Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

"Brian Gaff" wrote in
:

snip

I guess you could have shorted the inputs out in some way
though. Its a pity you don't have the circuit as this might
help. Brian

There are service manuals listed on the web, but they are $15
and up. I am fixing this Sharp to sell it - I do not need it,
although it is probably a better 20-30W/side power amp than
anything you can buy now for under $100 or so. And it has
outputs for 2 sets of speakers - very nice feature. I doubt I
will get much - if ANYTHING - for it, but I hate throwing nice
old stuff away. OTOH, people just do NOT appreciate treasures
like this. Someone just GAVE it to me.

I may end up keeping it, it is cute as hell, and works great as
AM radio or line-in amplifier.

I have another (better than the Sony) turntable plugged into a
perfectly good stereo which I am using to transfer old vinyl to
mp3. (My old ears can't hear the difference much anymore.)

Thanks for your comments.



--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.

Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

"Arny Krueger" wrote in
:

snip

How old is the BSR?

Most of the BSR turntables I am familiar with from the 60s
and 70s were cheaper than cheap and had ceramic cartridges.

The BSR was factory-mounted on top of the Sharp SG-164U
receiver/8-track unit.
My guess is that it is from 1970 (+/- 5 years).


--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.

Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

"thanatoid" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

I have an old Sharp AM/FM receiver with an 8-track player. Made
in Japan ca. 1975 or something. It had a BSR turntable which was
broken. I removed the seized turntable, cleaned the whole unit,
sprayed all the pots, replaced the three little 6V bulbs behind
the black/green tuner window, and it is fabulous. It's built
like a tank and weighs a ton. The pots feel like military grade
stuff. The function switches are simply unbelievable. The front
panel is white (OK, bone now) with black controls, the box is
all wood with the then-standard "vinyl wood veneer".

I have a spare turntable which works perfectly. I intended to
connect it to the phono preamp of this receiver. I did, but I am
not getting sound. I am getting low-frequency pink noise, but no
audio signal. What is even stranger is that I hear one of the
channels "pop" when I dis/connect ONE of the two RCA audio
cables going into the phono preamp of the receiver. I tested all
the cables after extending them, and they are OK (see below).

I tried connecting the turntable signal to the line input, and
it DOES work. Of course, the signal is VERY low, but you CAN
hear the LP playing with the volume full up. So either I DID
somehow **** up the audio cable assembly (it tests OK though!)
or the phono preamp is partially or totally NG, in which case
there is probably nothing that can be done.

The line inputs can be used for a CD/DVD player, the receiver
works as a 4-speaker unit or 2 main/2 remote speakers, and it
sounds great. AM and line in are loud as hell, FM volume is
about 30% of that, but still usable.

Does anyone have any idea what I should do first? I want to
determine exactly /what/ in the chain from the *turntable audio
cables/cable extensions/original RCA plugs and cable/circuit
board* is NG.

(The phonograph audio cables were only long enough to reach the
bottom of the turntable, which was 3 inches above the main
circuit board, now they have to reach to the back and out of the
unit, so I had to add about 8 inches of cable - but I tested the
cables, both channels, live /and/ ground, and I made NO mistakes
- everything was connected/soldered correctly.

If the phono preamp is dead, it's dead. The unit is still a
/great/ AM (and decent FM) receiver and line-in amplifier,
handles TWO sets of stereo speakers, and it will outlast all of
us. I have yet to find an 8-track cartridge, but the mechanism
and all the belts seem fine. Plus I don't think anyone needs an
8-track deck, while /quite/ a few people might enjoy having a
receiver with a phono preamp. Unless the phono preamp IS dead,
of course. But maybe someone can help me determine if it
actually IS dead...

I /tried/ to make this short, really!

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Whenever I try to mate two or more pieces of equipment that were not
originally made for one another, I have a problem with grounds. You should
attempt to get the schematics of both pieces of equipment, and make sure the
grounding of both pieces is compatible.

Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

David Nebenzahl wrote in
.com:

snip

Couple points to try to allay further confusion:

1. Even a ceramic cartridge requires a preamp, but one that
has different equalization from one for a magnetic
cartridge. A ceramic cartridge does *not* output a
line-level signal.

I just found that out on a web site. But I am still not sure if
the cartridge IS ceramic.

I guess I will have to strip the 4 long thin wires from the
original cartridge (I saved it) and connect it to the now-
extended cable. If it works - and /something/ tells me it will,
the cables were high quality so even I could not screw up the
simple solder jobs - then the BSR cart is ceramic and the
matter ends there.

The unit will make a *great* AM/line in receiver, and an
acceptable FM receiver. It has a very cool retro look, being
white with black knobs. /And/ it has 2 sets of speaker outputs.

2. As someone else said, you can get small, standalone
phono preamps (for mag. carts) for not very much. No need
for a fancy-schmancy full-featured preamp. You could
permanently wire it into the unit and would be on your way.

As I said to DL:

I use eternal september but I live in a god forsaken
horrible 3rd world country (without a SINGLE Usenet
server, paid or otherwise) where everything is either
unavailable, does not work (returns or exchanges are not a
known concept here) or costs 2-5 times what it does in
civilization.

I saw one online for US$30. It would cost me at least $75 here,
with a 3 month special order wait and no warranty/return. If I
buy it online myself, assuming they even ship here, it will get
stolen by local "postal employees". FedEx is not worth the cost,
see last paragraph.

3. Ceramic cartridges aren't as good (fidelity-wise) as
magnetics, and aren't as kind to your records either (less
compliance). So try to use a decent magnetic cartridge.

