I got this stereo receiver for free. It's a Yamaha A-960. The internet tells me it's not worth fixing.
A photo of it before I started:
I liked the look of it enough to clean it up:
But the amplifier board had many problems. Lifted traces and burnt components:
I decided that I would replace the amplifier all together.
Before:
I used the LM478 kit from AudioSector.com
After:
The phono preamp was also dead. I would have liked to keep it, but I don't have any records anyway, so I replaced it with this:
An ODAC. It's a pretty nice USB digital to analogue converter.
I mounted it where the phono jacks used to be:
I think I'll probably make a plastic baffle for it and drill a hole to mount it around where the serial number sticker is:
Right now I have the volume control, A/B speaker selector, power switch (with LED wired from the rectifier board), and the headphone jack all working. The treble, bass and balance aren't connected and the listening level monitor doesn't work. I'm looking to get some rotary switches so I can rewire the in/out selectors and a new volume pot as I'm currently using the 30 year old one that came with the stereo. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.
As it stands right now the unit sounds great when connected to a PC via USB. There is no hum or buzz when it's on and the source plays silence.
This is a work in progress so if anyone has any ideas please feel free to speak up.
A photo of it before I started:
I liked the look of it enough to clean it up:
But the amplifier board had many problems. Lifted traces and burnt components:
I decided that I would replace the amplifier all together.
Before:
I used the LM478 kit from AudioSector.com
After:
The phono preamp was also dead. I would have liked to keep it, but I don't have any records anyway, so I replaced it with this:
An ODAC. It's a pretty nice USB digital to analogue converter.
I mounted it where the phono jacks used to be:
I think I'll probably make a plastic baffle for it and drill a hole to mount it around where the serial number sticker is:
Right now I have the volume control, A/B speaker selector, power switch (with LED wired from the rectifier board), and the headphone jack all working. The treble, bass and balance aren't connected and the listening level monitor doesn't work. I'm looking to get some rotary switches so I can rewire the in/out selectors and a new volume pot as I'm currently using the 30 year old one that came with the stereo. If anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.
As it stands right now the unit sounds great when connected to a PC via USB. There is no hum or buzz when it's on and the source plays silence.
This is a work in progress so if anyone has any ideas please feel free to speak up.
I remember those amps from way back. Looks like a fun project. I like seeing things getting recycled and repurposed. Good job so far. Post more progress pics.
I think I need a 10K pot for volume control from the DAC to the amp. I think this is the one I want: RV122F-20-15F-A10K Alpha (Taiwan) | Mouser
Is that correct?
I'm also looking at this rotary switch: SR2921F-0206-19R0B-E9-S-W Alpha (Taiwan) | Mouser
to use for input/output selection. Will this switch work? I'm having a hard time with all the choices out there, and I'm not 100% sure how they label them. I just want to have a wire go to the switch for each Left, Right, Ground, and then have the same on some outputs of the switch.
Is that correct?
I'm also looking at this rotary switch: SR2921F-0206-19R0B-E9-S-W Alpha (Taiwan) | Mouser
to use for input/output selection. Will this switch work? I'm having a hard time with all the choices out there, and I'm not 100% sure how they label them. I just want to have a wire go to the switch for each Left, Right, Ground, and then have the same on some outputs of the switch.
I ordered a dual 10k pot and installed it directly between the DAC and the amp. The sound is so clear. I'm happy with this for now. I'm going to keep an eye for interesting pre amp projects and think about including something later.
Oh man this was so long ago! I kept all the parts in a bin and after a couple years I made a custom case for my amp and restored the Yamaha to like new and sold it. Ha ha.
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