Total n00b here, so please bear with me. Not even sure if this would be the proper forum (so many to choose from).
This morning I fired up our 'new' vintage Magnavox record player....
It greeted me with a buzzzz, flash, flame, and smoke. We now have a 'new' fried vintage Magnavox record player.
We love it as a piece of furniture and loved it as a functioning record player (our only one currently) for the past month and really want to have it working again; preferably better than it ever did in its previous life (all new components).
I am considering recreating it with updated parts; mounted and wired in a way that allows for the piece to look and function similarly to what it once did (but better). Is this even possible?
My assumptions.. a new turntable will be needed... a mini-receiver w/ phono or pre-amp of some sort would be needed to give the turntable the power/signal needed to send to a speaker or two. As it stands now, I'm thinking a car audio speaker might work for the space and mounting conditions within this piece. Am I missing anything here?
Are there raw parts like this available that would allow me to custom mount them into the current configuration of this record player? The ultimate would have me only needing to plug one power chord into the wall (as before) and able to use the 'balance', 'tone', and 'loudness' knobs like before, but having a much cleaner sound than before.
I'm hoping some of you could offer me some assistance in directing me to information and resources which would help me determine exactly what components I would need and where I could purchase such components that would fit within this unit. I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible because I'm currently saving up for a newer $500ish turntable for our modern home stereo system.
Thoughts? Guidance? Suggestions? Ridicule? Need more information on anything?
All input is welcome, thanks in advance!
Brandon
This morning I fired up our 'new' vintage Magnavox record player....
It greeted me with a buzzzz, flash, flame, and smoke. We now have a 'new' fried vintage Magnavox record player.
We love it as a piece of furniture and loved it as a functioning record player (our only one currently) for the past month and really want to have it working again; preferably better than it ever did in its previous life (all new components).
I am considering recreating it with updated parts; mounted and wired in a way that allows for the piece to look and function similarly to what it once did (but better). Is this even possible?
My assumptions.. a new turntable will be needed... a mini-receiver w/ phono or pre-amp of some sort would be needed to give the turntable the power/signal needed to send to a speaker or two. As it stands now, I'm thinking a car audio speaker might work for the space and mounting conditions within this piece. Am I missing anything here?
Are there raw parts like this available that would allow me to custom mount them into the current configuration of this record player? The ultimate would have me only needing to plug one power chord into the wall (as before) and able to use the 'balance', 'tone', and 'loudness' knobs like before, but having a much cleaner sound than before.
I'm hoping some of you could offer me some assistance in directing me to information and resources which would help me determine exactly what components I would need and where I could purchase such components that would fit within this unit. I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible because I'm currently saving up for a newer $500ish turntable for our modern home stereo system.
Thoughts? Guidance? Suggestions? Ridicule? Need more information on anything?
All input is welcome, thanks in advance!
Brandon
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more pics... deconstruction
The deconstruction has taken place. Some pics of the amp. Are parts like these made new anymore or will I need to work out a vintage part location or some other solution?
The deconstruction has taken place. Some pics of the amp. Are parts like these made new anymore or will I need to work out a vintage part location or some other solution?
I'm a lot more into rebuilding american iron with quality industrial grade parts, than rebuilding a piece of furniture with imported consumer goods that will have a designed life of 18 months. When I rebuild my dynakit equipment, I get 8 trouble free years out of it, where as all this HDTV gear I have bought at the insistance of the federal govt turning off the old TV stations, is failing at two to three years. Hitech DSL modems from the phone co are good for about 18 months, as are power supplies for PCAT computers.
I try to get the word out to people about the effect rubber sealed wet electrolytic capacitors have on expensive transformers and troublesome rectifiers, but people check the internet after there is a problem. Read this thread: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/201265-vintage-magnavox-tube-amp-3.html
If your transformer smells burnt, you may also have to buy a hammond transformer from tubesandmore.com or a Chicago made transformer from triodeelectronic.com.
