TLC for an old (but special) Rogers tuner

[camtwister]

One of my favourite black boxes amongst all the others on the rack, is my Rogers T100 tuner, enjoyment of which has recently become a little sullied due to a rather critical fault. That is, it's silent.

It works as well as ever for about ten minutes after switch on, but then I lose both channels of audio instantly. Occasionally, the audio output returns but then becomes very intermittent. There is no other sonic issue; no dwindling output (it's either off or on), no hiss nor crackle.
The display continues to show the station frequency.
Could it be thermal expansion and a dry joint?

Now, I'm not a bungling amateur when it comes to mechanical stuff (I drive around in bits of metal that I've fixed up at 100mph - so let's hope not) but I am dangerous with a soldering iron within six feet of a PCB.
Can anyone recommend a person that will repair and service my old Rogers?
Thanks.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6393/t100insides.jpg

[DSJR]

A real quality sounding tuner this one and quite rare i think.

Could be the muting circuit. PLEASE don't be tempted to twiddle with ANY presets!!!!!!!

Ask Mike O'Brien (O'Brien HiFi) as I believe he "was" Swisstone at the time. he may know someone trustworthy to take this classic on.

[camtwister]

Thank you.
Yes, this is a rare tuner. Only a few were made before it all permanently changed for the Rogers company. I bought the T100 from a gent who collected it from the factory in person. It's in immaculate cosmetic condition and, when working, performs superbly. The soundstage is huge. I would very much like to get it 'singing' again.

Is Mike O'Brien an AOS member?
Is this his business?
http://www.obrienhifi.com/www.obrienhifi.com/Service.html

Cheers.

[Marco]

Hi John,

Lovely tuner! Just to butt-in quickly, how did you get on eventually with your tube-rolling? I was very sorry to hear that the Bugle-boy went pop... :doh:

Like you said, though, these things can happen with vintage valves. I've suffered the same thing myself. Anyway, hope that the CV4004 hit the spot and that your tube-rolling was otherwise fruitful! :)

Marco.

[camtwister]

Hi Marco,

The tube rolling has been fun and the results quite surprising. I'll post a report soon, it may interest a few folks.

Johnny.

[Marco]

Excellent stuff - look forward to it! :cool:

Marco.

[camtwister]

Before I mummify my tuner in bubble wrap and send it nervously away for repair, are there any other recommendations for a person who can fix her up?

[spendorman]

Do you have a circuit diagram?

[camtwister]

Hi,
No, unfortunately.
Although, I did get some documentation when I purchased the unit, which I'll go through tonight.

[camtwister]

I have the manual but there's no circuit diagram.
If there's anyone on AoS that's genuinely willing to investigate, please send a PM. Thanks.
There's a pint in it!
:)

[DSJR]

Thank you.
Is Mike O'Brien an AOS member?
Is this his business?
http://www.obrienhifi.com/www.obrienhifi.com/Service.html

Cheers.

That's the place. Mike doesn't post on sites as far as I know, but using the good old fashioned telephonic device should get you the info you need ;)

Tuners are funny things that need an experienced engineering hand and the correct test equipment to sort them properly. London Sound are good I understand and you could also look on the vintage radio site, as they go from the truly ancient stuff from the mid WW period to fairy recent analogue stuff like this T100.

In the meantime, do you have a mate with a HiFi aerial you could try the tuner with. Like I said, it could be the muting circuit being on-the-edge for your locale.

[Rare Bird]

Nice tuner but i prefer the looks of the 'T75'

[DSJR]

I can assure you that despite the looks (actually it's quite neat looking for the pre NAT-01 naim crowd), it does the business sonically.

[Rare Bird]

It does dave i've had both the Rogers 'A75'/'T75' & 'A100'/'T100' both great sets..

[camtwister]

That's the place. Mike doesn't post on sites as far as I know, but using the good old fashioned telephonic device should get you the info you need ;)


I'm waiting for a response from Mike. Thanks for the contact, Dave.


...it could be the muting circuit being on-the-edge for your locale.

