Anybody using gear 30+ year old that hasn't been restored?

Sansui AU 717 purchased new in 1981. Spotless and still working. Recently purchased Decware tube amp has all but replaced it as of last month. May decide to finally have Sansui serviced or part with it. Single best purchase I ever made!

 

I'm betting on ultrasonic oscillation, cheerfully reproduced by a wide band amp and beating the bejeezus of the the tweeter coils. Your tech replaced the bad bypass cap or whatever was letting them through and bingo, no more problems.

 

This probably won't count as a full piece of equipment, but I have a Pye radio, bought in 1950 when I was 4. I listened to everything on this until I was 16 or so. The innards are all dead, of course, but the speaker still works perfectly, connected to a modern amplifier. I play a lot of my mono stuff through it, including old radio serials of the 50s. It really brings it all back to me.

 

Possibly but not likely that I'd have that kind of instability and not notice it. I'm surely aware of the effects of rf on an amplifier and have had to deal with it in many situations.

Also not that the tweeter is going through a LPF so there is not much above 13k routing to it. There is a super tweeter above it covering the next octave.

Btw, I was the tech.

 

4-everyman,

Man, that is a beauty. What year is that? I have never seen a 'black face' silver face. I am going to keep my eye out for one of those.

 

I have a dual monaural, 200 wpc, B&K EX-442 Sonata power amp that is somewhere between 20 and 30 years old. I keep toying with the idea of replacing/upgrading the capacitors but the cost to do this always stops me. I still love the amp. its sound is still warm, detailed and it creates a wonderfully wide sound stage, so the re-capping remains a fantasy that will probably never take place.

 

My Technics SL-1800 is over 30 years old and has never been serviced. I also have two 70s amps-a Marantz 2220 and a Yamaha Integrated CA-410. The Marantz was fine when I bought it off eBay, but after two years of use, the phono stage is blown. The Yamaha I've had for the same amount of time and is still going strong.

I'm not sure how old my Martin USA speakers are, but they are from the 70s as well. All original.

 

Not everything I own is in current service as some are backup units, I do currently have one beautiful Dynaco ST416 still on 24/7 running the front R&L Polk RT55 speakers in my main surround sound system. The only thing wrong with it is the little red light that shows its ON, it has been out for years (not a cause for shop work) but the playback is still brilliant! I have it set for audio control by-pass at full output, volumes are controlled by my SONY DA5700ES Receiver on the Pre-outs. Used mostly for SACD playback and occasionally with overhead projector for movies.

 

Oops - I forgot my 1970s original Klipsch Heresy speakers, they have never been modded or repaired and I play them on average about five hours each day, powered by my Yaqin MC-100B tube amp with a SONY SACD player, I am listening to them as I type!

 

Bedroom system... Marantz CD65iiSE, Arcam Delta90, ProAc Super Tablette... all just turned 30.

 

Turntables, Yamaha YP-701 & P-200 , Pioneer PL-512.

 

My Technics SL1400 MK2 was bought in 1978 and has never been serviced, though the cartridge has been replaced several times. I'd like to take this in but I'm not sure where to take it.
My Nakamichi 670ZX (bought in 1980 in Kowloon) has been gone through, but as soon as it came back a peak level meter light went out, and a meter needle is stuck.
A Nakamichi 430 FM tuner (1980) has not been serviced, but it only has about a dozen hours on it as I've yet to find any decent FM stations. In fact, I hooked it up about a month ago, and there are still no stations worth listening to.

 

I have several:

1969 Sansui 4000 receiver (switches and pots cleaned only, still original capacitors)
1967 HH Scott 312D FM tuner (has had new electrolytics and IF, RF, and Multiplex alignment 6-7 years ago)
1968 HH ScottKit LT 112B FM tuner (Kit version of above, same servicing)
1982 Technics SP-25 DD broadcast turntable (2 drops of oil yearly, electrolytics once)
3 pairs Dynaco A 25 speakers, still in stock condition and perform fine.
1963 Zenith Trans-Oceanic Royal 3000 portable radio. (original to now, will soon get new electrolytics if necessary, will get bandswitch and pots cleaned, and alignment checked)
1978 Pioneer PL 518D turntable, has had only pitch pots cleaned internally and pitch control and speed control contacts cleaned.

Disclaimer, my 1967 McIntosh MA 5100 integrated, has had some minor cosmetic cleaning and restoration done, but not very much. It lived an easy life previous to mine and lived in custom furniture. It has had many new electrolytic caps done and can caps replaced and one driver transistor done and bias checked and adjusted. But no more maintenance than any daily used MA 5100 ever would have seen through the years. It has been well maintained. And no McIntosh clinic stickers present. My Klipsch Chorus speakers have had the Crites Crossover work done and titanium tweeter elements done. Which was more upgrade than replacing defective parts.

