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ST-5000FW Help

Welcome to the group and all I can say is you have an excellent friend. Send him a case of good booze as a thank you. Only problem with you haul is that once they are cleaned up, that's it. Almost no place to move up except to things like McIntosh, Accuphase, ARC and a few others.
 
Having owned a fair number of McIntosh and a fair number of vintage Sony, I would not consider vintage McIntosh as a move up from a comparable vintage Sony set. Sony is generally as well made and, to my ears, better sounding. The ARC 60wpc tube amp I owned fried three times before I gave up on it. Sounded fine, at least as fine as tubes can sound. Can't comment on Accuphase as I've never owned. I would rather put my $$ into a refurb of that Sony set than a comparable McIntosh set from the same era.
 
the key is the preamp for arc or mcintosh to make them sing you need a tubeamp to judge i tried most of the stuff buildquality of arc is way above sony even esprit .tubesamp can fail its in nature of tubes but is imho never soundwise to any fvet i used
and the resale price is also important every arc or mc i sold was with profit!
what more can you want enjoyment and payoff
 
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If we all agreed on this, then there would only have been 1 model from 1 company. I'm not selling Sony short by any means and their good stuff runs right up there with some of the best. I've had multiple models of ARC over the years and my 1st was the Dual 50 that required replacement every couple of months after cooking itself to death. Last set of D76a amps I had could not be killed. As for putting $s into either a Mc or Sony from theat era, well when they were new I had a choice betwen them and many others and put my money in the Mc. So I guess if I had to make a decision as to where to sink refurb money, I'd still go with Mc but then again I am in process of refurbing the STR 6120 just to compare it to my Mc system and the 6060.
 
rwilson, I'd also suggest you acquire the owners manual for at least the pre-amp. It has instructions to allow you access to all of the capabilities of the unit, well worth the $5 cost from the sony DAPC in California (http://servicesales.sel.sony.com/web/index.jsp). Takes an email enquiry to find it, it's not listed on the site.

Tuner schematics are posted at the FMtuners forum accessible through the Tuner Information Centre site.

Other manuals can be had here: http://www.servicemanuals.net/(xz45koa0khboho45vehac245)/default.aspx. They are fast and reliable, good quality paper manuals or downloadable versions.
 
If you are a member of the FMTunerForum you get the schematics and various other parts of the service manual here:

Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 14:52:51 -0000
From: "newaag" <bob@fmtunerinfo.com>
Subject: Re: Sony ST-5000F

They key scans for the Sony 5000F are in files here
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FMTunersArchiveII/files/
This includes alignment info and schematics.
join this group (instant approval) to see them.
Bob

Also, I should have the full service and owner's manuals and the other literature available on .pdf in another week or two.

Don't forget to register your ST-5000FW on TVK: http://www.thevintageknob.org/registers/registers-main.html
 
Eager for a report

Hey YamB2,

Please let us know how your Sony turns out after Mike gets done. I scored one recently, paid a fairly high price for it. Certainly worth it though if it slows my curiosity and/or my upgradeitis.
 
Will do. Mike tells me he will be popping the top in the next week or two and let me know what he thinks. My plans are a recap, remove the balun and install an 'F' connector and upgrade the power cord. The last thing is aesthetic as much as anything. Those funky brown lamp cords are just plain unattractive. And my STR-V7 150wpc uses the same thing. Sony must have bought that stuff by the 100 mile spool.
 
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I finally decided to step up to the bat with the 5000FW. I am down at the bottom of the Radio-X queue. The one I have doesn't work in stereo; I look forward to listening to it after service and repair.
 
Just got my ST-5000FW today. It clearly needs an alignment, and some refurb as well. Holy crap is it ever built nicely. Best I've seen outside of Mac, and maybe as nice as Mac.

Entered it into an unofficial shootout with my Fisher FM-50B tube tuner, which is in really good shape and was aligned in the past 2 years or so. Early returns have the Fisher maybe a little smoother - maybe, but the Sony has a little more "abient awareness" that I've always wished for in the 50B. The Sony is a bear trap for DXing, even in its present state.

