evozero
18-08-2025, 14:04
Hello everyone,
I have been mostly inactive in the hifi world since children arrived, my wife pointed out that having half built valve amps hanging around the house is probably not the safest.:)
At that time I built a single end valve amp, valve phono stages and large open baffle speakers etc. Mostly unused for the last decade.
In the last ten years all my turntables stopped working and I moved to digital for convenience using a Raspberry PI and DAC streaming Spotify. This front end into a Yamaha amp works really well and allowed me to measure and tame the room modes, single biggest upgrade to any system in my opinion.
The large floor standing speakers have made way for a sub and wall mounted 2 ways. All the diy projects / components packed away, gathering dust....
Fast forward to recent times;
I suddenly have a seriously unwell family member who needs a lot of care, looks like a long term situation. My wife and I have had to reduce work and I will be providing most of the care. In reality I have lots of time on my hands and little money to spend!
I found this scruffy Phillips 280 pre amp for £75, needed a good clean and the selector switch coupling fixing but apart from that works great. Silent and has two phono inputs.
Makes comparing turntables fun!
31592
Needing some distraction and after mulling it over I thought fixing turntables would be a good compromise, not high voltage and reasonably safe, lots to fiddle with to occupy my mind.
So I decided to spend some time getting my turntables up and running, figured I can get one done quickly and play with the rest.
My Pioneer PL-50Lii was a very easy fix, just the ground tag needed re soldering to the ground lead. Fitted an ADC10E that Barry sold me a decade ago and I never got working. Sounds fabulous tracking at under a gram!
My Thorens TD321 has been out of action with a broken switch, one of my then toddlers twisted it round the wrong way until broken:doh:
Thanks to Vinyl Engine I had the service manual so managed to work out the correct switch to order, some new caps for the controller board for reliability and an overall service. Just waiting on a genuine Thorens belt and will fine tune the speed.
31594
Fighting the boredom I took to FB market place to have a look for a project. Found a non working Sony PS-X55 on sale at £45 with an Ortofon OM5E cartridge.
After researching known issues and studying the service manual I ordered a few components including fusible resistors, never heard of them before. Apparently they were used in lots of 1980's Sony equipment. When they fail, they can give very odd readings and can half fail and cause glitches etc. They work as current limiters, but as the mechanisms stiffen up the current draw increases and pop!
I couldn't find the required values, but found 1 Ohm version with the correct current rating and fitted in series with a new resistor.
PCB working perfectly and all auto functions good, I decided that I should tackle the old grease that had turned to glue thinking sticky mechanism probably caused the fusible resistor to blow.
Instead of stripping the arm mechanism I tried to service in situ, this resulted in me getting grease where it shouldn't have been and contaminated the felt brake, the result was an uncontrollable arm and errors for the next week while I tinkered. The arm mechanism needed stripping, cleaning, full alignment and lots of trial and error getting the logic sequence and physical arm mechanism synchronised.
A whole two weeks spent fixing and servicing! I'm a real fan once I understood how the thing works, the service manual is not very good and missing some details like a good troubleshooting section.
The motor is silent and very stable, has a magnetic tape head and Quartz lock. The plinth has very good isolation, works despite being fairly light. The Ortofon OM5E cartridge sounds impressive for a basic stylus, must be good synergy with the ULM arm and high compliance.
31596
3159331596
So whats next;
Sell my Thorens TD321, I have become fond of the Sony after the journey we've been on.
Sell Old valve amps, components to fund the following;
Ortofon OM body can accept any OM stylus, so would like a good used 20/30/40 stylus.
After the success of the ADC I would like to try a higher up the range model.
As for next Turntable, I would like a Direct Drive Linear tracking as I find the motors and arms more fun to service. Will need a dual channel scope for next level servicing these type of decks. Changing caps in drive circuits requires calibration of motors to get best performance.
Linear tracker I tried to build, Laadgard style DIY with air pump,and could never get the engineering reliable.
The Sony PS-X555ES looks like the linear tracking version of the PS-X55 that I have become familiar with, so will be the next turntable most likely, let me know if anyone has one tucked away.
Let me know if anyone is interested in a more detailed post on the repairs, I did take lots of photos?
