In article ,
wrote:

I'm involved in the restoration of some 70's type equipment, mostly
Fisher/Marantz/Kenwood/Sansui and I am wondering where you guys find
parts for stuff like this?

Specifically I am looking for bread an butter parts, but also power
supply caps, panel bulbs and so forth.

Well, some vintage parts can be a tall order, but for regular stuff,
Mouser has great prices and quick mail-order turnaround. Digi-key often
has what Mouser doesn't.

Vintage style pots and neon/fluorescent panel lamps can be tough. You
might have to rebuild transformers. Big power caps are hard to find
too, and there are some tubes you just can't get.

I realize you said '70s, so you don't want tubes anyway.

(james) wrote in news:MQM8c.4552$Q45.4283
@fed1read02:

In article ,
wrote:

I'm involved in the restoration of some 70's type equipment, mostly
Fisher/Marantz/Kenwood/Sansui and I am wondering where you guys find
parts for stuff like this?

Specifically I am looking for bread an butter parts, but also power
supply caps, panel bulbs and so forth.

Well, some vintage parts can be a tall order, but for regular stuff,
Mouser has great prices and quick mail-order turnaround. Digi-key often
has what Mouser doesn't.

Vintage style pots and neon/fluorescent panel lamps can be tough. You
might have to rebuild transformers. Big power caps are hard to find
too, and there are some tubes you just can't get.

I realize you said '70s, so you don't want tubes anyway.


The output modules in the cheap 70's gear is impossible to find and maybe
that is a good thing.


r

--
Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes.

In article ,
Rich Andrews. wrote:

The output modules in the cheap 70's gear is impossible to find and maybe
that is a good thing.

By output module, do you mean the last stage amp? Couple of big
transitor arrays on heatsinks, big polarized caps, and a transformer?
Just find the signal path, match the impedence and voila, line-out, am I
wrong?

wrote:
I'm involved in the restoration of some 70's type equipment, mostly
Fisher/Marantz/Kenwood/Sansui and I am wondering where you guys find
parts for stuff like this?

Digi-Key. Newark and Allied. Antique Electronics Supply.

Specifically I am looking for bread an butter parts, but also power
supply caps, panel bulbs and so forth.

I get most of that stuff from my local electronics shop, Cain Electronics.
They are a short drive, they deliver, and they catered mostly to the TV
repair crowd but are selling more to the networking and industrial electronics
guys these days as the TV repair business disappears.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Rich Andrews. wrote:

The output modules in the cheap 70's gear is impossible to find and maybe
that is a good thing.

No, replacements for those horrible STK modules are still out there.
NTE has a surprising selection of them.

It is also possible to actually open them and perform surgery on them
if just the the output stages are blown. It's not fun, but it's no
worse than working on SMT stuff.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

james wrote:
In article ,
Rich Andrews. wrote:

The output modules in the cheap 70's gear is impossible to find and maybe
that is a good thing.

By output module, do you mean the last stage amp? Couple of big
transitor arrays on heatsinks, big polarized caps, and a transformer?
Just find the signal path, match the impedence and voila, line-out, am I
wrong?

No. Nasty ceramic hybrid things. Class B output stage combined with a
driver stage in a single module. These actually started showing up very
late in the seventies and were more of an eighties thing.

Badly designed transistor gain stages that depended excessively on feedback
for linearity gave solid state electronics in the late sixties and early
seventies a bad name, but it took the STK hybrids to completely destroy
the sound quality and reliability of consumer electronics.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

writes:
I'm involved in the restoration of some 70's type equipment, mostly
Fisher/Marantz/Kenwood/Sansui and I am wondering where you guys find
parts for stuff like this?

Specifically I am looking for bread an butter parts, but also power
supply caps, panel bulbs and so forth.

Go to a flea market (or ebay) and find similar equipment to scavenge
parts from.

In article ,
Scott Dorsey wrote:


Rich Andrews. wrote:

The output modules in the cheap 70's gear is impossible to find and maybe
that is a good thing.

No, replacements for those horrible STK modules are still out there.
NTE has a surprising selection of them.


So the whole amp is on a module?

If the thing (TV? Stereo?) is worth keeping, wouldn't it make more
sense to hack in a little board with an integrated amp? Shirley there's
room in the case for a smt board with LM3xxx glued to a sink.

I guess they aren't really that modular, and I know it would take a LOT
of skill to redesign the amp circuit. Maybe not all that much, if you
know where all the signals are, exact voltages, etc.

Shoot me down if I'm on crack, but I've seen some crazy stuff done by
radio guys, and replacing an amp circuit doesn't strike me as all that
crazy on the loon meter.

(Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:c407jc$emv$1
@panix2.panix.com:

james wrote:
In article ,
Rich Andrews. wrote:

The output modules in the cheap 70's gear is impossible to find and
maybe
that is a good thing.

By output module, do you mean the last stage amp? Couple of big
transitor arrays on heatsinks, big polarized caps, and a transformer?
Just find the signal path, match the impedence and voila, line-out, am I
wrong?

No. Nasty ceramic hybrid things. Class B output stage combined with a
driver stage in a single module. These actually started showing up very
late in the seventies and were more of an eighties thing.

