Restoring an SX-880

[Brian1970]

Hi all. I'm new here and not a pro by any means. Just a hobbyist. Never worked on stereo equipment before but I've done a little electronics repair, built some ham radio kits and stuff like that. I probably have just enough knowledge to be dangerous so I try to keep that in mind.

I have a 16-year old who constantly has airpods in and likes music so I thought maybe restoring an old stereo would be a fun project for us to work on together. I found what I hope is a pretty good condition SX-880 but it probably won't make it here for a week or so. Once it's done, it'll be a bedroom setup that hopefully he can take to college and use for a good long time.

Anyway, I've already learned a lot from everyone here. This site was a go-to for researching different models so thanks for the help you've already given me.

 

[Bill S]

Welcome to the forum. If you have any questions as you proceed with the rebuild, post them here. Lots of knowledgeable folks who can help!

 

[Ray66]

Welcome. SX-880! You're a better dad than me. I just picked up a Sansui G-4500 to restore and give to the son I think is most likely to embrace vintage hifi. Some here might advise to do your first restoration on a lesser unit (like a G-4500, but take your time and you'll be fine. I did an SX-980 a couple years ago and AK was extremely helpful.

 

[Brian1970]

Welcome to the forum. If you have any questions as you proceed with the rebuild, post them here. Lots of knowledgeable folks who can help!

Thank you! I'm pretty sure I'll have questions so I appreciate you all being here.

 

[Brian1970]

Welcome. SX-880! You're a better dad than me. I just picked up a Sansui G-4500 to restore and give to the son I think is most likely to embrace vintage hifi. Some here might advise to do your first restoration on a lesser unit (like a G-4500, but take your time and you'll be fine. I did an SX-980 a couple years ago and AK was extremely helpful.

I really thought about getting a 580 as a better first one but the ones I found looked like they might be a little far gone and that worried me more as a first timer. The 880 supposedly works, looks in pretty good shape, and the price was decent. I think in the end I might have spent more on a lower power but farther gone one. Hopefully the decision works out for me.

 

[Brian1970]

Well, I'm done with the SX-880 for now and it was a pretty easy one. There were a few caps replaced in it at some point and I think the current source JFETs may have been replaced too. I've got some CRDs ordered and will probably replace the JFETs when they come in but they're backordered at Mouser so it might be a couple months on that. I replaced all the caps in the main board. All the 10 uF and up were replaced with Nichicons and the smaller ones with WIMA film caps. Also put some cool blue LEDs in it. I think I like the warm white better but it's not mine. Besides that, I just cleaned all the controls and re-pasted the output transistors. It sounds great and I'm super happy with how it turned out.

I'm glad I picked one in good working condition for my first one. After testing the old caps, I only found about 4 or 5 that were pretty well done for and maybe another dozen that were borderline. The tantalums seemed maybe ok. They were very close on capacitance value but their ESR seemed a little high - 60 ohms. They were both around that so maybe that's just the way those are but they got replaced. A few electrolytics were around 50% low on capacitance values. My little LCR meter can't handle the big filter caps so I replaced them but they looked fine. I haven't re-capped the meter board or tuner yet. The meters are working fine for now. I don't have the test equipment to align the tuner board and it seems ok for now too so I'll hold off on it for a bit. I might be ready for a bit more of a challenge for my next one but we'll see.

 

[Ray66]

Congrats on the successful completion of your project. I agree with you, warm white would have been better than cool blue LEDS. I guess that means it's still going to your son. Now time to get a project amp for yourself.

 

[Brian1970]

Congrats on the successful completion of your project. I agree with you, warm white would have been better than cool blue LEDS. I guess that means it's still going to your son. Now time to get a project amp for yourself.

Thanks! And yes, I'll be looking for another project amp and maybe a nice turntable. The next one might have to be for my wife though. She said the 880 sounds much nicer than the A/V receiver we've got in the living room so I might just need to find something for her too.

 

[12344321]

My one bit of advice regarding the sx-880, consider bumping that 5W resistor for the hot transistor on power board up to a 10W. It will save the unit. There's a thread somewhere on here that details several such modifications. Oh, and also from experience, they don't like 4ohm speakers. Keep it at 8, sounds great!

 

[Brian1970]

My one bit of advice regarding the sx-880, consider bumping that 5W resistor for the hot transistor on power board up to a 10W. It will save the unit. There's a thread somewhere on here that details several such modifications. Oh, and also from experience, they don't like 4ohm speakers. Keep it at 8, sounds great!

Thanks. I hadn't run across that bit of knowledge so I'll add one to my next order.

 

[Brian1970]

I picked something more challenging for my next project (without really knowing it). A Sansui AU-555. I'd just like to say how much easier the SX-880 is to work on. Everything's pretty easy to access and a slightly more modern board with components that don't have 1/4 inch of their legs folded over the back side is kinda nice. The SX-880 is still doing great.