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Yamaha CR-1020 balance pot haywire

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davester

New Member
I'm a newbie here. I picked up a pretty nice CR-1020 from craigslist last year. I always wanted one of these during my college years but could never afford one, so I was happy as a clam with my buy until recently, and have been powering my dad's old Advents and some newer Paradigms. Unfortunately, I didn't notice at the time of purchase that the balance control had problems. Here are the characteristics:

1. The stops are gone so the knob can go round and round without stopping.

2. The balance turns with the volume knob no matter how well I clean it up with deoxit.

3. Despite (1) and (2), there was no problem with the receiver at all until recently. However, now as I turn the balance control, the left channel pops in and out (about 95% out), and even disappears at times when I'm not doing anything. It is extremely touchy...just tapping it (or even doing nothing) can screw things up.

I've searched far and wide for a replacement pot but nothing seems available. Does anyone here (especially merrylander) have any suggestions as to a course of action? I figure my choices are:

1) Look for another CR-1020 on ebay/craigslist.
2) Bypass the balance pot so that I'm always getting 100% on both channels
3) Completely disassemble the pots and try to fix whatever ails them (this looks like major surgery given the multiple ganged concentric pots...is this feasible?).
4) Ask if anyone here has a replacement pot I can buy.
5) Ask merrylander if he has a restored CR-1020 for sale.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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4) Ask if anyone here has a replacement pot I can buy.
With the stops broken its free to rotate 360 degrees ..This sounds like you have already damaged the pots wiper...
 
That sounds like the most straightforward solution, though I was thinking it would be a long shot if anyone had one. In the event nobody has a spare pot, does anyone know if the pots from other CR-series receivers or CA-series amps are interchangeable with the 1020. I occasionally see non-working examples of those cheap on craigslist/ebay, so could potentially cannibalize one.
 
The 1020 pot is a three section unit, front section is balance and the other two are left and right volume. I have three 1020s sitting here, one is pretty much spoken for, no idea when I will get to them. If you have other units for tunes you could remove the control and send it here, I have rebuilt them in the past so it might be possible. The balance control has its own stop, the last section of the volume control controls its stop. The plastic piece that the stop is part of must be broken, so I would need to cannabilise some controls to get parts. It is the middle unit that can be a problem. Does the balance turn 360 degress as well? If so then it may be toast as those concentric controls have an odd size wiper mounting.
 
Merrylander, I do have another receiver so I could take mine out of action and send you the pot if there was a good chance of getting it fixed. This sounds like the way to go to me. However, note that it is the balance pot that is bad and missing the stops...the volume control seems fine. From your post it sounds like that might put it into the "it's toast" category, is that right? Any ballpark on what you'd charge to fix it? If it's truly toast, do you know if it is interchangeable with other CR-/CA- series pots?
 
According to the SMs the CR-620 and CR-820 use the same part, at least they all are listed as HS42018 3 sections 50k ohms. Most likely the control is taost, at least I don't have anything of that concentric style that I can cannibalise. You can likely find a non-working 620 pretty cheap and rob its control. CA serise SMs seem to have very different parts numbering scheme.
 
Thanks. That is very useful info since even broken 1020/2020s seem to go for beaucoup $. I now have a mission...find a trashed 620/820.
 
It may not be as bad as it seems. I just went through this with a CR2020 that I just bought off of Ebay. The balance control didn't work and it could rotate 360 degrees.

I removed the volume/balance control assy. from the unit to take a look and I noticed that the balance pot was not assembled as tight as the other pots. Somehow the little metal tabs holding the pot assy. together loosened up and the stops within the pot were not hitting each other allowing the pot to rotate 360 degrees. Also, the wiper was only making intermittent contact.

I bent the metal tabs back with an exacto knife and disassembled the pot to take a look inside. Everything looked good so I re-assembled and crimped the metal tabs down with needlenose pliers. No more balance control problems. :banana:

Hope this helps. Good luck.
 
Sorry for postiong in such an old thread.
I've recently bought a CR-1020 from ebay and when I received it, I found out that if the volume knob is moved pass the "10 o'clock" position, the balance ring is also moving along.
Also, any direct adjustment to the balance ring, moves the volume knob.
Is there any fix, other than replacing the pot ?

I've attached a video:
 
Ice187 said:
Sorry for postiong in such an old thread.
I've recently bought a CR-1020 from ebay and when I received it, I found out that if the volume knob is moved pass the "10 o'clock" position, the balance ring is also moving along.
Also, any direct adjustment to the balance ring, moves the volume knob.
Is there any fix, other than replacing the pot ?

I've attached a video:
Click to expand...
Did you clean it?
 
Sounds more like a bent shaft.

Remove the knobs and see if the problem persists.

If things work ok with the knobs removed then you may be able to see the bend and straighten the shaft without removing the entire pot for disassembly and repair.
 
i would agree with the bent shaft thing, but if it is, it may be as simple as pulling the volume knob forward just a hair so it doesn't hit the balance knob. If you're careful, pulling it forward, a 1/16 or an 1/8 won't even show.
 
Thank you, guys. It worked!

I removed the volume knob and than put it back without pushing it in all the way.
I works very smooth know and the "modification" doesn't show at all.
 
Excellent, glad to hear you got it "fixed".

The 1020 is a great piece of gear, hope it brings you years of enjoyment.
 
gkohl said:
It may not be as bad as it seems. I just went through this with a CR2020 that I just bought off of Ebay. The balance control didn't work and it could rotate 360 degrees.

I removed the volume/balance control assy. from the unit to take a look and I noticed that the balance pot was not assembled as tight as the other pots. Somehow the little metal tabs holding the pot assy. together loosened up and the stops within the pot were not hitting each other allowing the pot to rotate 360 degrees. Also, the wiper was only making intermittent contact.

I bent the metal tabs back with an exacto knife and disassembled the pot to take a look inside. Everything looked good so I re-assembled and crimped the metal tabs down with needlenose pliers. No more balance control problems. :banana:

Hope this helps. Good luck.
Click to expand...

This worked for me 12 years later.

I also found this in another thread and found it interesting:

The signal strength meter works off of body capacitance. When you touch the tuning knob one of the sp out meters changes into a signal strength meter and back again when you release your touch.

When testing the balance pot after reinstallation i was in fm and brushed the tuning dial repeatedly while rotating balance. Tripped me out.

jw
 
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