Calling All "Vintage" Integrated/Receiver Owners - Page 415

Just snagged a recapped and serviced Pioneer SX-1280 :) Awaiting delivery and it shall be used to primarily power my HE-6..

1980 Pioneer SX-D7000 Update:

Some of you may recall that when I bought my iron, the Fluoroscan meters did not work. So, after enjoying my price-adjusted purchase for some six odd months, I fired up the rig @ midnight for a promising overnight session. 

With my amp sitting on the lowest shelf, 0.5" off the floor, I rarely look down when I lean over to hit "Power." First thing I do is make sure the big fat round volume know is turned to zero and then I hit it. 

I stepped out the room for a hot minute. Upon my approach... well, I'll be John Brown! Both meters were fully illuminated. Ain't never seen 'em lit up before. 5.5 hours have now past and they're still lit. However, the power meters are intermittent. 

Although, I never cleaned the internal switches and things, I suspect I might have a short. Because, when reviewing the selectors with the volume turned all the way down in AUX mode (DAC is connected here), I can hear music playing at low volume when I select either FM-AM-PHONO 2-PHONO 1. But no sound output with AUX with volume all the way down.

Somehow, there's a connection between the fluoroscan meters and these switches. Though I haven't fixed anything yet, I'm still excited this morning to finally have seen this bad boy in all its glory.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silent One 

 

Sometime miracle just happens like bad luck!! Congrats!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meewoo 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silent One 

 

 

Sometime miracle just happens like bad luck!! Congrats!

Thanks. I'm hoping a good Betty Ford DeOx treatment will set it straight. Since I sit sideways a mere 12" from the rack, I rarely lean over to look down. Had I not left the room, a few more weeks might have passed before I noticed anything.

Appreciate the guidance. Gonna sleep on it right about...now.

That's cool that your fluoroscan displays are now lighting up.  She looks real pretty!  I have a 10+ year old NAD A/V receiver that takes about 10 minutes for its fluoroscan display to light up after its powered on.  Maybe I need to do some internal cleaning on it too?

Fluroscantastic! I wonder if there's high voltage on those connector pins. If so, it behooves to either eliminate the connectors and hard-wire the display to the pcb, or thoroughly clean the connectors with something like DeoxIT and follow up with a protecting liquid like DeoxIT Gold.

I enjoyed this message on the Caig website informing us customers that the site would be down, or downish, in the coming weeks:

During the weeks of December 3^rd and 10^th their maybe delays in shipments.

Thank you for your patience and inconvenience during this time.

UPDATE: I'm chagrined to learn that Pioneer's trademarked name for their famous display is not "Fluoroscan", as I'd always thought, but Fluroscan. Obviously this can cause confusion in a search, since a very large number of us have had it in our heads as "Fluoroscan". 

After retiring this morning @ 0900 hours, I just woke up @ 1400 hours. Leaned over to hit "Power" - got more lights than displays at Holiday!  Though, I do have a confession to make. Initially, when I took the case off for cleaning when I first brought it home, I discovered I had completely run out of cleaner. Looked down at all the dirt and simply resigned to putting the case back on. Wished I'd handled it the first time.

Sometimes all it takes is unplugging a connector, glaring at it, then plugging it back in. Sometimes a quick wiggle does it.

Even though I lack cleaner, I should just go ahead and get in there and make something happen!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wualta 

Sometimes all it takes is unplugging a connector, glaring at it, then plugging it back in. Sometimes a quick wiggle does it.

Turns out angry stares not only work on bad dogs, they work on bad VU meters. Who knew?

Speaking of VU meters: Their plastic faces can pick up static charges strong enough to pull the needle mid-scale. In this case, going in for the glower and sneakily exhaling some high-humidity breath is a magical cure. Impress your non-audio friends.

Silent One: Why not "air test" the amp-- ie, continue using it as normal-- and see how long it takes for the meters to fail again, and under what conditions. They might not fail. But if they do, you'll definitely want some contact cleaner close at hand. At least you know it's not very likely to be a problem in the display (which I believe is vacuum-fluorescent, or VF) itself. Here's a possible clue from the Antique Radios site:

"A very common failure of Fluroscan displays is for the connections going to the heater [ie, filament] to tear loose from the circuit board that the panel solders into. The reason for this is that the heater connections get very hot during use, and after many heat/cool cycles the solder gets brittle."