Jump to content

Have You Restored Your Vintage Solid State?


SWL

Recommended Posts

Over the last 12 years or so I've tried out a lot of gear and kept the pieces that I admired but unfortunately all of them have been pretty much original with minimal restoration.

 

I've been lucky enough to find a competent tech nearby and one by one I've been having him fully restore all of my favorite receivers, preamps and integrated amps.

 

Each piece has impressed me so far but I think I'm mostly shocked at how good the one receiver (Marantz 2230) could sound. Feeding each piece of restored gear with some DSP and it's impressive. Smooth, full and rich sounding are not words I would ever think I'd be using to describe a mid-70's solid state receiver.....based on what I've read. I suppose new, more modern parts under the hood really make the difference.

 

I have a friend that had a vintage preamp he had fully restored by a tech (don't know who?) and the thing just never mellowed out. It had a sterile sound that was not how vintage Marantz units are typically described.

 

So I suppose it just depends on who does the work....or does it? Curious to hear others experiences with gear that was restored good or bad......and how much are they actually restored to the original.....or are they actually modified to a certain extent?

 

 

Thanks,

-Scott

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Sansui AU 20000 was restored a few years back by Paul at Many Moons Audio and it sounds astonishing.  I am very happy with it.

 

Your location has me  wondering if you took your Marantz 2230 to Noah?   I currently have a Yamaha CA 1010 and CA 2010 with him and they are due to be finished just about now.  Can't wait to hear them after a total restore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your location has me wondering if you took your Marantz 2230 to Noah?

 

Yup....In fact I just got home from his place. Picked up my Marantz Model 30 that he did some further improvements to. He's also doing a Marantz 1070, (2) Marantz Model 3600 preamps and a H/K 430 for me.

 

The work he has done for me has been gold, baby. :)

Edited by SWL
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Your location has me wondering if you took your Marantz 2230 to Noah?

 

Yup....In fact I just got home from his place. Picked up my Marantz Model 30 that he did some further improvements to. He's also doing a Marantz 1070, (2) Marantz Model 3600 preamps and a H/K 430 for me.

 

The work he has done for me has been gold, baby. :)

 

After he has done your HK 430, would love to hear your impressions, and possibly a comparison between that and the 2230.

 

I think it does have a lot to do with who does the restore.  Those who are  knowledgeable will replace parts that will come as close as possible to the original sonics of the unit.

 

Of course, I think as we all know, the cost of a full restore will almost never be recouped....it's not an inexpensive venture....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After he has done your HK 430, would love to hear your impressions, and possibly a comparison between that and the 2230.
Yeah, those two will be competing for a spot in the basement/workout room system.

 

This Marantz Model 30 integrated just has me grinning from ear to ear. Not a whole lot of info to find on this piece but I took a chance and it was worth it. The guy that restored it said he's had countless hi-buck McIntosh's etc. come through there and this Model 30 takes it. Can't say I could argue with him on that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gear I use on a daily basis has been completely gone through and updated where needed. Mainly it's my Carver gear in the living room, the two old console tube amplifiers, and Soundcraftsmen DX4200 preamp and A5002 amp at my buddy's house. The Carver C-1 is an amazing older preamp with tons of documented research and updates of which mine has had done both by me and one of the Carver forum members that live in Maine. All the resistors in the audio path are 1% rated, most all caps and new IC's, all new RCA's, and wven remote volume control.

Also my M-1.0t has been rebuilt to a "MkII Opt 002" status which brought its power from 200wpc to 460 and sounds amazing. The two reside in my main system on the CF-3's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had three pieces restored thus far and have been happy with each.  One had an intermittent problem remaining but we finally figured it out. We have a great vintage shop here with the common exception that it takes a long time for them to get to your piece (4-6 months often).  One intriguing observation is that the Pioneer SX-1250 that I've had recapped, sounds exactly like the one I recently acquired that hasn't been.  Trying to figure out if this is good or bad.  Leaning toward good because I really like the sound. Any thoughts?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

I've had three pieces restored thus far and have been happy with each.  One had an intermittent problem remaining but we finally figured it out. We have a great vintage shop here with the common exception that it takes a long time for them to get to your piece (4-6 months often).  One intriguing observation is that the Pioneer SX-1250 that I've had recapped, sounds exactly like the one I recently acquired that hasn't been.  Trying to figure out if this is good or bad.  Leaning toward good because I really like the sound. Any thoughts?

 

I have a Sansui AU 717 amp made (1977-1979).   I took it into to have it checked out and the guy tested it and said its clean, does not need a recap.    I guess some age better than others so maybe that old Pioneer is fine too.   I've read about people getting a recap and finding its about the same as the old one.    So if its not broken don't fix it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've restored (3) Pioneer SX-1250's, (2) Pioneer SX-1050's, (2) Pioneer SX-950's, (2) Marantz 2230's, (1) Marantz 2216B, (2) HK-730's, and a few others.  Working on a couple now.  Every one of them gained some benefit from the restore, no question.  Without a restoration, they may sound "OK" for a while, maybe a long while, but they won't sound really "great", not to mention without a restoration you are just putting off the inevitable failure of a 30 year old cap, power supply, etc.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was given an old Akai am2850 amp (1982) by a friend, his new flat is too small for amp plus sansui sp7100 speakers.

 

I took it to a tech, he mesured it, it is AOK within original specs. Tech advised that there is no need for recap at this time.

Cleaned it, changed power chord.

 

Compared to my other new amps the sound is reach and full. Just like I want from an old amp. I think I can notice a little duller sound in the bass though, but it may be that 4ohm old Infinity bass is a bit too much to drive.

Anyway, it is a welcomed change in my house.

