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Realistic SAF-40D Integrated Amp Score

gadget73 said:
I think those might be the largest output transformers in that physical packaging I've ever seen.
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Ahhh! they tricks you, precious! Those are just sheet metal covers and the actual OPT are quite normal size. I repaired one of those where the sheet metal cover pinched one of the trannys primary wires and cause a big bang. It toasted the trans. And that is when i discovered that the covers were quite large for the rather ordinary sized OPT.
But, these are very nice sounding when totally rebuilt. definitely worth the effort to rebuild.
 
Interesting that they would use that style cover. Usually to dress things up, a square cover to make it look more like a potted type trafo was used.
 
The repairing begins! Just got out my soldering pen and replaced the first capacitor
 

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Making progress on the restoration, replacing all the old polarized electrolytics and installed the first can cap. One picture shows the difference between the original Marcon Chemicon cap and the new F&T. The faceplate cleaned up nicely. I noticed it came with quite a few oil-filled capaacitors. Will those need to be replaced as well?
 

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Yes, replace them - they are notorious for being leaky.

This amp uses a full wave bridge rectifier to produce negative DC voltage for the two phono tube filaments as well as providing bias voltage for the power tubes. Pay close attention to the cap polarity in this part of the circuit as it will be the positive end that is connected to ground. (0 volts is higher than negative volts. The + end of the cap always wants to be at the higher voltage than the - end.)

I have the service manual/schematic for this emp. PM me if you want or need it.
 
gadget73 said:
Interesting that they would use that style cover. Usually to dress things up, a square cover to make it look more like a potted type trafo was used.
Click to expand...
Well at least they made the effort to cover the transformers. It helps with appearances unlike Magnavox, and the other console amps which used open frame OPT. Understandable of course, since the amps were in the guts of a console. It seems odd to me that they did not put on simple transformer end bells which is just a piece of stamped steel with some holes for mounting. If you look at the covers on this unit it is probably made from 3 pieces of steel sheet metal probably spot welded together. That would be a lot more work to make than an a single piece end bell.
 
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The recapping of the SAF-40D is now complete! And I think the new F&T can caps look rather handsome in the amp. I wish I could power it up but I still need to hand it over to my usual amp repairman to make sure everything else tests out fine
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It's alive! My amp tech tested everything out today. New rubber grommets were added to stabilize the power transformer, the tubes tested good and he said it sounds very nice. I even got some compliments on my soldering skills. I then got to take it home. Wanted to post some pics of glowing tube goodness before I install it into my stereo system
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Just plugged in my CD player and turntable into the amp this morning. Holy cow the CDs play loud! It's astounding! However the phono sounds really rinky-dink. Does anyone know why this is? I could have sworn I plugged the turntable into the "Magnetic Phono" section
 
bad parts, off value parts, or it may simply have a lousy phono stage. Not knowing a thing about this amp, I'd probably start by making sure all of the parts in the phono circuit are good.
 
Just looking at the layout, would the phono section be where the two sided shield on the underside is? Two signal tubes and some old grey electrolytics.
 
Did you or your tech make sure to replace all the grey caps? They re ally need to go in these vintage Japanese amps.

And looking back to post #31, don't run the amps without speakers connected.

You should get reasonable volume from your phono stage, though it may not sound amazing.
 
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