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Repair or trash old Dennon Receivers?


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I have a Denon DRA 300 and a 400 circa 1981. They are the silver faced ones and are very clean and scratch free. Over the past few years I managed to damage a channel in each one to where it’s staticky sounding. I believe it’s from running cat 5 cable as speaker wire for whole house audio. Dumb I know. I live in WV and there are no repair shops nearby. I need to either toss them or get them fixed. I know shipping to a repair shop isn’t cost effective. I’m leaning towards trashing them but I really like them and hate to do it. 

Any advice?

DC5C57E8-5DB1-464E-80AF-E5CAD2FF0FBA.jpeg

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Unlikely that Cat5 cable will damage the receivers. Is the static present at all times, or only when you move controls? If only when you move controls, then the fix may be as simple as a can of contact cleaner.

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2 minutes ago, Klipschtastic said:

No the static is not related to any knobs. It is a prominent static sound with barely audible music in the background. 

In that case, it seems that repairs are in order. Maybe sell them for parts on Craigslist and, after 41 years, treat yourself to some new electronics.

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I’ll just throw them away in that case. I do have a Marantz PM7000n Plus a Yamaha receiver that I use for whole house audio. And another Marantz AVR downstairs. I just like the retro look of the Denon but I believe you all are confirming what I was thinking. Not worth repairing. Not as desirable as older Marantz or Pioneer stuff from the 70s. 

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TBH for someone with little basic knowledge it shouldn't be too hard to make the repair. The first thing I would do is check the fuses, you can do that too.The second thing I think is that the symptoms fit a broken little electrolyte cap that doesn't want to anymore. Most of the time they scratch. I had the same phenomenon with an old Revox A77 tape recorder when the meter hands trembled due to static crackles.

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I've been using braided CAT5E for speaker cable for 22 years(!). 

 

Must be wore out by now, what with knocking electrons out of their orbits for that many years!  😁

 

I am currently listening to a Technics SA-300 from '79 that I had recapped.  That's probably all yours needs.  The SA-200 I bought in college is in the garage driving a pair of Auratone 5CTVs. 

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