Edited by parlophone1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 years ago I bought my friend's system, (Heresy's, Nakamichi Dragon, SAE stack, etc), who was moving out of the country. It included a SAE A-501 power amp that I knew was wounded. I finally got around to having it restored by Michael Bettinger of Gas Audio, who had worked with the designer of the amp. We did a complete "Reference Rebuild" on her & I have to say the amp sounds great. My initial cost was very low for the piece & although the work was expensive, I now have a power amp brought up to 21st century specs which would have cost me $4000 to buy new. I am in for far less than half of that.

 

 Combined with my Chorus II's the 250 watt per channel SAE  sounds fantastic. My usual listening range is between 1/8 & 1/4 of a watt, talk about headroom!  So for me, restoring a vintage piece was well worth it. The SAE should serve me well for 20 years or more at which point I won't be able to hear the difference anyways. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What exactly defines "vintage"? I'm currently running an Onkyo Integra A-9711 integrated amp driving a pair of 84 Heresys along with a smallish Dayton subwoofer. The primary source is a Dual 1245 sporting a Shure V15 Type III. It all sounds great to me and all of my friends that listen to the system are pretty much amazed. Onkyo produced that amp 1996-1999 so at worst it's coming up on 20 years old. I'm pretty sure it doesn't qualify as "vintage" but I can't help but wonder if it would benefit from a trip to the shop. Not long after I got the amp from one of the local Klipsch forum members it developed some issues. Certainly nothing the seller could have been aware of. Gladly a liberal application of DeoxIT Gold to the pots and switches resolved the problems

 

For many MANY years I had the good fortune to be good friends with an excellent electronics technician who LOVED working on audio kit. I've long since lost count of how many pieces of kit that I had him rebuild for me. Most were resounding success stories but a few were disappointments. Go figure? I recall him re-capping (rebuilding) a Marantz 2270 for me that I was absolutely STUNNED at how much better it sounded. A couple of years later I had him do the same to a Marantz 2240  and I was equally STUNNED at how bad it sounded. When I complained he told me that he returned it to "factory spec". Perhaps the 2270 was just that much better from the get go. That surprised me because I owned a 2240 new out of the box in 94-ish and thought it was very good. Again... Go figure?

 

A couple of years ago I tried to track him down for another project. I managed to find one of his daughters who informed me that he had passed away. Very sad to me. He was one of the "good ones".

 

I could go on and on for hours about my experiences with "vintage" electronics and getting them back to "spec" and whether that's a good thing or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Capacitor choice definitely comes into play, but also one needs to know what transistors should be replaced, particularly the ones with known bad reputations.

 

I have also had a crop of Marantz gear lately that needed allot of new transistors to sound right again. The transistors in the Marantz I am speaking of are the small signal transistors that look like cowboy hats, and they are all throughout the preamp sections. Also the square looking jobies that are slanted on one side. I just replace them all in the Marantz's preamps anymore. 

 

The importance of using test equipment cannot be overstated. I just need to figure out how to get faster at this job.....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey avguytx, I have a Carver C11 with the BillD mods. It's a very outstanding preamp, I love it. Just picked up some Carver Silver Seven T mono blocks to use in that system. I have a stock C1 feeding a set of Mac monoblocks that will be getting restored and upgraded sometime.

If there is a piece of gear that you really like, it pays to have it restored. The build quality of the better vintage gear would cost a small fortune to buy new today.

 

BillWojo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over the last 8 years I had Terry DeWick rebuild three MC-250s, and 2 MC-2100s.  I use them regularly today.  I had his standard "power supply, and audio path update" plus a cleaning for each one.  I had new power cords, rca jacks, and terminal strips replaced on most of them.  They come back looking brand new.  I had to have one MC-250 serviced by Terry again since then for getting hot which turned out to be a bad bias resistor, and one 2100 returned for a "turn on thump".  Both were serviced and the fleet had been great.  But my other 2100 has started the turn on thump thing and I am planning on servcing it sometime soon.  I have been very happy with these since they have a tube like sound with no tube maintenance, very good reserve power, sound great with Klipsch speakers, and play nice with both home audio and pro audio equipment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've had full restoration work on a few pieces of vintage solid state gear over the years.  Here are a few of my favorites off the top of my head.

 

Sansui TU-9900 tuner (also the Radio X Tuners modifications)

Marantz 4400 quad receiver (with the green scope tube)

Marantz 2325 stereo receiver

Pioneer SX-1250 stereo receiver

Harman Kardon Citation 16 power amplifier

Harman Kardon Citation 16A power amplifier

Harman Kardon 11 preamplifier

Harman Kardon Citation 12 power amplifier

Harman Kardon Citation 12 power amplifier (also Nelson Pass mosfet modification)

Harman Kardon TU915 tuner

Harman Kardon 870 power amplifier

Harman Kardon 825 preamplifier

 

 

 

_ Harman Kardon 16A amplifier.jpg

 

 

_ Harman Kardon TU915 tuner.jpg

 

 

 

Marantz 4400 scope 2.png

 

 

Marantz 2325.png

post-36163-0-61420000-1452921222_thumb.j

post-36163-0-50700000-1452922966_thumb.j

Edited by Fjd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had my KA-8006 done by Wargo's in Pennsylvania. No regrets, it has worked perfectly for the last year, often 6-8 hours a day. It was a hot mess, bad power switch, scratchy controls. It came back with such sweet tone, and depth. I'm not in any hurry to look for another amp. I had a KA-3500 done by a guy in KC,MO. That came back punching above it's weight, again very clean, dynamic. Added a thyristor mod to the power circuit to protect the unobtainium power switch. I think that's the thing about refurb/restore. Modern components can bring equipment back to what the manufacturer originally intended, and keep it there. New technology, incorporated correctly, can make it just that much better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...