The white diodes are notorious for blowing when a slight overcurrent caused by a leaky e-cap heats them up. At least they are in Gulbransen organs. I like MR856 myself as a replacement, tough as nails.
As far as the turntable goes, it probably has no insta-faults other than dry rubber in the drive belt or wheel. If it was working, it should continue to work. I like a lighter tone arm (1.5g) and a magnetic phono cartridge (Shure M97 era IV) but these are probably not compatible with this arm. If you did move up to a mm cartridge, you'd probably have to buy a preamp to put ahead of this amplifier.
I like my 1.5 g compatible BIC 940 turntable which I have used frequently for 34 years, but the only place to buy one of those is at a yard sale (I picked up a second one two years ago for $25). by contrast I have a selection of $5 dual and Panasonic turntables from the charity resale shop that need some finicky little part I can't find.
So good luck. Probably your tubes aren't damaged, unless maybe the rectifier tube. A bad recitifier tube will burn up a transformer if you don't install the proper resistor between transformer and cathode, but this probably is not what happened with a 1970's era tube.
Buying a Sears non-autoranging DVM, a Weller WP35 soldering iron, and some hand tools is probably the second step. The first is reading the safety sticky thread up top of tube amp forum, about how to work safely around 450 VDC.
A power supply fundamental text like Thomas Floyd, Electron Devices, The Electron Flow Version would be useful to teach you how to use a meter and check diodes etc. Don't waste any money on RCA Radiotron Handbook it is about tubes but it is way more about radios than hifis. I never learned anything useful from it, starting with the library copy in 1959. Wikipedia on tubes is more to the point.
Good luck.
I try to get the word out to people about the effect rubber sealed wet electrolytic capacitors have on expensive transformers and troublesome rectifiers, but people check the internet after there is a problem. Read this thread: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/201265-vintage-magnavox-tube-amp-3.html
If your transformer smells burnt, you may also have to buy a hammond transformer from tubesandmore.com or a Chicago made transformer from triodeelectronic.com.
The white diodes are notorious for blowing when a slight overcurrent caused by a leaky e-cap heats them up. At least they are in Gulbransen organs. I like MR856 myself as a replacement, tough as nails.
As far as the turntable goes, it probably has no insta-faults other than dry rubber in the drive belt or wheel. If it was working, it should continue to work. I like a lighter tone arm (1.5g) and a magnetic phono cartridge (Shure M97 era IV) but these are probably not compatible with this arm. If you did move up to a mm cartridge, you'd probably have to buy a preamp to put ahead of this amplifier.
I like my 1.5 g compatible BIC 940 turntable which I have used frequently for 34 years, but the only place to buy one of those is at a yard sale (I picked up a second one two years ago for $25). by contrast I have a selection of $5 dual and Panasonic turntables from the charity resale shop that need some finicky little part I can't find.
So good luck. Probably your tubes aren't damaged, unless maybe the rectifier tube. A bad recitifier tube will burn up a transformer if you don't install the proper resistor between transformer and cathode, but this probably is not what happened with a 1970's era tube.
Buying a Sears non-autoranging DVM, a Weller WP35 soldering iron, and some hand tools is probably the second step. The first is reading the safety sticky thread up top of tube amp forum, about how to work safely around 450 VDC.
A power supply fundamental text like Thomas Floyd, Electron Devices, The Electron Flow Version would be useful to teach you how to use a meter and check diodes etc. Don't waste any money on RCA Radiotron Handbook it is about tubes but it is way more about radios than hifis. I never learned anything useful from it, starting with the library copy in 1959. Wikipedia on tubes is more to the point.
Good luck.
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Hi,
What you are attempting is not impossible but considerable
knowledge helps with understanding the sort of problems
you facing in attempting to return it to a workable unit.
Once you have decent record deck all your decent records
don't want to go anywhere near an inferior record player.
