This one is going to give me problem. If I didn't LOVE SS amps this one would have gone to parts. Very bad off. This is one that I now own and so its kind of an experiment to see if I can get working. Where to start...
First I cleaned the board with simple green and water. It was SO bad, I didn't even want to touch it without gloves. It had mice droppings on it lol. Simple green worked well. I dried the board with a hair drier after it's bath also. The good news is, mostly the PCB looks actually fine but keep reading.
The PS FETs AND output darlingtons were all flip-flopped around randomly and some were installed on the component side of the board. I removed everything I absolutely could as I've been in so many SS amps recently, this one was like a joke how someone took a fat-iron and mounted stuff all over the place.
Now its starting to look like a SS amp...
Amongst all these fantastic modifications, an owner literally 'ripped' the SG3524 out of the board. I'm thinking someone pried it off with a screw driver. All 16x Vias pulled straight out of the board and are GONE. No connectivity at all. Some of the traces were curled up into tiny balls. I cleaned up all loose traces and then HARD-WIRED in a new SG3524. Each of the pins are now connected after a time-consuming affair.
Rectifiers and PS FETs are out of circuit.
I didn't expect this one to work, and of course it didn't, so here comes the fun!
I set my PS to 12.25v, and 0.12A to keep things as calm as possible. The amp barely accepts this tiny amount of power like this.
While testing voltages, the SG3524 gets warm to the touch I powered down the amp twice during testing to let the SG cool off. I probably smoked this new SG by now due to a hard-wiring mis-haps I probably messed up.
SG3524
1: 12.23
2: 5.71
3: 2.141
4: 0
5: 0
6: 9.21
7: 0.580
8: 0
9: 0.033
10: 0.020
11: 0
12: 12.23
13: 12.23
14: 0
15: 11.64
16: 10.18
First I cleaned the board with simple green and water. It was SO bad, I didn't even want to touch it without gloves. It had mice droppings on it lol. Simple green worked well. I dried the board with a hair drier after it's bath also. The good news is, mostly the PCB looks actually fine but keep reading.
The PS FETs AND output darlingtons were all flip-flopped around randomly and some were installed on the component side of the board. I removed everything I absolutely could as I've been in so many SS amps recently, this one was like a joke how someone took a fat-iron and mounted stuff all over the place.
Now its starting to look like a SS amp...
Amongst all these fantastic modifications, an owner literally 'ripped' the SG3524 out of the board. I'm thinking someone pried it off with a screw driver. All 16x Vias pulled straight out of the board and are GONE. No connectivity at all. Some of the traces were curled up into tiny balls. I cleaned up all loose traces and then HARD-WIRED in a new SG3524. Each of the pins are now connected after a time-consuming affair.
Rectifiers and PS FETs are out of circuit.
I didn't expect this one to work, and of course it didn't, so here comes the fun!
I set my PS to 12.25v, and 0.12A to keep things as calm as possible. The amp barely accepts this tiny amount of power like this.
While testing voltages, the SG3524 gets warm to the touch I powered down the amp twice during testing to let the SG cool off. I probably smoked this new SG by now due to a hard-wiring mis-haps I probably messed up.
SG3524
1: 12.23
2: 5.71
3: 2.141
4: 0
5: 0
6: 9.21
7: 0.580
8: 0
9: 0.033
10: 0.020
11: 0
12: 12.23
13: 12.23
14: 0
15: 11.64
16: 10.18
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One step at a time. If I fry enough SGs its going into the bin for sure. The good news is, this amp has 4x driver boards that actually all look to be OK. Thats like $30 in parts value. At least I have it all. I'm sure if this amp fails to be repairs it will provide some parts for other SSs I have coming in.
It’s a brand new sg3524, though it might be smoked already.
Is pin 1 ok at 12.23v? I’ll trace back pin 16.
Is pin 1 ok at 12.23v? I’ll trace back pin 16.
I was going through the voltages and when I saw pin 2 at 5v instead of 2.5v, that led me to pin 16.
I wouldn't expect pin 1 to be 12v but it could be that it's being driven by a defect in the IC. The only place that I see for pin 1 to be driven to 12v from, externally, is maybe from the hex inverter. Lifting R909 would break that connection.
I wouldn't expect pin 1 to be 12v but it could be that it's being driven by a defect in the IC. The only place that I see for pin 1 to be driven to 12v from, externally, is maybe from the hex inverter. Lifting R909 would break that connection.
Thank you for that schematic.
I lifted pin #16 of the SG and pins 11&14 put out 4.7v which seems like the SG may be working but I didn't put my scope on those pins?
I removed the 4 driver transistors to test them, and left them out. They all tested OK.
Put Pin 16 back into circuit.
Measured again with drivers removed.
SG3524
1: 12.23
2: 5.09
3: 1.451
4: 0
5: 0
6: 8.10
7: 0.630
8: 0
9: 0.034
10: 0.013
11: 0
12: 12.23
13: 12.23
14: 0
15: 11.64
16: 10.18
I also measured the 14108:
1: 0
2: 11.64
3: 11.64
4: 0
5: 0
6: 11.64
7: 0
8: 11.64
9: 0
10: 11.64
11: 0
12: 11.64
13: 0
14: 11.64
I lifted pin #16 of the SG and pins 11&14 put out 4.7v which seems like the SG may be working but I didn't put my scope on those pins?
I removed the 4 driver transistors to test them, and left them out. They all tested OK.
Put Pin 16 back into circuit.
Measured again with drivers removed.
