Pioneer SX-3800 right channel problem

blclement

blclement

New Member
Hey, I just picked up a pretty decent SX-3800 for $60 on Craigslist. I listened to it before buying, and everything sounded good, however I didn't notice that the receiver was set in mono when I listened. I got it home, and set it to stereo and realized that the right channel does not work unless in mono.

How can I fix this? I'm a newbie when it comes to electronics, how hard to fix will it be? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Brian
 
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It really depends what's wrong with it. It could be in the amp, the pre-amp, the controls. Try some headphones, see if both channels work.
 
Hmm.
Is there any static in the controls at all?
Does it have jumpers on the back? If so are both of them there?

If none of that is true, then pop it open and see if you can find anything obviously visually wrong with it, and then report back.
 
I'll tell you what I tell nearly everyone who has this complaint. Treat the switches and controls with Caig DeoxIT D5. This will cure more than 50% of the "channel out" problems.

Fred
 
It has what I think are jumpers (on the preamp power amp ins and outs?) on the back. There is no real static in the controls, and I have not yet opened the unit. I just got back from town and am about to DeoxIT everything. I will report back the results.
 
Here are a couple detailed posts on cleaning:

by Arkay
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1888690&postcount=10

by Morden2004
http://audiokarma.org/forums/showpost.php?p=157699&postcount=15


****

Note on rotary controls such as Volume and Balance knobs it has been recommended to followup Deoxit D5 (which is mostly solvents) with Faderlube to relubricate.

Some will recommend just Faderlube or Deoxit 100 which is 100% percent deoxit on the rotary controls to be safe.

I mention this only because there are various threads on which Deoxit to use and why.

Since you are experiencing channel problems, I would make sure to clean the jumpers and jumper jacks, volume and balance knobs, and speaker switches from inside removing the cover as well out. Check for any loose connections and cracked solder while you're looking inside.

This is just the first step. Hopefully you will see results. If not, there may be more things to check but good to try to eliminate the simple stuff first.
 
Thanks for all the info everyone. I took the case off and DeoxITed it as best I could without disassembling the unit. Since I don't really know what I'm doing on the inside of this, I was hesitant to disassemble it. Because of this, I couldn't get the DeoxIT everywhere it needed to be as effectively as should have been done.

That being said, the right channel is at least cutting in and out now, which leads me to believe something inside got at least somewhat cleaner than it was before. Most of the switches on the front are inaccessible without taking the faceplate off, so I guess I will have to try that next.
 
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