Badly designed transistor gain stages that depended excessively on
feedback
for linearity gave solid state electronics in the late sixties and early
seventies a bad name, but it took the STK hybrids to completely destroy
the sound quality and reliability of consumer electronics.
--scott

That is correct Scott. I think it was Heathkit that used them in their
kit organs. There were forever going out. Later on when they were
showing up in Kenwood, Sharp, etc,. It really set consumer electronics
back. At the time you couldn't fix the receiver for what new one would
cost. Their sound was so distinctive that one didn't have to open it up
to know what was inside. I would tell people that had thermal problems
with their receivers that utilized the STK modules to sell them ASAP for
whatever they could get as the amp module was not long for this world.
Within 90 days, the module would go 100% failure.

A few months ago someone came across a pile of receivers in boxes in a
warehouse. He thought he hit the lotto until he found out that the
receivers featured the amp modules and that replacements were non-
existent. He said that some of the receivers worked, but he was cautioned
that the ones that worked wouldn't do so for very long. I think he sold
them on Ebay, as is. The moral of that story is that not all "vintage"
gear is worth having.

r


--
Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes.

(james) wrote in news:wrO8c.4991$Q45.3465
@fed1read02:

In article ,
Scott Dorsey wrote:


Rich Andrews. wrote:

The output modules in the cheap 70's gear is impossible to find and
maybe
that is a good thing.

No, replacements for those horrible STK modules are still out there.
NTE has a surprising selection of them.


So the whole amp is on a module?

If the thing (TV? Stereo?) is worth keeping, wouldn't it make more
sense to hack in a little board with an integrated amp? Shirley there's
room in the case for a smt board with LM3xxx glued to a sink.

I guess they aren't really that modular, and I know it would take a LOT
of skill to redesign the amp circuit. Maybe not all that much, if you
know where all the signals are, exact voltages, etc.

Shoot me down if I'm on crack, but I've seen some crazy stuff done by
radio guys, and replacing an amp circuit doesn't strike me as all that
crazy on the loon meter.



The receivers that featured the modules were just cheap POS. There was
nothing about them that was good. They did a mediocre to poor job in all
respects. I never considered the receivers to be worthy of my time and
trouble. Minimal power supplies, FM section poor, cheap plastic
everything. It was almost depressing to work on those units.

Many of the better shops featured a display that showed the difference
between the discrete transistor and the modules. After the consumer had
been warned, they were on their own if they chose a module unit. I think
Marantz made such a display item.

r


--
Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes.

wrote in message ...
I'm involved in the restoration of some 70's type equipment, mostly
Fisher/Marantz/Kenwood/Sansui and I am wondering where you guys find
parts for stuff like this?

Specifically I am looking for bread an butter parts, but also power
supply caps, panel bulbs and so forth.

Thanks so much!!!


If you can throw model numbers at me, I will check a couple of shops
within walking distance that have rooms full of old, dead chassis' that
are just waiting for a home.

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s.com
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

Rich Andrews. wrote:

A few months ago someone came across a pile of receivers in boxes in a
warehouse. He thought he hit the lotto until he found out that the
receivers featured the amp modules and that replacements were non-
existent. He said that some of the receivers worked, but he was cautioned
that the ones that worked wouldn't do so for very long. I think he sold
them on Ebay, as is. The moral of that story is that not all "vintage"
gear is worth having.

See, if you're in that situation, then it probably is worth making a little
adaptor board to put a modern monolithic driver stage into those amps. At
least, if all of the receivers take the same unavailable module anyway.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article ,
Rich Andrews. wrote:

The receivers that featured the modules were just cheap POS.

Ah, I'm not on crack, but Sansui and Motorola were...

I had the idea y'all were discussing broadcast or studio equipment or
something.

There was
nothing about them that was good.

I remember the 70s. I remember how expensive it was to ever get to hear
any dynamics or frequency extrema. I remember being disgusted at how
*good* my parent's credenza stereo sounded, compared to *anything*
storebought. Ugh. If the CD did nothing for music, at least it brought
in an era where "kind-of decent" sound is possible from low-cost
amps and speakers. And sometimes, it's quite a lot better than just
"kind of decent."

james wrote:

I remember the 70s. I remember how expensive it was to ever get to hear
any dynamics or frequency extrema. I remember being disgusted at how
*good* my parent's credenza stereo sounded, compared to *anything*
storebought.

Which is why many of us bought tube stuff at garage sales for $5-$20 and occasionally built our own (even solid state.)

Scott Dorsey wrote:

those horrible STK modules

There were (are?) many different STK modules out there.
Some of them _are_ horrible but there were also a few that actually made
decent sounding and reasonably powerful amps with decent current
capability when combined with a sturdy power supply.

Sander

Sander wrote in news:e9b9c.6517$EV2.55064
@amstwist00:

Scott Dorsey wrote:

those horrible STK modules

There were (are?) many different STK modules out there.
Some of them _are_ horrible but there were also a few that actually made
decent sounding and reasonably powerful amps with decent current
capability when combined with a sturdy power supply.

Sander



In all the years I spent in the repair biz, I never heard a STK module
that didn't sound like a STK module.

r


--
Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes.