Howdy everybody,

I bought an interesting record player (Stromberg-Carlson) which need lot of attention. Its a shelf console with a record player and value Radio.



The radio works although there are some issues. So I decided to leave the record player for now and get the radio fixed first.

When I tested the Radio, it starts alright (lots of noise and distortion) then the volume fade away. Cleaning the value sockets helped with this problem,

Now, the radio starts good, then after 10min or so, the sound get distorted. Anybody have an idea what causes that?? I am thinking its either a connecter get heated up and turn loose or a capacitor



I took the radio off for further cleaning and to check everything and I saw those weird looking capacitors which I havent seen before. It does not look like its blown away, just I wanna double check if it looks good or need replacement.



Third question is about the speaker. The speaker gets its feed via a transformer, in parallel, there is an output jack connected directly to the speaker. Do you guys think this is normal ? or someone was trying to be inventive ???

Thanks in advance,

Start by replacing all of those caps. They are well beyond their use-by date. There may also be some out of spec resistors so check their values as you go.

As for the speaker, it seems somebody has wired it for an extension speaker, or possibly a crude "line out" for recording purposes. Not unusual, but any load placed in parallel with the existing speaker will affect (lessen) the impedance seen by the output valve.

Thanks GTC for your response. I needed an encouragement to replace the caps.

As if the speaker, I was not sure if its Line IN or Line Out , guess Line Out make sense. I will take it off anyhow, no need for it.

Went to JayCar to buy the capacitors, they treated me like an idiot asking for bird milk.

Any idea where I can buy it from ?

Cheers

Unusual to get bad service from Jaycar, although they don't keep all types of high voltage caps. If you felt you were rudely treated you could try sending a complaint to Gary Johnston at Jaycar's head office. Jaycar is a privately owned company so a complaint is more likely to be taken seriously.

Try Steve Savill. He has a new batch in and will most likely have what you need.

Thanks a million for that Brad, I will contact Steve.

Regarding Jaycar, I cannot say they were rude, just they dont wanna work or help. Everybody avoiding being asked. This is not right, especially when you see 3 salesman and only one customer (which was me). Guess I should stop going to Elizabeth store and stick to Gepps cross store, they are way more helpful..

I generally find Jaycar staff to be pretty good in the stores that I frequent, as long as I'm referring to their catalogue stock. Unless they are around my age, I don't expect any of them to be familiar with the values and voltage ranges of the components we usually deal with.

Some of the staff appear to have a reasonable knowledge of electronics and working practices and are quite helpful.

I usually check stock levels for unusual components by phone before making a trip and will go to the Rydalmere head office store if I suspect that they will need to get stock from the warehouse, which is behind the store.

I've always found the staff at the Penrith store very helpful. One of them was a TV/radio tech for 30 years and certainly knows what he's talking about. He even checks the values of resistors in the packets as he scans them and has picked up a couple of mislabelled ones. None of the younger ones would be able to read the colour codes that quickly, I can't even do that. I always check the catalogue first and make a list of what I want.

and make a list of what I want.

I do that, too, as each shop seems to be laid out differently and the staff are usually faster at finding component bins than I am, especially when they are the bins at floor level.

Thanks heaps guys. Finally the capacitors arrived today form Romania (ex USSR stock)
Took me 6hr to change 6 capacitors cause the new ones are way bigger and the radio is compact.

No fading, strong reception. Perfect

I note that two of the replaced caps are 0.05 mfd, and that may have been a problem at Jaycar, as they would only have the preferred value of 0.047 mfd. If you asked specifically for 0.05, he may not have understood the concept of preferred values and assumed nothing available.

A 0.047 cap bought locally is probably under a dollar and well within the 20% tolerance of the original.

Harold

You didn't replace the electrolytics?

And I still see a 0.002 paper under one. (0.022, 222 2n2) Note Jaycar stock very few HV caps and often only red Greencaps. Greencaps can be mounted on sockets (plate bypass) but axial's are better for replacing axial's.

It also pays to check resistors, I have a Tasma 1103 on the bench 10 of them were replaced, most wildly out one open, so that's most of them.

Marc

GTC : True, I didnt replace the electrolytics for now. Thought its better to start with the paper ones first.

Marcc : yes, I could not find the 0.002 anywhere. I will change it when I find a replacement. The 0.002 capacitor is a filter for the tone control (I reckon) so keeping it as a second priority does not sound harmful, only less sound quality.

Talking about spare parts and Jaycar. I noticed that all of you have a positive feed back, also I noticed most of you from NSW. So, maybe I should move to NSW to get a your level of service. joking.

I found a Canadian store online, they have almost everything. Just they expect an order of minimum $20 plus $30 postage. The component itself between 50c to $2. So that might be good for someone who want a big quantity. I can pass the link for anyone who is interested.

IF anybody have 0.002 600v pls let me know.