SG3524
1: 12.23
2: 5.09
3: 1.451
4: 0
5: 0
6: 8.10
7: 0.630
8: 0
9: 0.034
10: 0.013
11: 0
12: 12.23
13: 12.23
14: 0
15: 11.64
16: 10.18
I also measured the 14108:
1: 0
2: 11.64
3: 11.64
4: 0
5: 0
6: 11.64
7: 0
8: 11.64
9: 0
10: 11.64
11: 0
12: 11.64
13: 0
14: 11.64
I've pulled the SG back out since I didn't really like my wiring job anyways. I'm also supposed to be getting another SS 604 tomorrow so I'll wait on this one for now.
You might want to buy a long-legged socket and install it so that there is about 1/2" between the board and socket so you can make the connections to the socket on both sides of the board.
Search for:
wire wrap IC DIP socket
Search for:
wire wrap IC DIP socket
Still fighting with this one. Its a good thing I have a SECOND and WORKING 604 amp now on my bench. A LOT easier to follow and fix this one now.
Basically, it is well on its way to being FIXED, but I need a little help sourcing some parts.
1. I need all 3 LEDs, thats RED, Amber, Green. All three are missing from this PCB. I cannot find exactly how to pick those out as they're no part numbers on the Schematic. I guess I could measure LxWxH and voltage but what voltage are these?
2. Gain/control knobs. Any source for these?
Thank you
Basically, it is well on its way to being FIXED, but I need a little help sourcing some parts.
1. I need all 3 LEDs, thats RED, Amber, Green. All three are missing from this PCB. I cannot find exactly how to pick those out as they're no part numbers on the Schematic. I guess I could measure LxWxH and voltage but what voltage are these?
2. Gain/control knobs. Any source for these?
Thank you
Contact the manufacturer for a distributor:
ACP Technologies -
http://www.vimex.com/tpots/techdocs/CE9-tech.pdf
The LEDs may require a bit of trial and error if you want a perfect match (color). The voltage isn't important. They have voltage-dropping series resistors. The LEDs will break at whatever voltage they're designed for.
ACP Technologies -
http://www.vimex.com/tpots/techdocs/CE9-tech.pdf
The LEDs may require a bit of trial and error if you want a perfect match (color). The voltage isn't important. They have voltage-dropping series resistors. The LEDs will break at whatever voltage they're designed for.
I was referring to matching other amps that may be used with this amp but I did think that there were multi-color LEDs.
BTW on the Vimex gain/pot knobs, I found 2 ways to get replacements.
1. Vimex has 50x units of the 9056 knobs, but they want to sell all 50 at once at $4/piece, so thats over $200. No other distributer through Vimex/partners have any suitable knobs.
2. I emailed Jaime (OEMParts) on eBay, and he found quite a bunch of them. He just listed them on eBay (for me) but anyone can buy some also. Keep in mind his stock may be limited. Prices are reasonable, and he has many other SS parts too. Also he likes to include a small gift in his orders; so lovely.
He has set of ~6 knobs for for about $7 each set.
Here is a link to his stock: Replacement Pot Shafts for old school Soundstream Reference S, SX and Rubicon | eBay
1. Vimex has 50x units of the 9056 knobs, but they want to sell all 50 at once at $4/piece, so thats over $200. No other distributer through Vimex/partners have any suitable knobs.
2. I emailed Jaime (OEMParts) on eBay, and he found quite a bunch of them. He just listed them on eBay (for me) but anyone can buy some also. Keep in mind his stock may be limited. Prices are reasonable, and he has many other SS parts too. Also he likes to include a small gift in his orders; so lovely.
He has set of ~6 knobs for for about $7 each set.
Here is a link to his stock: Replacement Pot Shafts for old school Soundstream Reference S, SX and Rubicon | eBay
I didn't know that Jaime was still selling. I bought from him under a different seller name.
I wonder why no one has suggested buying from him for all of the various SS parts (rectifiers...) that people have needed recently.
I wonder why no one has suggested buying from him for all of the various SS parts (rectifiers...) that people have needed recently.
I've got this amp back together and working. What a miracle! Now I see why this amp was likely taken down years ago in the first place.
Channel 3 isolated puts out extreme screeching, enough that it blew one of my tweeters at high gain anything over about 3/4 gain. The amp also starts drawing current up to about ~8amps at high gain with extremely LOW input. It only does this with my head unit but not my frequency generator. Even with the input volume at its lowest it does this. Channel 3 works just fine when I set the switch to remote which then feeds input from Channel 1 - no issue then and that way even uses the same gain knob. Sounds perfect.
I replaced U905 opamp but that didn't help any. Any thoughts? There are not a whole lot of components in front of that remote switch. Maybe only ~10 parts.
C301 and C302 are new as those were previously missing. All the resistors are measuring up fine. Grounds seem to be OK but when I disconnect channel 4 RCA the problem changes but does not vanish. There are only C303 and C304 left in that section of the amp.
Any thoughts?
Channel 3 isolated puts out extreme screeching, enough that it blew one of my tweeters at high gain anything over about 3/4 gain. The amp also starts drawing current up to about ~8amps at high gain with extremely LOW input. It only does this with my head unit but not my frequency generator. Even with the input volume at its lowest it does this. Channel 3 works just fine when I set the switch to remote which then feeds input from Channel 1 - no issue then and that way even uses the same gain knob. Sounds perfect.
I replaced U905 opamp but that didn't help any. Any thoughts? There are not a whole lot of components in front of that remote switch. Maybe only ~10 parts.
C301 and C302 are new as those were previously missing. All the resistors are measuring up fine. Grounds seem to be OK but when I disconnect channel 4 RCA the problem changes but does not vanish. There are only C303 and C304 left in that section of the amp.
Any thoughts?