Heirloom item help please

[Edward Huggins]

It might be OK, but it may give you a slightly lower output.

[FrankSinatra]

Thanks Edward hopefully find out shortly.

[FrankSinatra]

My S5CM has arrived managed to get for £13, give it a go shortly.

[FrankSinatra]

All fitted sounds fantastic much better than the old cartridge, output is fine, perfect!

[FrankSinatra]

Funnily enough the sx6m arrived today, must have been delayed in postage, now I have an sc5m and an sx6m, which one does everyone think would be the better cartridge?

[Edward Huggins]

See again my earlier comments as to the difference. Whilst one may have a slightly higher output than the other, the variation in the actual sound quality will be very hard to detect through the rather basic amplifier and the type of speakers in your Radiogram.

[FrankSinatra]

Thanks Edward, I will leave the ceramic cartridge in place and keep the sx as spare.

[FrankSinatra]

Hello all, the left hand speaker has developed a slight crackle at high volume more like a static type sound when at certain high volume levels that gets worse as volume goes up.

Any ideas much appreciated,

[Edward Huggins]

Does the"crackle" appear on both Radio and Gram - or on Gram only?

[DMcMahon]

As far as I can see you never posted the requested photo showing the components on the underside of the amplifier chassis to help the Forum advise if any of your capacitors are the type that should be replaced for future reliability.

Particularly important for the coupling capacitors to the two EL84 output pentode valves, if you do post a photo, then please advise where those valves physically are on the photo, e.g. top left and bottom right corners etc.

David

[DMcMahon]

I assume there is no label anywhere identifying the make/model name of the radiogram/stereogram ?

David

[FrankSinatra]

I’m a bit hesitant in taking out the chassis to be honest in case I damage it or it won’t go back as it should.

I will check the radio Edward and let you know I didn’t think about trying that.

[DMcMahon]

Understand your hesitancy.

David

[FrankSinatra]

It seems like it’s the same issue on radio or gram Edward at high volume levels on both but intermittent?

[Edward Huggins]

That seems to rule out a fault with the cartridge if it distorts on both sources. The amplifier will need attention to fault find. How do you feel about taking this on?

[FrankSinatra]

Depends what’s involved I suppose Edward I enjoy tinkering within my limits.

[FrankSinatra]

I was thinking back and realised that this distortion started when I filled the speaker cavity with acoustic foam, I wonder if the speaker wire got pulled/snagged and there is a loose(er) connection making this problem?

Quick question also, would it be a straightforward swap to take out the old speakers and add new ones internally?

[simpsons]

Frank

The photo you show of the speakers clearly shows that the connections are soldered. In addition, the speakers are designed with few opportunities for the ingress of material even if loose foam chips have been used rather than foam sheets.

An earlier post said all was fine and so the new fault, playing the unit at high volume could be vibrations to the radio,amplifier from the speakers or just the speakers not happy.

Replacing the speakers with just "better" versions is unlikely to show much improvement if only because of the design which was for an am only radiogram and if it sounds great to your ears, leave well alone.

Chris

[FrankSinatra]

Thanks Chris what would be the best way to fault find, the foam I added was a cut to size block which fills the void entirely.

[simpsons]

Hi Frank

Although you had previously said that the tone control is noisy and intermittent and maybe the cause of the new issue, may I suggest that you eliminate any other causes.

Using an insulated screwdriver or similar, switched to gram with the volume control advanced to normal listening level, do the following:

1. Tap the chassis to see if a loose connection is there.

2. If you can easily reach the valves, with a glove on because they will be
hot, wriggle the ECC83 and EL84 valves which are at the front LHS of the
chassis. If this is the source of the problem, remove each valve and clean
the pins with a sharp knife or an emery board. These valves handle audio
from both the radio and gram.

2. Tap the volume control, balance, tone and function (wave-change/gram)
at the user end ie at the front to see if a control is being touchy about
vibration.

3. Turn the volume control back and forth, leave at a high volume
position, turn the balance and then tone controls back and forth to see the
crackling appears. If it does then it's back to switch
cleaner I'm afraid.

Chris