with no box and two wraps of bubble wrap around it. I couldn't belive my eyes at first. My ups guy who knows me said he never seen anything like this happen. Upon opening the 1/2" layer of bubble wrap i found my new to me sx1980 with a broken dial glass, broken tuner knob, broken wood cabinet (the second i took it off it fell into three pieces), dented bottom cover and broken heat sink fins. Luckily the chassis itself was not bent or tweaked. In addition to this the unit was stuck in protect (minor issue on the powersupply). Honestly surprised it was even somewhat still intact. Got in contact with the seller (stand up guy) he refunded me 90% of my money and told me to keep it.

So I present my shipping damaged 1980 before and after. I repaired it as best as I could this past week.

Repaired powersupply. 80v rail failure

New dial glass

Tuning dial bushing repaired with new piece i had my buddy make up at his cnc shop.

Bottom cover rebent and new feet

cleaned throughout

Knobs and shafts straighten

existing top cover glued back together and clamped for the night. One coat of restore a finish.

***If anyone has a good 1980 heat sink or parts unit please reach out to me. I'm willing to pay out well for a good heat sink.
Click to expand...
I know this is an old thread but did you ever get the heat sink fixed? I'm dealing with about the same issue, shipping damage.

My dial was damaged too. Having a hard time getting that straight. Its not the shaft its more of the mounting. I've taken it apart but keep going back together slightly angled.
 
I don’t think the heatsinks can be welded. I have a scrap one we can try on. And a TIG for that matter.
 
You need a donor heatsink to take a straight fin from,
Check out page 2 on this heatsink repair thread.
I have a donor heatsink that works on the SX-**80 units.
 
Bummer it got damaged but at least it's working and you own a classic. I still have a mostly restored one sitting on the sidelines until I get a complete wood sided or encased system, still need a CT-F1250 to finish it. Getting there but here's my baby waiting it's turn. My amps kill it for sound quality but man, it still sounds great and just looking at it hurts my back but wow, the monster of all. I got mine many years ago for next to nothing. A friend buys storage units and I helped him load several units worth of stuff to take to his storage unit and he gave me both the below for trade for a Jackson RR1-T. The turntable needs reveneering yet

When I kick, my son will be cursing me

Screenshot_20260430_114359_Gallery.jpg
 
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