I know - but this is just a little hobby project - I like old
stuff and I hate to throw away something that works. I have a
stereo with a Dolby B/C deck and a Philips turntable which I am
using to transfer my old vinyl and cassettes to mp3. Nothing
great, but it does the job, even though it is about 20 years old
- "Made in Japan" ;-)


--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.

Phono preamp RESOLVED - thanks to all who helped!
 

"Bill Graham" wrote in
:

Whenever I try to mate two or more pieces of equipment that
were not originally made for one another, I have a problem
with grounds. You should attempt to get the schematics of
both pieces of equipment, and make sure the grounding of
both pieces is compatible.

From my experience, ground is ground, plus no one here will even
realize the old ceramic cart housing did NOT come with the Sony
tt. *IF* it ever gets to that.

Anyway - problem resolved. The ****ing BSR cartridge is ceramic.
I had forgotten such things were ever manufactured.

(I saved the cartridge before destroying the BSR tt, and just
tested it. Sigh. Perfect. For finger on needle, NG for playing
/records/ of course... Cart comes with a (5th) ground wire.)

So now I have to buy a new stylus, and figure out how to attach
the BSR cart housing to a Sony tt arm. Or not, and just use it
as a super cool retro AM/line in system.

Thanks to all who helped!



--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.

Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

"thanatoid" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in
:

snip

How old is the BSR?

Most of the BSR turntables I am familiar with from the
60s and 70s were cheaper than cheap and had ceramic
cartridges.

The BSR was factory-mounted on top of the Sharp SG-164U
receiver/8-track unit.
My guess is that it is from 1970 (+/- 5 years).

Indubitably a ceramic cartridge.

Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

"Arny Krueger" wrote in
:

"thanatoid" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" wrote in
:

snip

How old is the BSR?

Most of the BSR turntables I am familiar with from the
60s and 70s were cheaper than cheap and had ceramic
cartridges.

The BSR was factory-mounted on top of the Sharp SG-164U
receiver/8-track unit.
My guess is that it is from 1970 (+/- 5 years).

Indubitably a ceramic cartridge.

Correct. See my post from last night with "resolved" in title.

BTW, I remember always hearing BSRs were crap, but this one
seemed not bad - except for the fact that it had seized up (can
ANYONE explain what may have happened?), it appeared very well-
built.

The best turntable /I/ ever owned was a Swiss Lenco with a
little weight on a string for anti-skating. It was sold for
under $100 in 1974, too!


--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.

Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

On 9/10/2010 8:14 AM thanatoid spake thus:

The best turntable /I/ ever owned was a Swiss Lenco with a
little weight on a string for anti-skating. It was sold for
under $100 in 1974, too!

Hmm; my best turntable, the one I have now, a Thorens TD 166, also uses
the little weight-on-a-string (nylon monofilament, ackshooly) for
anti-skating. Simple, clever and effective system. (Mine has 3 different
weights and a bunch of notches on the pegs that the strings run over for
lots of possible adjustment.)


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)

Phono preamp in old receiver problem
 

David Nebenzahl wrote in
.com:

On 9/10/2010 8:14 AM thanatoid spake thus:

The best turntable /I/ ever owned was a Swiss Lenco with a
little weight on a string for anti-skating. It was sold
for under $100 in 1974, too!

Hmm; my best turntable, the one I have now, a Thorens TD
166, also uses the little weight-on-a-string (nylon
monofilament, ackshooly) for anti-skating. Simple, clever
and effective system. (Mine has 3 different weights and a
bunch of notches on the pegs that the strings run over for
lots of possible adjustment.)

Mine didn't have 3 weights, perhaps 2 - it's been a while - I
sold it after 1 year since I was moving, and have regretted it
ever since then!

BTW, this is GREAT:

"The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this
spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags."

I will have to check out the site.

Ever heard of Momus, a British genius?

"This year's fashion in crime will be
Less child abuse, more blasphemy
Morality is vanity
The ugly given flattery grow vain"

(full lyrics @ http://www.phespirit.info/momus/19900101.htm)


--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.

Phono preamp RESOLVED - thanks to all who helped!
 

Well some ceramics were not at all bad. The deram for one.

Of course I'd imagine it would be easy enough to make a little amp for the
magnetic cart and match it to the high impedence input of the sharp. I'm a
little perplexed though why the Sharp did not hum like mad with nothing
connected at all.
Brian

--
Brian Gaff....Note, this account does not accept Bcc: email.
graphics are great, but the blind can't hear them
Email:
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________


"thanatoid" wrote in message
...
"Bill Graham" wrote in
:

Whenever I try to mate two or more pieces of equipment that
were not originally made for one another, I have a problem
with grounds. You should attempt to get the schematics of
both pieces of equipment, and make sure the grounding of
both pieces is compatible.

From my experience, ground is ground, plus no one here will even
realize the old ceramic cart housing did NOT come with the Sony
tt. *IF* it ever gets to that.

Anyway - problem resolved. The ****ing BSR cartridge is ceramic.
I had forgotten such things were ever manufactured.

(I saved the cartridge before destroying the BSR tt, and just
tested it. Sigh. Perfect. For finger on needle, NG for playing
/records/ of course... Cart comes with a (5th) ground wire.)

So now I have to buy a new stylus, and figure out how to attach
the BSR cart housing to a Sony tt arm. Or not, and just use it
as a super cool retro AM/line in system.

Thanks to all who helped!



--
Any mental activity is easy if it need not be subjected to
reality.