Terry DeWick is finishing up my Fisher 500C, can't wait to try the Sony through it and then against the 500C's tuner. The Sony will be in the mail for refurb in the coming weeks and then paired up with the big X-1000, Old Sparky.
 
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After further review, the little Fisher 50B is outperforming the Sony musically, by a Streisand nose. Need to refurb and mod the Sony for a fair fight.

Listening to them through a Fisher X-100C with Sennheiser HD-650's.
 
I've just noticed my "fmtuner" service manual for the tuner has no detailed parts listing, a notable shortcoming.

Does anyone have a manual from another source that includes one? In particular, I'd like to find out the Sony part no. and description for a proprietary transformer on the limiter/decoder board, notated as IFT301 on the board schematic.

Has anyone obtained a manual from some other source that includes this listing? I'd appreciate knowing from where so I could obtain one.
 
absolon said:
I've just noticed my "fmtuner" service manual for the tuner has no detailed parts listing, a notable shortcoming.

Does anyone have a manual from another source that includes one? In particular, I'd like to find out the Sony part no. and description for a proprietary transformer on the limiter/decoder board, notated as IFT301 on the board schematic.

Has anyone obtained a manual from some other source that includes this listing? I'd appreciate knowing from where so I could obtain one.
Click to expand...
Does this help? I don't have a scanner; so, I just took a picture.
1-403-291 Transformer, discriminator IFT301
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Glenn, that deal is still a go, I'm just a bit jammed up in the shop right now. Also, the cherry in this batch at my supplier has too much sapwood so I'm looking for alternate supplies. I'll email you later with some details of what I need from you in terms of dimensions. You'll need the unit in front of you for measuring. I would appreciate getting the parts list; I'm a bit surprised it wasn't included.

Phil, thanks. That is precisely what I needed. That transformer was reported as "intermittent" when I had a tech look mine over. The symptoms are reduced output volume and difficulty receiving in stereo. I had pulled mine out of my system several months back because of the problem. Just put it back in to test again and can't get stereo at all anymore. Output volume is sometimes normal, sometimes down about 25% or so.
 
Heard from Kris. He should have the manual scanned in this week or next, so should have all available in .pdf shortly.

Also, got a missive from Mike. He will start on my ST-5000FW in a day or two and thinks it will take about a week to get it wrapped up. Tells me it is in very good condition. He will be doing a recap with new diodes in the PS, BGs in the signal circuits, new power cord (I just can't take that brown lamp-cord :thumbsdn: on a high-end tuner) and replace the balun with an 'F' connector. Should be listening to it in a few weeks. :thmbsp:
 
BTW, I relamped mine with 3 watters for the tuning dial but it is decidedly dim compared to the STR-6060FW.

I'd guess 5 watt dial bulbs would be preferred although the center tune and signal strength meters would then be relatively dim.
 
I opened mine up over the weekend and found 2 burned out 8 watt fuse type glass dial lights, and the meter lamps were wires soldered onto little 12v bulbs, one burned out. Is this all original?

I ordered replacement dial lamps from Parts Express, and the 12v meter lamps I found at RatShack.
 
Mike (Punker X, Radio X) just informed me that my ST-5000FW is on its way via Fedex Ground. Should be here tomorrow or Monday.

Here is a list of the work Mike did:

"To get the diodes to work, I had to fabricate a little board to hold them and the RFI by-pass caps. Got most of the work done. Had to order some cable grips for the new power cord, they should be here today. Had most the work done over the weekend and was burning it in. Tried to do the alignment on it this morning and ran into some problems. Tried to get the caps off the coils on the MPX board and they are so fagile that two them ended up breaking. I was able to fix both of them, then the tuning slugs in them use an extra small square tool. Of course I don't have that tool, so had to order some new tuning tools. I should have it done next week sometime. Took some Simchrome to the chassis and the covers, looks awsome."

I went for the 'full-boat' on mine and had it recapped with BGs and Panasonic FMs from end-to-end. Also, removed the balun and installed an F connector for the antenna and upgraded the power cord to something better than Sony's silly brown lamp cord. Expecting good things. Total damage of $372.

I'll post some thoughts when it arrives and more after I've listened for a few weeks to allow it time to break-in the new caps and other parts.
 
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