(In fact they never should have done in the first place,
unless they are old and have been played on something
just as bad in the past, but sadly your in for a rude shock
when you use a good turntable running into a good hifi,
unless you have been very lucky in lack of damage terms.)
If you had a 78 rpm collection, or indeed older 45 rpm
collection I could see the point of cleaning up the the
autochanger and returning it to be a record player.
But boy that amplifier is fried and the rats nest wiring
doesn't help. If you knew what you were doing most
of it would clean up, but I'd put such an endeavour
a bit beyond most amateurs, nevermind newbies.
Repurpose the unit IMO, to what is a good question.
A laptop under the lid makes some sense to me.
The lid and the lifting laptop screen matching.
What it does loads of options with technology.
A cheap laptop with XP can do lots of audio stuff.
Add a (T) amplifier and something better than car speakers,
but you haven't detailed anything about the speaker scenario.
rgds, sreten.
What you are attempting is not impossible but considerable
knowledge helps with understanding the sort of problems
you facing in attempting to return it to a workable unit.
Once you have decent record deck all your decent records
don't want to go anywhere near an inferior record player.
(In fact they never should have done in the first place,
unless they are old and have been played on something
just as bad in the past, but sadly your in for a rude shock
when you use a good turntable running into a good hifi,
unless you have been very lucky in lack of damage terms.)
If you had a 78 rpm collection, or indeed older 45 rpm
collection I could see the point of cleaning up the the
autochanger and returning it to be a record player.
But boy that amplifier is fried and the rats nest wiring
doesn't help. If you knew what you were doing most
of it would clean up, but I'd put such an endeavour
a bit beyond most amateurs, nevermind newbies.
Repurpose the unit IMO, to what is a good question.
A laptop under the lid makes some sense to me.
The lid and the lifting laptop screen matching.
What it does loads of options with technology.
A cheap laptop with XP can do lots of audio stuff.
Add a (T) amplifier and something better than car speakers,
but you haven't detailed anything about the speaker scenario.
rgds, sreten.
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Thanks much for all of the information guys. I've got plenty of information to digest here, that's for sure. My biggest worry now is that we may have damaged our vinyl. If so, at least it's early enough in the process that we haven't killed a large record collection. I guess that's what you get for going into something pretty much clueless. Cheers!
I'm definite my Mother's RCA record player would rip the highs off a new symphonic LP in one play. It had about a 5 g arm and a ceramic cartridge that puts out a 1 v signal. But she bought this record player with Top Value stamps, and it was the cheapest of the cheap, with 2" speakers, no power transformer and a 120 VAC heated tube on each channel.
I don't know if the magnavox "fine wood consoles" were as bad, as I never owned one. That or the equivalent RCA Admiral was mostly what rich people had, and I'm getting a lot of classical records not totally destroyed at Goodwill etc so maybe the consoles weren't all that bad. The used pop records are always destroyed and highless, but kids had cheap junk record players like my Mother's. I noticed the library had Gerrard and the college had AR turntables. I bought an AR turntable used in 1970, until I found the BIC 940 changer to replace it in 1979. Either will track at 1.5 g and neither damaged any records. The AR turntable arm tended to skip across the record when I walked across the floor, whereas the BIC 940 is quite stable.
Good luck.
I don't know if the magnavox "fine wood consoles" were as bad, as I never owned one. That or the equivalent RCA Admiral was mostly what rich people had, and I'm getting a lot of classical records not totally destroyed at Goodwill etc so maybe the consoles weren't all that bad. The used pop records are always destroyed and highless, but kids had cheap junk record players like my Mother's. I noticed the library had Gerrard and the college had AR turntables. I bought an AR turntable used in 1970, until I found the BIC 940 changer to replace it in 1979. Either will track at 1.5 g and neither damaged any records. The AR turntable arm tended to skip across the record when I walked across the floor, whereas the BIC 940 is quite stable.
Good luck.
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