 

"Real" KLH speakers (like yours) need to be re-capped for safety reasons (the safety of your tweeters)

The original single value and the two value caps (two values in one device, three wires coming out) will and do explode

I've seen and had to repair more than a few that have popped

These are the black plastic ones with the red ends
http://www.classicspeakerpages.net/IP.Board/index.php?showtopic=5005

ALWAYS remove those types to ensure many more years of reliable service from your Vintage "KLH"s and to spare yourself a "used tweeter shopping expedition" on ePay

Change out any paper tube types you may encounter on older speakers as well; they WILL dry out with time and you'll lose the function of a driver (usually the tweeter)

A few makers sealed those in a box with an asphalt material; those seem to survive time a bit better as they are essentially "sealed" from the environment

But the "red tips"? If you've got them and you are using your speakers you should get motivated ASAP and remove them

You may run into one issue however; if your "Model Sixes" are early production, the drivers are epoxied into the front baffle and are for all intents and purposes impossible to remove. It is quite the undertaking to re-cap these first run examples. Thankfully, KLH realized this wasn't such a good idea and later models had their drivers installed in the usual way, with screws

The early "Model Six" also had grilles glued in place so solidly they are almost impossible to remove as well without damage

Hopefully your pair is later production!

Analogman

 

My Yamaha C-80/M-80 combo still function fine. I have a Yamaha T85 connected to my home's distributed audio system. Although unused, I also have various other components which still work after 30 years:

DBX 4BX
DBX 224X
ADC SS-425X
Kenwood T1

 

Technics SL-M3 Turntable as seen in my avatar. I am the original owner, purchased it in 1985. I should mention though, that it did sit idle in a closet from 1992 through 2012.

I also have an SAE 50 watt receiver circa 1984 that although not in use, works fine.

 

For 45 rpm singles i use a Mitchell Hydrolic Reference( the blue version) with a SME 3009 with a MM cartridge,
but this turntable can handle more expensive cartridges without any problem and make a fantastic sound.

 

Nakamichi BX-125E.

 

Nope they're late 50's, probably second year of production. So I'm fairly certain they're the military grade oil caps, which arguably last forever, although certainly it's possible that they won't. In the meantime, I'm not about to start ripping things to break into the speaker. If they go, and if they take out a tweeter, I'll deal with it then. Right now, they sound right, and great.

 

Using a pair of Vandersteen 1bs in a second system. Bought them new 30 yrs ago.

 

That's certainly your decision and choice

KLH epoxied the tweeters in well into the 1960s ('62 and I've had a few even later). They knocked it off with the woofers around 1965 or thereabouts (there are always exceptions as is the case with Vintage ARs and everything else Kloss related, "consistently inconsistent")

But they also filled orders with whatever was on hand and until it was used up, so..............you cannoy always tell with certainty what's inside based on terminal types and badges

I do not know which "version" you have, but I will tell you this; unless you are CERTAIN of what you have in your networks and you do suffer an "epoxied" tweeter blow out (or worse) thanks to a five dollar capacitor, you run a very good risk of being one unhappy camper (especially if you do have a screwed in woofer)

As aggravating as re-capping some of these older KLH models can be, it PALES in comparison to having to try and deal with removing those glued in drivers after the fact

Right now you KNOW you have good drivers

I would not risk such a nice pair of speakers by putting "faith" in very general information found on the internet; it simply cannot be relied on as fact regarding any specific example or pair

You cannot know what you have without opening them up

But like I said, your prerogative

Good luck!

Analogman

 

Repaired, yes. Restored, luckily not yet.

 

I like to replace the power supply components on the old stuff.
Still, much of my gear has the same components that came with it when new.

 

Thanks. But after a lot of research, and discussing it with people who I have confidence in(who were connected with KLH back in the day) I'm very confident that I have the oil caps, given the serial number of the speakers that tells me that these were manufactured early in '59. They sound amazing, and I've heard later series 6's that had original caps in them that sounded like crap. So I'm going to go with these. They didn't cost much, and I don't trust myself, and certainly not anybody else around here to start ripping drivers out and cutting holes in the back. Not worth it to me.

Worse comes to worse, I've got other speakers, including other Six's, 5's, and 23's(as far as KLH goes).

 

Sounds like a plan

But there is no need to start "ripping" anything out? (I think you've said something like that a couple of times) It is not a difficult task; tedious on some, some not at all

Only you know your own limits with things mechanical, so clearly it is your decision to make

Not trying to "push" you in any direction, just telling you what I know to be true, first hand

I figured you had posted your original question (with these speakers as your example) as you were seeking some degree of validation with regards to your decision (to not do anything with them)

It's not like chopping firewood; would take you about 10 minutes to know whether to continue or leave well enough alone

And $20 bucks in capacitors

Nice that you are "KLH" rich!

Analogman