SC-5300 VU Meter Lights

[Rod G-6000]

I've had my Sansui SC-5300 Tape deck for about a year and a half now and finally decided to take it out of my set up for a cleaning and check into the VU Meter lights that have not worked since I bought it. All other lights are fine.
Upon inspection of the bulbs they appear to be fine but I replaced them with new ones from PE....Hmmm still no lights for the meters.

Can anyone give me an idea where to begin looking for a possible problem?

An AK member is sending me some pages of the SM after the weekend so I will have that to also help.

 

[dgwojo]

Hopefully your model didn't use 24 volt lamps, some meters do and PE doesn't sell anything with that high of a rating, keep us posted, Dave. :scratch2:

 

[Stene]

Hopefully your model didn't use 24 volt lamps, some meters do and PE doesn't sell anything with that high of a rating, keep us posted, Dave. :scratch2:

I'm almost sure it's 8V/65mA in series

 

[Rod G-6000]

Stene,, You confirmed for me back in 12-05, from a schematic, that the bulbs are actually 8V/65mA.

 

[Rod G-6000]

We have Light

The mystery of no lights is finally solved. It appears that the meter lights are wired in series. One of the bulbs I received from PE was bad although the filament appears to be intact and tested good on my meter. Strange, but after replacing the bulb with a spare I purchased, both meter lights are now working fine.
The 8V/65ma bulbs look good. I'll post a pic later today.
Now to figure out why tapes sound muffled.
All switches and controls have been cleaned. Heads have been cleaned and demagnatized. The speed is accurate but it sounds like a heavy blanket has been placed over the speakers.
I'm thinking maybe the heads are possibly so worn it's causing this problem ????
If thats the case, are they replaceable and would it be worth the effort??

 

[Arsenio]

The speed is accurate but it sounds like a heavy blanket has been placed over the speakers.
I'm thinking maybe the heads are possibly so worn it's causing this problem ????
If thats the case, are they replaceable and would it be worth the effort??

Hi,
How about adjusting the head alignment to it's tape azimuth? I beleived this model has a small HOLE in front of the head to insert small philips screw driver, or open the faceplate more convenient to adjust while the tape is running. You can look at the head surface if there is deep scoring/indentation if it's worn out or not. Sometimes cleaning with swab and liquid head cleaner is not enough and I used cotton cloth damped in head cleaner with slight finger pressure to remove stubborn dirt. Switch for tape (Normal/matal) hope it's working properly.

Arsenio

 

[Rod G-6000]

Here's a pic (bad one) of the lights:

Arsenio, you called it right. I adjusted the head alignment while playing a tape and the sound is much cleaner & clearer. I always wondered what that hole was for. Now I know. Thanks man!!

I really need to get me a better Digital Camera!!
The receiver below the SC-5300 is a Technics SA-5200A I picked up at a garage sale about a month ago. Can't find much on it but seems to be maybe 15-20wpc
Very nice smooth sound. It's all cleaned up & will be going in my daughters room
next week along with a Pioneer CT-F6262 Tape Deck, 5 Disc CD Player & the Realistic Nova 4's