@@pcbgraphix1903 Yes ....I got the virus also from my father , he repaired the emmitters of the army and the first thing I remember were those magical cateyes !!
The owner contacted me and let me know that he's blown away by how it sounds. We very much enjoyed having it around the house for a week after it was restored.
@@pcbgraphix1903 Isn't great to get positive feedback. - No pun intended - I enjoy hearing how happy a customer of mine is with my efforts repairing their welders and equipment. All the very best to you and yours, Kevin
One problem with the design of the AA-100 is distortion in the preamp do to the nonlinear audio response by the biasing of the 12AX7. To easily fix this I replaced the pre amp tubes with 12AT7’s. This cleaned it up with a linear response right up to the supply rail. The preamp gain is a little lower.
Great video and info! I have watched all your vids. I have 2 AA-100’s that I totally rebuilt. One was with your power pc board and every component was replaced as U described in this vid. Sounds very good! AA-100 #2 had all resistors and electrolytic caps changed. Both PC boards are original and have the original type good-all and gen instrument caps. All cap cans changed both amps. I am in the process of working out any bugs to then compare both units. Your bias adjustments are a great improvement! Love your pc board with the exception of the dark masking making it impossible to trace a circuit when troubleshooting. You obviously do this for the love of the amp because I know from experience that it takes over 125 hours to do a total rebuild which could never be charged out to a customer. I also have an AA-151 a AJ-30 and an AJ-32 all rebuilt and working. Your vids are so enjoyable 😊😊 and I know the work that goes into them. You really need to consult a semi professional video photographer who could help you come up with some type of inexpensive lighting alternatives. Could you do a vid on how to safely wire the 115vac power cord using safety caps and removing the death cap on an Aa-100. John Ocala Fl
You are correct that it's nearly impossible to correctly charge out a job like this and it really is a labor of love. We actually have professional equipment but my wife wasn't available to run it. Normally we set exposure, white balance, focus, lighting, etc, but this time it was just thrown together. Sorry about that.
You’re right about the canister capacitors but like me Im on disability, and can’t afford the canister some of them are 60-80 dollars,I cut it at the bottom put new capacitors in side the canister and use aluminum tape and put the cardboard cover on them
Note that the original fuse holder was also wired incorrectly. The source or line side should always be wired to the BACK of the fuse holder. The load to the SIDE terminal. This is so the somewhat exposed ring when the fuse id removed is not hot should the power cord still be plugged in. Today that would be an immediate failure in a UL, CSA, or CE product certification. Great job on the rebuild. You don't see much of that craftsmanship anymore today.
I've had a Heathkit AA 32 rebuilt and I'm going to take it in 2 weeks time. What I find interesting is that this AA 32 has both magnetic and ceramic cartridge phono inputs. I'll use it with a Heathkit AJ-12 Stereo receiver in exceptionally good condition. It'll happen in a week or two. Thanks for this great video.
It was designed in a transitional time for phongraphs. The early ceramic cartridges were starting to be replaced by the superior magnetic design. Mags had a much lower output and needed more juice in the pre-amp.
@@pcbgraphix1903 Understood. Soon, I'll be able to check out whether the quality audio from the AA 32 phono preamp is better than my solid state Cambridge Phono Preamp.
I have an old Heathkit tube stereo amplifier that someone gave me back in the early 90's. It was missing the four EL84 tubes, which I replaced with 6BQ5 tubes from Radio Shack. I pulled it out a couple of years ago and it still works, but it's getting a hum in it now. I'm sure the caps are all dried up by now. Mine isn't the AA-100, but I can't remember the model, but the RCA jacks are on the rear right, facing the rear of the amp, above where you set the speaker impedance with a jumper. Mine doesn't have the four lights on the front panel, either. Someday when I get the money, I'll have to have this gem restored.
From the description, it sounds like you have an AA-151 amp. It's a surprisingly good sounding rig when it's all cleaned up! There's a video on my channel where I restored one for a customer.
That, that, that huge RRR-Z Drill bit looked awkward to use, if-n It were me, I would invest in a 10mm to 40mm 8 step drill bit, I know~I know the suckers cost as much as three drill bits, but once you got it, I swear you will find the step drill bit a very useful drill bit.
Interesting. I had one of these for years and in a purge to make more space I sold it about eight years ago. I've kind of regretted that. However, I am currently using a Heathkit AA-30 stereo amp I rescued from a dumpster at a fleamarket back in 1985. I would be interested in hearing what you think about that amp as well as the SP-2 preamp it would have been paired with. I am glad I found your program and thanks for the video!
I find the video recording rather rickety. it doesn't come across well this way. It's not a professional repair shop, but... It's all... on grandmother's kitchen table. Mind you, I don't mean ugly! Friendly greetings from The Netherlands! Rob
We usually put a lot more effort into our videos but my wife wasn't available to film during the last couple of episodes. As for the table, any surface can be pressed into service when you need it. Thanks for watching in the Netherlands!
I might be missing something, but it did appear that when you were checking the power supply voltages that the negative side was coming from the same connection - so, again, perhaps I missed something but is it not generally considered a no no to use two hands to check voltages in such high ranges, that is, would it not have been safer to use a clip on the negative side/connection so only one hand was needed as you moved through the various checks at the positive high voltage connection points?
@@pcbgraphix1903 thanks for the reply - ouch on the 500v thing - the final result was really great, excellent - I too have had satisfying results running electroharmonixs tubes - I'm not all that familiar with Heath Kit amps but I was impressed as you made your way through this model - especially surprising to see the apparent quality of the "iron" that comes with the original kit.
