Gettin tube audio today......an old toob console....

[vinyldavid]

Self explanatory.

Pix to come when i get it home.

[vinyldavid]

PIX.

Eico HF-20
Garrard RC-88/4
heathkit AJ-30 tuner

Lafyette speaker.

All free, all tube, all mono. But the Garrard has a Shure M3D in it, the first ever stereo cart.

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[Jay Pemberton]

Ooooh. Are we all invited to the recap party for the amp and tuner?

[vinyldavid]

Ooooh. Are we all invited to the recap party for the amp and tuner?

Bad news on the amp......I can see a blue spark and hear snapping in time with the spark when I turn it on......:(:(:(:(:(:(:(

Tuner is great.....

And yes, you are cordially invited to VinylDavid's first recap attempt.....whenever that may be :D

[Jay Pemberton]

Don't even TRY to power up and run that amp--or the tuner--until all the capacitors have been replaced. That gear looks around 50 years old, and capacitors are generally good for about half that. I bet where you saw the blue spark is in the 5U4 (rectifier), right? A certainty the main electrolytic filter capacitor (one of the big chrome can jobbies) is shorted. Must be replaced. Now you will likely also need a replacement 5U4, but those aren't too hard to find, nor too expensive.

[vinyldavid]

Don't even TRY to power up and run that amp--or the tuner--until all the capacitors have been replaced. That gear looks around 50 years old, and capacitors are generally good for about half that. I bet where you saw the blue spark is in the 5U4 (rectifier), right? A certainty the main electrolytic filter capacitor (one of the big chrome can jobbies) is shorted. Must be replaced. Now you will likely also need a replacement 5U4, but those aren't too hard to find, nor too expensive.

The spark came from the transformer.......

[stuwee]

Hey David,
Cool stuff, the Eico is very drooly, be carefull, I like the light in the speaker cab, I've seen that before somewhere, what's it for?
I have the same Garrard 88/4 in the Pilot, same M3D cart too. I can't find a replacement stylus, haven't tried real hard though, lot's of stuff going on here*?conf?
Are you gonna set it up for 78's and mono LP's?

Craig

[vinyldavid]

Hey David,
Cool stuff, the Eico is very drooly, be carefull, I like the light in the speaker cab, I've seen that before somewhere, what's it for?
I have the same Garrard 88/4 in the Pilot, same M3D cart too. I can't find a replacement stylus, haven't tried real hard though, lot's of stuff going on here*?conf?
Are you gonna set it up for 78's and mono LP's?

Craig

Actually, I know where to source replacement stylii, right here:
http://www.turntableneedles.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=9582


I am going to actually use that cart once i get a stylus on it on the DIY TT that I am building. The arm that I am going to be using was also made by Shure, around the same, time, and they are a good match for each other.

Once I figure out tube electronics (more than I have, at least), I'll get under the Eico and have a look-see with trained eyes....my unknowing eyes spot nothing that would concern me...

The light....that's the tweeter :D

[stuwee]

Thanks for the needle link, and the K-SHE info, I'm gonna get around to having the Pilot looked at, it's my only tube gear, and bein' bought new in '58 by Gramps, It needs to be gone over, I play it every weekend, soo smooth and warm:) I hooked the RtR up to it once and was floored, I'm looking forward to listening to my 78's and mono Dylan and Beach Boys stuff. Good luck with your "newish" toyBig->

Craig

[utahusker]

The spark came from the transformer.......

David, I wouldn't power it up without going thru your amp first. If you do fire it up, use a variac to slowly load the caps.

[zenith2134]

Nice equipment! EICO is a great name in vintage tube gear.

Definitely wait before playing around with the amp though -- Finding a power transformer would be VERY hard nowadays, and thats whats most likely to fry if the caps are dried out.

When you get that system running, I think you'll be astonished at the way it keeps tempo and projects melodies! Long live thermionic audio and analog tape!!

[no1maestro]

I think that I might have several Shure M3Ds and stylii somewhere in my junk. I'll have to look around and I'll let you know!!

[vinyldavid]

I think that I might have several Shure M3Ds and stylii somewhere in my junk. I'll have to look around and I'll let you know!!

