Realistic STA-84 right channel out

[Kirbalicious]

Hi folks! First time posting here, and I'm hoping to pick your collective brain on an issue that popped up. I did a quick search, and a once over of the rules, but please school me if I'm not following the right format or missing any of the finer points of posting here!

I have a beautiful STA-84 by realistic, and I gave it a good cleaning once I picked it up, inside and out. A good dusting out, and cleaning some of the slightly more stubborn gunk away with a little denatured alcohol and swabs, but it really didn't need much, and I deoxited the pots and volume sliders, and worked everything back and forth until it was smooth and silent, but again it wasn't too bad. I used it for a solid week of daily listening, and absolutely fell in love with the sound of it, especially paired with my KLH's.

The unit was moved for general housekeeping, and everything hooked back up, and then I noticed no sound on the A, B, A+B right side. Moved the speakers and cables to a different receiver, and they worked fine on the other unit.

I'm an amateur at best, and the troubleshooting pathways for a non-functional side of speakers is a little overwhelming, unless there's potentially an easy fix to try? I'm aware that I'll probably seek out a pro in my area, but I also know that I'll never learn until I start figuring these things out for myself! At a minimum, I hope to be able to understand where things broke a little better.

 

[Skywatcher]

Hi folks! First time posting here, and I'm hoping to pick your collective brain on an issue that popped up. I did a quick search, and a once over of the rules, but please school me if I'm not following the right format or missing any of the finer points of posting here!

I have a beautiful STA-84 by realistic, and I gave it a good cleaning once I picked it up, inside and out. A good dusting out, and cleaning some of the slightly more stubborn gunk away with a little denatured alcohol and swabs, but it really didn't need much, and I deoxited the pots and volume sliders, and worked everything back and forth until it was smooth and silent, but again it wasn't too bad. I used it for a solid week of daily listening, and absolutely fell in love with the sound of it, especially paired with my KLH's.

The unit was moved for general housekeeping, and everything hooked back up, and then I noticed no sound on the A, B, A+B right side. Moved the speakers and cables to a different receiver, and they worked fine on the other unit.

I'm an amateur at best, and the troubleshooting pathways for a non-functional side of speakers is a little overwhelming, unless there's potentially an easy fix to try? I'm aware that I'll probably seek out a pro in my area, but I also know that I'll never learn until I start figuring these things out for myself! At a minimum, I hope to be able to understand where things broke a little better.

It's hard to say, but it is possible that if you had it in MONO, the right channel was out before. If that is the case, the Amp is fine and the trouble is before the amp. OR the TAPE monitor switch might be in need of a cleaning. With the power OFF, work that switch a bazillion times to "scrape" the contacts clean. In fact, work any other switches that barely, if ever get used. Tarnish builds up over time on the contacts. Other than that, it's best to seek professional help if you have no idea how to work on electronics. Also, if you let us know what "your area" is, we may already know someone GOOD you can have take a look at it.

 

[Kirbalicious]

It's hard to say, but it is possible that if you had it in MONO, the right channel was out before. If that is the case, the Amp is fine and the trouble is before the amp. OR the TAPE monitor switch might be in need of a cleaning. With the power OFF, work that switch a bazillion times to "scrape" the contacts clean. In fact, work any other switches that barely, if ever get used. Tarnish builds up over time on the contacts. Other than that, it's best to seek professional help if you have no idea how to work on electronics. Also, if you let us know what "your area" is, we may already know someone GOOD you can have take a look at it.

Thanks so much for your help!! It means a lot to me! ImI'I'm in the Raleigh NC area, close to Durham, chapel hill, willing to drive outside of my areas as long as it's in NC more or less!

I don't think I had it in mono or anything like that. Should I open it up to deoxit it again? Also, this particular model has a R + L volume slider, which I did deoxit pretty well and work both sides very thoroughly until there was no static or noise. Could I have given it too much maybe?

I'll work on the switches some more, but if there's anyone out this way you'd recommend, I'm all ears!

 

[Skywatcher]

Thanks so much for your help!! It means a lot to me! ImI'I'm in the Raleigh NC area, close to Durham, chapel hill, willing to drive outside of my areas as long as it's in NC more or less!

I don't think I had it in mono or anything like that. Should I open it up to deoxit it again? Also, this particular model has a R + L volume slider, which I did deoxit pretty well and work both sides very thoroughly until there was no static or noise. Could I have given it too much maybe?

I'll work on the switches some more, but if there's anyone out this way you'd recommend, I'm all ears!

The slider pots have a grease in them for lubrication and spraying anything into them can cause them to become sticky and not slide so well. I usually remove them, open them up (bending some tabs), clean the carbon tracks and wiper contacts, and reassemble them leaving the grease essentially undisturbed. However they seem to be NOT causing your issue. You should at least use FaderLube (has a lubricant) on the POTs, and Deoxit D5 on the switches. You could, with it turned on and the volume turned low just enough to hear, and work the switches to see if there is any "life" appearing in the right channel. Also be SURE there are no fraying of the speaker wires, and the speaker wires have a solid connection. Either way, check the speaker connections at both ends. It's unlikely it just "quit" all of a sudden by simply moving things around. I have seen speaker wires get "pinched" somewhere in the middle that weren't obvious. Check them the full length to be sure.

 

[Kirbalicious]

Thanks for the advice! I'll give it a go again, and double-check the connections when I hook it back up. The same wires and speakers worked perfectly on another test receiver I have, but maybe it's the binding posts or something. I never did tin the wires to keep their shape, either. At some point, I was hoping to figure out how to upgrade the old style binding posts to something 5 way that would give me more secure connections, too.

And thank you again for the insight on the sliders! I hope I didn't kludge them up!