I live five miles from my transmitter and get full signal strength on the Rogers and my Troughline. So if the muting circuit is the culprit, then it's failing.

[camtwister]

I'd like to thank Dave, DSJR, for his suggestion of sending the Rogers to O'Brien's Hi-Fi in Wimbledon.
I've received a professional and courteous service from a member of staff there, Alex, who has been my point of contact over the past couple of months.

It seems that all the circuit diagrams for the T100 have vanished from the planet. O'Brien's engineer was able to identify the Automatic Gain Control circuit as a contibutor to the intermittent problem but he has been unable to obtain replacement or equivalent components.

So...my venerable old tuner is being shipped back to me, still with fault.
I'm going to put it on a shelf for a while and have a ponder. I still have my Sansui TU-7700 and Troughline 3 for analogue reception and I've very recently invested in a Squeezebox for digital radio streaming between my two systems, so I'm not typing in silence.

Rogers T100, RIP.

[spendorman]

I'd like to thank Dave, DSJR, for his suggestion of sending the Rogers to O'Brien's Hi-Fi in Wimbledon.
I've received a professional and courteous service from a member of staff there, Alex, who has been my point of contact over the past couple of months.

It seems that all the circuit diagrams for the T100 have vanished from the planet. O'Brien's engineer was able to identify the Automatic Gain Control circuit as a contibutor to the intermittent problem but he has been unable to obtain replacement or equivalent components.

So...my venerable old tuner is being shipped back to me, still with fault.
I'm going to put it on a shelf for a while and have a ponder. I still have my Sansui TU-7700 and Troughline 3 for analogue reception and I've very recently invested in a Squeezebox for digital radio streaming between my two systems, so I'm not typing in silence.

Rogers T100, RIP.

Perhaps try a Rogers Ravensbourne FET 2. They are good and usually go very cheap:

http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/September%201970/146/845017/Rogers+Ravensbourne+2+FET+FM+Tuner.+Price%3A+%C2%A 366+17s.+9d.+Chassis+only,+%C2%A361+17s.+9d.+Manuf acturer+%3A+Rogers+Developments+%28Electronics%29+ Ltd.,+414+Barmeston+Road.+Catford,+London,+SE6.

[DSJR]

If Alex is the chap I think he is (not been there for ten years or so now), he's great, as is Mike.

I'm so sorry about the T100. I know that some old parts are no longer serviced, but there are suppliers around with job-lots of old bits - Mushroom Components and Little Diode are two from memory. Could the engineer give a list of bits needed and maybe "we" can do some trawling for him (engineers are usually just too busy to do this in all fairness)?

[DSJR]

My old Arcam Delta 80 tuner is down on one channel and as all the bits, caps etc look fine on the surface, I've just ordered a new decoder chip. I'm "hoping" that is where the fault is, but if it turns out to be summat else, this tuner will also have to be either scrapped or mothballed, as they fetch peanuts on fleabay (£25 to £30 from memory) and an hour of an engineer's time's going to be more than that these days, even for an estimate. I don't know anyone at Arcam either now... A couple of the transistors around the audio output sockets have been painted over so they cannot easily be identified..

[spendorman]

Here is my Ravensbourne, I made a new case and front panel for it in the early 80's (before Quad FM4), so it would aesthetically match the Quad 44 better than the Quad FM3.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5172/5496782724_28a6a0855b_z.jpg

[spendorman]

My old Arcam Delta 80 tuner is down on one channel and as all the bits, caps etc look fine on the surface, I've just ordered a new decoder chip. I'm "hoping" that is where the fault is, but if it turns out to be summat else, this tuner will also have to be either scrapped or mothballed, as they fetch peanuts on fleabay (£25 to £30 from memory) and an hour of an engineer's time's going to be more than that these days, even for an estimate. I don't know anyone at Arcam either now... A couple of the transistors around the audio output sockets have been painted over so they cannot easily be identified..

I don't know this tuner, but a similar fault on my Leak Stereofetic was a dodgy audio transistor immediately after the the stereo decoder, just replaced this and all was fine.