I have one in pristine condition. Along with a pristine AJ-30 tuner. Has been sitting for about 20 years for looks only. Looking to part ways with it. It powers up, all lights work (glows nicely), it has the original gray 2 prong power cord. Any idea what the value is? Great video by the way, it’s nice to see there are still people out there that can work on these!
I have not been able to find replacement cans for the W5M, I have tried all the major suppliers of vintage equipment parts, if you know where I can get them please let me know?
Hello I need you help please I have a SP-2 Preamp that is all original unmolested I would like to have it professionally restored with new caps and resistors Is this a project you would consider? If so please let me know how we can connect for shipping details Thank you Bob from Sarasota, FL
I'll bet you had a blast building a stereo for your dad! Power: 25 watts per channel Frequency Response: +/- 1db from 30-15,000 Hz Damping Factor: 15 Harmonic Distortion: Less than 0.5% at 25 watts
@@pcbgraphix1903 Until then, he didn't have a good opinion of me. He was the sports kind of nut and thought of me as a sisy. Not only did I build the amp, I built the cabinet to house this amp and the Garrard Type A turntable. Two Altec speakers in cabinets delivered by truck. The whole system cost ~ $200. He was impressed. Oh yea, a Shure N77B cartridge to boot. It was a nice system to show my talents.
Where did you order your can capacitors from? I replaced the ones in my Heathkit W-5M amplifiers with CC Manufacturing branded ones 10 years ago and they are bad again, ESR measures 6 to 8 ohms and they are arcing inside when the b+ peaks before the output tubes start to conduct. Was trying to get a bid from Hayseed Hamfest on building some custom cans, but they have not responded. I ordered a can kit for a Fisher 500C from them for $128 that I am working on currently. It uses the JJ 7591S output tubes.
I'm an authorized distributer for can caps and a lot of other parts. contact me at "pcbgraphix-at-gmail-dot-com" with the specs you're looking for and I'll see if I can match them.
Great video! I have one of those beasts. It sort of works but it could use an overhaul. How do I get in touch with you? I live in Canada, however. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Lol.😀
I can’t understand why to change resistors and non-electrolytic capacitors if their parameters are normal. Tell from it. What test station do you use to test vacuum tubes?
Great question! The resistors that were used back then were "carbon composition", something similar to pencil lead. When you push electrons through carbon, they tend to induce noise into the signal. When you take a low level signal such as a phono preamp and boost it, you're going to amplify the noise as well as the audio. Metal film resistors are very quiet. So I change them to improve audio quality. Regarding capacitors, some types of capacitors just sound better than others and old caps tend to get leaky. We don't want DC voltage getting past them. I use a Hickok tube testing unit.
@@pcbgraphix1903 Carbon comp. values can drift after so much time but I happen to like the warm sound of comps but as far as metal film my favorite is Dale Vishay.
hello, i build stereo hifi tube amps. ill probably horrify you, but i buy mainly zenith rca maggie etc, console amps off ebay and i harvest the iron and tubes maybe, and chuck the rest. i build my own chassis and use the most simple circuit i can find. oh i usually build se amps. i have built quite a few pp amps too but prefer the se amps. anyhow i had that same aa100 and it was so totally f-ed up it wasnt repairable in my opinion.the boards were shot. ive found that increasing the uf of the filter cap powering the ots makes a def fidelity jump. and i regulate the screens on the output tubes, Dennis Had style. the use of big film caps also make a big difference in the power supply. i get theres no room in your heath. just saying hi i guess subscribed. great job.
That Power Cord would drive me nuts. A big lateral move upgrade it to proper SOTA CORDS. Also. Thank goodness you didn't go JJ tubes. The feet are a big deal also. Tone cones 3 of them now listen Go the distance Mr. Fix it NO half Steps.
Please when checking the high voltage use a klamp for the ground so you can put one hand in youre pocket. with one hand near a perfect ground and the other at high voltage your so close to a perfect death! scary to see
hi you know you put alot of time in this i picked up a uk reel to reel mini 8 it's called one inch deck i put alot of hrs in to fixing it up big time i was in need of a 7 1/2 ips 1 inch deck i have alot of zonal tape alot so spending money was very good i put about 20 hrs plus in 100% checking all the parts i pull all them out on all 8 channel cards big job in the end time add's up i would say the bill from a pro tec would be over 2000 uk to up my brenel mini 8 looks like new now new side panels as well smaller power unit up dated power wiring all ways to do a better job once you have started on a job i started at place and worked on all the bad places first yes you lot say the power unit is big you are 100% not right i re made it soundcraft power units are very bad i do it as a hobbie in my spare time beware i have seen 60.00 pound fee's a hr i put a new power unit in a mate's deck 50.00 the bill was he was very up set he said i over fee him in the uk same job 100 uk
You seem pretty knowledgeable and your delivery is good, but what a terrible 'shop' set-up and def. need to work on camera/production skills. Check out Uncle Doug(s) channel. He's not overly ornate but does an excellent job. Not critisizing,trying to help. You can do it ! Nice job fixing.👍 🙂✌️❤
@@pcbgraphix1903 No,ppl. dig this stuff. There are several channels of same/similar content. It's obvious you have the knowledge and ability to repair. Check out Uncle Doug as I recommended,and you'll find others as yt algos' take hold. You'll see what I mean. You can do this. You just need better presentation👍 I have diff. units in my closet I wish I had the money to fix and a quality tech. to take it to. I once did at DICKER AND DEAL in LANSING,MI. in tha latter 80's. 🙂✌️❤ 🙈🙉🙊 Good luck!
Also check out AH-fix-it. His presentation(s) got better and better as he continued. You can get great ideas from these and other ppl./channels. I understand,maybe some have the help of others outside of the actual repair process. I can see great growth (if that is your goal) if you get some ideas from others. No shame in that. 🙂✌️❤