[moodyrn]

Those sound like some very interesting mods. I wish I lived in an area where I can enjoy it the way you guys do. Where I live have an area of about 1.3 million people, but there's just a couple of decent jazz stations. Not worth the effort for me, but I'm sure tempted. Some very good deals on tuners come up here often. There was a mr78 that lasted for nearly a year. The guy dropped the price down all the way to 450.00 before someone scooped it. The marantz 10b I bought was up for several months also. 

 

[Oregonian]

I hear ya.  We have good classic rock stations but that is about it - no smooth jazz which is my primary genre so it's rare I listen to FM ever at all and the TX-9500II tuner in my Spec system pulls signals well. 
 
So a $3.99 per month fee to Pandora solves my FM problem..............well worth it. 

 

[MinedSafe]

I was working on my amp yesterday night, here are some pictures from inside
 
Russian Oil caps, huge! could barely fit them in but the sound improvement is beyond their price point. Best spend 10Euro in my life
Resistors are PR9372 and Mills but has miss ordered 2 so have to make another order. Resistors for headphone output are Kiwame,Caps are Cerfaines, Vishay, Samwha and Wima. Few more things has to be done but that all takes time and money and I'm trying to be reasonable, of course Blue and red cable is DNM Reson witch I have sacrificed for the good purpose
 
Next parts will include new volume pot, Mundorf cap for power supply and some boutique gold+silver wires  
 
Unfortunately while the amp sounds outstanding, there is a bit of a noise when music is not playing. This is defo from transistors and I might change them at some stage as well.
 

 

 

[SpeakerBox]

I am guessing that you will cover the exposed leads on the big green caps lest to case touches it from the top?

 

[MinedSafe]

Yeah will have to get some shrinking tubes, they quite far away still from the top so not a bother, but it should not be done like that I know.

 

[SpeakerBox]

Better safe than sorry.  Trust me I have had a few unintended shorts in my time. 

 

[moodyrn]

Many vintage amps/receivers have germanium transistors. Some have a few and others uses all germanium transistors(other than the power ones). It's absolutely critical to replace those....always. Germaniums are very unreliable, and very noisy. Those are always the first step for me. The shelf life on those isn't even as long as the shelf life of capacitors. Most repairs tend to be transistor related. But the  problem with some, is finding suitable replacements. That's why scoring a decent schematic is always key before opening anything up. After getting it running up to par, then you can work on making it sound better.
 
I remember a pioneer sx1250 on ebay recently that the seller went though and did a total recapping, new boutique wiring, and other upgrades. But was selling it for parts/repair because he just couldn't get rid of a nasty hum. I sent him a message asking how many transistors he replaced and his reply was none. Replacing caps won't matte much, if there's a bunch of germaniums in there.

 

[SpeakerBox]

I am wondering if the 1250 actually had any germanium transistors?  I don't recall seeing any but am going to re-check.

 

[MinedSafe]

Well said, I have found all the replacement transistors and will order this week.People don't change them as its not as easy sometimes, different pinouts and voltage. Some might take while to arrive but it be definitely worth it. There is about 18 altogether in AU-101 will se how many I can get to replace. I would also need to get a good bunch of them for pairing, witch is crucial as well. 

 

[moodyrn]

I am wondering if the 1250 actually had any germanium transistors?  I don't recall seeing any but am going to re-check.

Well the point of the 1250 reference was, he didnt address the transistors at all when trying to track down the source of the hum. Transistors whether germanium or not do fail when it comes to gear this old. When it comes to germanium however, its always a given.

 

[SpeakerBox]

Well the point of the 1250 reference was, he didnt address the transistors at all when trying to track down the source of the hum. Transistors whether germanium or not do fail when it comes to gear this old. When it comes to germanium however, its always a given.

 
Ok, thought that might be the case - but being the paranoid type thought I should investigate.

 

[Nova40]

I know it's hard to compare, but I was wondering how much ($) it would be for an integrated amp that's better than my old Yamaha CA-800?

 

[captouch]

  I know it's hard to compare, but I was wondering how much ($) it would be for an integrated amp that's better than my old Yamaha CA-800?

 
Is there anything in particular you're looking to improve upon?  What speakers are you driving with the CA-800?
 
From my experience, the Yamahas are really nice units (heavy duty, high build quality) and very neutral.  If you just wanted a different flavor (more warmth/color, etc) that's one thing, but just curious about what you're trying to get that you don't get with the CA-800.

 

[Nova40]

 Is there anything in particular you're looking to improve upon?  What speakers are you driving with the CA-800?

I'm driving a pair of B&W 686s and am currently using it with my Hifiman HE-500s as well.  But I will be upgrading to the the HE-6 pretty soon.  I'm looking for something that can compliment how resolving the HE-6s can be while also being able to power my 686s (and eventually Magnepan 0.7s).  So I would say I want to make sure my amp isn't the bottleneck for my setup (or at least minimally) with emphasis on resolution.
 
Also, if it helps, my dac is the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100.

 

[MinedSafe]

I'm driving a pair of B&W 686s and am currently using it with my Hifiman HE-500s as well.  But I will be upgrading to the the HE-6 pretty soon.  I'm looking for something that can compliment how resolving the HE-6s can be while also being able to power my 686s (and eventually Magnepan 0.7s).  So I would say I want to make sure my amp isn't the bottleneck for my setup (or at least minimally) with emphasis on resolution.

Also, if it helps, my dac is the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100.

For magnepan, AudioNote, amp and preamp. Had it miself and was f amazing. I had Magnepan, audio Note amp and preamp, DAP Proced ( Mark Levinson ) DAC.