I'd love to have some replacement stylii, as I just destroyed the one that was in there (worn down to the nub anyway), trying to get it out. I thought that the screws were frozen into the headshell, but with a LOT of pressure, they came out, and the stylus came right out.

And the sound from the M3D with the crappy stylus in there was VERY good....so if I could find another body to mount to my Shure M232 arm, I think that I would be in vintage Heaven......

The Garrard works. Almost perfectly.

Is it odd.....for a Garrard changer to work after sitting for 22 years?

I just fired up my RC88/4 that I can assume was last used more than 22 years ago. Got it with that tube mono HiFi, and it has a Shure M3D. Stylus barely there, so I used a disposable record of spoken word stories that I grabbed from my school's trash pile.

Almost everything works. The arm that senses the size of the record seems to not be up high enough (or the record is tilted too much, I don't know), so I have to tilt the record a little when it drops.

I set the VTF far lighter than it was, and it still tracks the same as it did before (which is not saying much).

LOTS of rumble, so I'll look into the idler situation, but so far, so good. It works.

I know that a lot of Garrard and Dual stuff from that era need a complete and total rebuild in order to function, so I was wondering if anything like this has happened to you guys.

It's use will be in an exercise system, consisting of most of the components from the Mono HiFi I got off FreeCycle a couple months back. Tuner, Speaker and TT are from that. Amplifier is one side of a Sony TA-1055 that I have not been using.

I put it in front of the treadmill that I got from an AK member, with the tuner on top of the amp, and the TT propped up on 2 2-vhs movie boxes (with VHS' in them), eventually I'll make something more permanent.

Just thought that I'd share that.

BTW, tomorrow I will be announcing the new turntable that I am receiving tomorrow. It will be interesting to have turntables of such different eras operating at one time..... *reelspin**hearts*

[Clifselina]

Boy oh boy, is your mother about to hate me.

A transformer is really nothing but two wires and a piece of iron (or other permeable metal).

Unless you opened (read burned until melted) the transformer windings, that input transformer can be salvaged.

On old equipment like that, the transformer wires used lacquer as insulation. They would build the thing, dip it in lacquer and then (here is where I become Public Enemy #1 with VinylMom) bake the transformer in a low temperature oven to cure the lacquer.

So make sure you only dip the transformer in lacquer after it is completely disconnected from the amp.

Just take a meter reading to ensure you don't have a short between the primary and secondary windings before reapplying power.

Do not do this without permission of your parental units!

For your reading pleasure:
http://www.tpub.com/neets/book2/5a.htm

Keep using the "next" button to go through the chapter.

[Larry N]

David,

Did you get this up and running. That is so neat, just last night I stopped at the local Goodwill. Looking for tapes and the occasional player and lo and behold a console with an AM Radio on the front with a turn table similar to what you have. I believe it was a old Philco model. I plugged it in and couldn't believe it the radio played and the turntable worked. It had the original receipt and manual in a plastic baggy. This guy bought it in 1956, the lady at Goodwill told me half price day is today so I might get lucky and pick it up for $25.00 plus my old gessers discount. Cabinet is in great shape, center spindle is in the bag and needle is still intact. Not real sure if all the parts are there, but still might take a chance on it.

[vinyldavid]

David,

Did you get this up and running. That is so neat, just last night I stopped at the local Goodwill. Looking for tapes and the occasional player and lo and behold a console with an AM Radio on the front with a turn table similar to what you have. I believe it was a old Philco model. I plugged it in and couldn't believe it the radio played and the turntable worked. It had the original receipt and manual in a plastic baggy. This guy bought it in 1956, the lady at Goodwill told me half price day is today so I might get lucky and pick it up for $25.00 plus my old gessers discount. Cabinet is in great shape, center spindle is in the bag and needle is still intact. Not real sure if all the parts are there, but still might take a chance on it.

Never did.....I know NOTHING about tube audio....the tuner still chugs away perfectly, but I don't know where to start with the amp....the tube was at least 40 years old, so that could have been the problem, that it was just ready to blow, or maybe it was a cap failure.....I truly have no clue.