This lovely McIntosh C220 tube preamplifier fell victim to a growing problem – modern Pb-free production processes. The McIntosh C220 is a hybrid tube/transistor-based preamplifier, featuring a phono preamp and microprocessor control. It’s a well-made unit, though not like the McIntosh of old. The board is high-quality fibreglass and the internal layout is clean and […]
Come with me as we repair and restore two beautiful Accuphase M-60 monophonic power amplifiers and find out how they were ruined by a local repairer, before coming to Liquid Audio. The Accuphase M-60 is a big, heavy monophonic power amplifier. It was top of the Accuphase range when introduced in 1975 and capable of
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I’ve just repaired and serviced this absolutely incredible Sharp VZ-2000 linear-tracking, record-playing boombox. Now, THIS is a boombox! The Sharp VZ-2000 is surely one of the biggest and baddest boomboxes from the golden era of boomboxes, the 1980s. This VZ-2000 is seriously HUGE, I can hardly lift it and it took two hands to get
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This is the second JVC QL-F4 direct-drive turntable with speed control issues I’ve repaired recently. Come with me as I resolve the problem. The JVC QL-F4 is a great direct-drive deck, perfect for someone stepping up from a belt-drive or lower-tier DD. They actually have stellar wow and flutter figures, really low for an affordable
I’ve just repaired an amazing Yamaha MX-1 power amplifier. Read on for more about this stunning, heavyweight amplifier. It’s fair to say that Yamaha, along with Sony, soldiered on with high-end consumer hi-fi gear for longer than many others and this beautiful Yamaha MX-1 power amplifier proves it. The Yamaha MX-1 was the best and
The Audiolab 8000Q preamplifier is a really nice piece of gear, let down by cheap parts. In this article, I repair a misbehaving Audiolab 8000Q. The Audiolab 8000Q preamplifier in this article came to me with a fault which would see it sometimes take a long time to turn on. By a long time, I
I recently repaired this Rogue Audio Sphinx hybrid valve / class-D integrated amplifier. The repair also reminded me of a valuable lesson in always checking the obvious! The Rogue Audio Sphinx is a nicely made amplifier, hand-built in the USA which is a good thing. The amplifier features an unusual topology, consisting of a tube preamplifier,
Just a short post while I am repairing/restoring an absolutely massive Marantz PM-8 integrated amplifier. These main filter capacitors in the Marantz PM-8 sit in the power supply and do all the ‘heavy lifting’ required to make the power supply smooth and quiet. All four 15,000uF capacitors have literally spewed their contents all over the
Come with me as I repair this amazing Balanced Audio Technology BAT VK-500 MOSFET power amplifier. Technically speaking, the BAT VK-500 MOSFET amplifier is an amazing design. It uses only MOSFET devices in the driver and output stages and a large bank of smaller, paralleled filter capacitors to create power supply rails of exceptionally low
Recently, two friends with lovely vintage Yamaha CA-610 and CA-710 integrated amplifiers sought my assistance to have them repaired. One was dead, the other was not working well. The Yamaha CA-710 had blown one channel. One of the original output devices, a Sanken 2SA745, had a collector to base short and it had taken out
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