I've had my 332 for years and been very happy with it. However, while recently moving my system around one of the speaker connector wing nuts snapped off. Very annoying. This leads to several questions.....
- I'm going to try to get a replacement connector from ML but I'm not holding my breath. Anybody know of a alternative source?
- Getting the 332 disassembled sufficient to replace the connector looks like a bear of a job. I did, however, find a manual for the 331 (attached). Does anybody know how similar they are to the extent that the 331 manual would apply enough to get the 332 apart? My impression is that layout & design are extremely similar apart from power transformer, caps, output devices.
- The 332 was recapped about 8 years ago and seems to work perfectly. OTOH, if it's all taken apart it might make sense to recap it on principle. I'm confident that I could do the job mechanically, but not so sure about any adjustments, bias settings etc. So there may be merit in "if it ain't broke, don't..."
If your repairman installed 500 to 1000 hour service life caps, which are the cheapest, then you could have used up the the electrolytic caps in the warmest positions in 8 years. I did using caps from the front of counter bins of the TV parts store. Atomlytics & blue beavers had no service life rating.
It is too late to measure the power out of your amp with the speaker stud broken. P = rating, you don't have a problem yet.
I've been using >3000 hours service life caps since newark started selling to individuals (which requires a debit card). None of those has had to be replaced a second time, not even in the amp I use 2000 hours a year. I can't tell the part number or service life rating of an electrolytic cap once it is out of the bag with the part number on it. All the majors make **** caps for the service people that want their customers to come back for bad performance in 8-10 years.
Brass threaded studs & bolts can be bought from mcmaster.com . They usually come in boxes of 50 or 100 count.
You may be in luck as Parts Connexion currently has Mark Levinson OEM binding posts:
https://www.partsconnexion.com/VAMPIRE-88296.html
I believe those were part of a one time purchase of NOS parts from Vampire, you may want to grab them before they sell out.
Thanks for that. I had found them at one point but was unsure if they were really ML substitute. You gave me the confidence to get them. They were in stock and look exactly like the ones on the amp.. Thanks agsain.