Kind regards
Ian
I have been mostly inactive in the hifi world since children arrived, my wife pointed out that having half built valve amps hanging around the house is probably not the safest.:)
At that time I built a single end valve amp, valve phono stages and large open baffle speakers etc. Mostly unused for the last decade.
In the last ten years all my turntables stopped working and I moved to digital for convenience using a Raspberry PI and DAC streaming Spotify. This front end into a Yamaha amp works really well and allowed me to measure and tame the room modes, single biggest upgrade to any system in my opinion.
The large floor standing speakers have made way for a sub and wall mounted 2 ways. All the diy projects / components packed away, gathering dust....
Fast forward to recent times;
I suddenly have a seriously unwell family member who needs a lot of care, looks like a long term situation. My wife and I have had to reduce work and I will be providing most of the care. In reality I have lots of time on my hands and little money to spend!
I found this scruffy Phillips 280 pre amp for £75, needed a good clean and the selector switch coupling fixing but apart from that works great. Silent and has two phono inputs.
Makes comparing turntables fun!
31592
Needing some distraction and after mulling it over I thought fixing turntables would be a good compromise, not high voltage and reasonably safe, lots to fiddle with to occupy my mind.
So I decided to spend some time getting my turntables up and running, figured I can get one done quickly and play with the rest.
My Pioneer PL-50Lii was a very easy fix, just the ground tag needed re soldering to the ground lead. Fitted an ADC10E that Barry sold me a decade ago and I never got working. Sounds fabulous tracking at under a gram!
My Thorens TD321 has been out of action with a broken switch, one of my then toddlers twisted it round the wrong way until broken:doh:
Thanks to Vinyl Engine I had the service manual so managed to work out the correct switch to order, some new caps for the controller board for reliability and an overall service. Just waiting on a genuine Thorens belt and will fine tune the speed.
31594
Fighting the boredom I took to FB market place to have a look for a project. Found a non working Sony PS-X55 on sale at £45 with an Ortofon OM5E cartridge.
After researching known issues and studying the service manual I ordered a few components including fusible resistors, never heard of them before. Apparently they were used in lots of 1980's Sony equipment. When they fail, they can give very odd readings and can half fail and cause glitches etc. They work as current limiters, but as the mechanisms stiffen up the current draw increases and pop!
I couldn't find the required values, but found 1 Ohm version with the correct current rating and fitted in series with a new resistor.
PCB working perfectly and all auto functions good, I decided that I should tackle the old grease that had turned to glue thinking sticky mechanism probably caused the fusible resistor to blow.
Instead of stripping the arm mechanism I tried to service in situ, this resulted in me getting grease where it shouldn't have been and contaminated the felt brake, the result was an uncontrollable arm and errors for the next week while I tinkered. The arm mechanism needed stripping, cleaning, full alignment and lots of trial and error getting the logic sequence and physical arm mechanism synchronised.
A whole two weeks spent fixing and servicing! I'm a real fan once I understood how the thing works, the service manual is not very good and missing some details like a good troubleshooting section.
The motor is silent and very stable, has a magnetic tape head and Quartz lock. The plinth has very good isolation, works despite being fairly light. The Ortofon OM5E cartridge sounds impressive for a basic stylus, must be good synergy with the ULM arm and high compliance.
31596
3159331596
So whats next;
Sell my Thorens TD321, I have become fond of the Sony after the journey we've been on.
Sell Old valve amps, components to fund the following;
Ortofon OM body can accept any OM stylus, so would like a good used 20/30/40 stylus.
After the success of the ADC I would like to try a higher up the range model.
As for next Turntable, I would like a Direct Drive Linear tracking as I find the motors and arms more fun to service. Will need a dual channel scope for next level servicing these type of decks. Changing caps in drive circuits requires calibration of motors to get best performance.
Linear tracker I tried to build, Laadgard style DIY with air pump,and could never get the engineering reliable.
The Sony PS-X555ES looks like the linear tracking version of the PS-X55 that I have become familiar with, so will be the next turntable most likely, let me know if anyone has one tucked away.
Let me know if anyone is interested in a more detailed post on the repairs, I did take lots of photos?
Kind regards
Ian