• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

Philips AG 9016 both ch fade in and out

I understand some will find it sacrilegious but I’ve been trying to bring bac from the dead this old time favorite, Philips AG 9016. I bought it knowing Someone else had been into it and seeing the electrolytic caps had popped out their internals. I replaced the electrolytic caps and retrofitted RCAs to it, even got it up and running with decent voltages and new tubes… but after a minute or two both channels fade out, then back in, then out…

I then changed the rectifier but to no avail. ‘Any ideas of what to try next? 🧐
 
Are you able to monitor B+ and heater voltages while it is running? I had an issue with an amp I made and it was a loose connection in a screw terminal. Maybe you have a bad solder joint somewhere.

The fact that it is both channels hopefully limits the issue to the power supply. Did you change the selenium rectifier? Have you tried tapping around with a plastic rod?
 
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Yes, I have monitored both the transformer at the high voltage ac and 6.3vac. the high VAC is a steady 215 but drops to 188 and wink-out and the 6.3vac drops to 6.0. The cycles are pretty even at 5 seconds on and 5 seconds off, always with the right channel pooping out a half second ahead of the left. I have installed a new bridge rectifier.

I don't know what you mean by tapping around... I have examined all visible connection and they seem fine. The wiring is really skinny, maybe 28 or 30 ga in most spots but its hurried deep in globs of solder, 1963 style.

What DOES this kind of thing? The cyclic nature of it is baffling
 
I’m not sure I understand motorboating, I thought it was a fast oscillation due to a bad capacitor. This is a power drain in a slow 5 second period.

Most of the caps left on the board are ceramic type, not prone to failure. Four are of a type I’ve not seen before, one pair a dirty yellow blob but with value markings two others dirty yellow with painted strips like the ceramic ones. Am I down to just replacing every cap Or does it make sense to sell it for parts; the idea was to experience a vintage Philips amp, the further I get from original design the smaller my motivation to save it.
 
AIUI motorboating is normally occurring when the supply is loaded, and generally linked to bad decoupling capacitors from the power supply in an amplifier that was working fine before. Did you replace with the original value electrolytics? Maybe worth a try with no tubes to see if there is a power fluctuation then?

Some photos could be helpful.
 
Thanks guys, I’ll post some pictures as well as some info/ voltages.

just to set the stage again, bought the unit not working yet fussed with, I replaced the electrolytics with close match and the rectifier. I’ve cleaned and inspected it and can get sound out of it but there must be a cyclic drain on the power transformer as it (5s) cycles between 215 and 188VAC. R1 gets pretty hot!
 
You could remove the tubes of 1 channel and check, then swap the tubes to the other chanel to see if it is related to one of the channels . In case it only shows when both channels are working it could be the output tubes as these will draw grid current over time. Then these need to be replaced.
 
You get the prize Lampie519. I bought the EL95s from a seller saying they were checked NOS... nope! one tube is fine, the other not. Swapping tubes to find the fault proved the one bad one, I have another set, now I have music!

Many thanks to all!
 
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