Show us your Technics stuff

[hemiram]

I can see the needles fine.

They do look slightly better, but LEDs have a lot of advantages and with a little work, can be dimmed down to match the old bulbs, and you can "diffuse" them if they aren't already with some sandpaper. Number one is the lack of heat due to less power being wasted/turned into heat as incandescent lights do. A couple of times over the last 35 years, our heat went out and we just turned on all the lights and were able to survive 40 degree F weather pretty comfortably for a few days until the furnace was fixed. Can't do that anymore, the LED light bulbs don't put out enough heat.
A related advantage to LEDs is they don't cook the plastic around the bulbs like the regular ones do. I've had a couple of radios over the years with broken plastic parts due to cooking from the old bulbs.
And then there is the lifespan advantage.

 

[komhst]

totally agree with u , but why in other cases , after 40 years vfd is bright like first day? to be honest , technics is only brand which has this problem i never saw a dead vfd on pioneer,kenwood,sony,akai ......…

Don't say so... I have a similar problem with my MDS-JE500 Sony MiniDisc deck.
Faded VFD:

 

[Yodathedog]

Don't say so... I have a similar problem with my MDS-JE500 Sony MiniDisc deck.
Faded VFD:

View attachment 1193032

View attachment 1193033

Looks pretty good to me.

 

[TECH---NICS]

letter T and part of E-R seems brighter to me , anyway we shoud stop , we are offtopic

 

[komhst]

Looks pretty good to me.

No, in reality it looks much worse than in the photos.

 

[jeromach]

The Technics ST-K808 also suffers from this problem. Which is a pity, since the complete set is quite nice. It even (can) include(s) a record player that can be used with a remote control, the Technics SL-Q33.

I would expect the SU-8077/88/99 to have the same problem, but until today I haven't yet noticed it, it seems these meters are more sturdy.

 

[SVI2004A]

Touch wood... my 84-6 gear FL displays are all fine... ST-G3 G5 SA-550 560 SUX90 SL-PJ1 SL-P7 SL-P8 are all fine —- have more... haven’t ran in some time

 

[Harvestor]

SA600 that I need to have fixed
And the SA800

 

[jeromach]

Nice!

 

[Yodathedog]

Look at all the pretty buttons.

 

[MitsuMan]

SA-700 receiver, ST-S7 tuner, and SU-V9 integrated. I have an RS-631 cassette deck that I bought new but it's seen better days so it's not in the rack.


Second pic is an SL-1700 that is in use in my office system
.

 

[RetroHiFiFan]

Two SU-8099K and a SU-8055K amp. The table is not that happy about the weight though..

The 8099 on left needs a recap soon

And a little compariasm between the SU-8055K (on the left) and the SU-8099K (on the right, obviously) just for fun:

 

[dzkfraser]

Two SU-8099K and a SU-8055K amp. The table is not that happy about the weight though..

The 8099 on left needs a recap soon

And a little compariasm between the SU-8055K (on the left) and the SU-8099K (on the right, obviously) just for fun:

Mama and her widdle baby

 

[jeromach]

Great amps, those 8099's, I did a couple of rebuilds on them (and on the 8088 and 8077 too)

I think both would be in need of a recap, but one thing that is extremely important; replace the trimmers for bias voltage adjustment (and while you're there also those for DC offset).
Do NOT try to turn them to make adjustments, you might blow up the power transistors in that channel, just replace them before making any adjustments.
If the amp (already) runs hot, just stop using it until these trimmers are replaced.

Be careful with the remote switch mechanisms too, these are unobtainium (as far as I know, if someone knows where to find them I'd be happy to hear about it!)

 

[RetroHiFiFan]

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I just love the 8099, that's why I got two of these babys. One option to get the remote switches could be to buy a cheap broken 8044 or 8055, they have the same switches as far as I know. Probably not the best and cheapest option but better than none

 

[jeromach]

The same type of switches (perhaps!), but for sure not the needed length :

 

[RetroHiFiFan]

The same type of switches (perhaps!), but for sure not the needed length :

The 8099 I'm currently using (I need to test the other one a bit more) runs indeed quit hot if you let it run for a while even at low volume. What temperatures would you consider as too hot?

 

[jeromach]

In fact it should not feel hot at all, a little warm at most after some time of use.

The trimmers for the bias adjustment in time will loose their ability to have a resistance of zero ohm and will start at something like 30 or more. This often causes the bias voltage to be too high, hence it running (too) hot.

Turning, cleaning and deoxing these will not help, they are just broken and need to be replaced. I've see an number of these amps (also 8077 and 8088) that suffered blown end stages because of this problem.

Another issue most likely will be the solder connections of the drivers of the power transistor, this needs attention urgently if indeed this problem exists.

They're absolutely worth restoring. I posted the rebuild of an 8088 here some time ago; http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/technics-su-8088-satisfactory-rebuild.608272/

 

[RetroHiFiFan]

Here is something I found out by accident and I thought you might find this interesting (if you don't know already): the paint used for the labeling on the front panel on the SU-8099K (and SU-8055K) actually lights up under UV light. I've tried it on all my other HiFi stuff but it only lights up on my Technics amps.


Check this out (it looks much better in person than it does on these pictures):

And that's how it looks on a normal device:

 

[SVI2004A]

Neat.... somethin new every day

A local radio station had an SU-8055 in the foyer playin 24/7.... studio has since noved... probably still havi it going