Thanks for posting this video. My Sony str de345 was having the same problem. The cracking in the solder joints were not as bad as your unit but after looking with a hand held magnifier I found the cracking. Read soldered and working for now but did notice the base of the circuit board is discoloured perhaps because of excess heat.
Thanks so much. This was exactly what I needed to fix my STR-DE345. It would cut out intermittently and now it’s working solid again after watching this video and resoldering the connections pointed out.
My Sony STR-DE845 and I say "Thanks!". Mine weren't nearly this bad, and given I'm a hack with a soldering iron I just reflowed the existing solder. Working perfectly now. :)
I just got my hands on one of these. My aunt was about to throw it away. The solder didn't look as bad as the one you had but I just refreshed it on the exact same parts and it work just fine again! Thanks a lot! :)
Hi I must say this engineer in my opinion is a very safe and excellent engineer I over the last year or so I have learnt a lot with fixing tv and other bit so please keep uploading your videos as I also enjoy watching them thanks for all your videos and help
Your videos are awesome. Been a subscriber for years, and your knowledge is just incredible. I realize this video is several years old, but these videos never get old.
Hello. Great videos. Your comments about the thermal stress of components causing problems with solder joints are very apt. The use of lead free solder that you illustrated, provoked the suggestion made many years ago that amps and such like should be left powered on and not switched off. My 22 year old Sony TAF442E is powered on all the time, although it has been switched off a few times. It works fine and has had no issues since I purchased the unit.
When I was in the broadcast industry all the VTRS, cameras, monitors were left powered up all the time. They would turn the beams off on the camera tubes, but leave them up and running all the time except when they were being moved to a location.
This is awesome. Just got this receiver dirt cheap, shows first signs of this error. (Volume will vary/cut out when moving it on the surround channels). I already suspected exactly this issue, and decided to google it up before attempting the fix. Expected a forum post of some sort, but instantly found your vid. Thats why I am subscribed for years already. I don't even need to mention of course the assumption was dead right. Works like new after reflowing with some nice leaded solder. This really is a common issue with older multi channel amps.
Great teacher! Man your hard to find!! You should advertise because people like me are looking for you. Great explanations, you probly don't realize how good you are.
Hi there, I have the stereo (2 channel) version of this receiver I think (STR-DE185), and my problem is NOT the volume cutting on and off, but the inputs change randomly (From Vid1 to Vid2 to CD, etc, not necessarily in that order). I've pulled the volume board, cleaned it & even replace the screws (it was missing 4 at the volume control). It STILL did it, but not as often. I then noticed when the room was cool, it wouldn't do it, so I removed the heat sink and reapplied Thermal paste (There's only 4 transiters & 2 tiny ones. I've had to do this with PC CPUs many times). It seemed to be cooler, but STILL did it, even less often. I started turning the volume control & it would start switching inputs randomly again, so I opened it up to clean the volume control, but it looked clean, that's when I saw your video. Could the problem be the same as this receiver you have & NOT the volume board at all? I checked the thing you resoldered and it doesn't feel loose, but does wiggle with very little force & only has one, black, thin & about 2 inches long (I don't want to remove the board to check, but the orientation is exactly the same: Heat sink exactly the same, except only 4 transistors, transformer exactly same & placed, board is similar but orientated the same, etc). I inspected all solder points in the volume board & all is good. I'll reassemble it now until you respond.....then if you think it's the same problem, I'll reopen it and remove the main board I guess... Thanks.... Please reply ASAP.....
Thank you for this video... with it i could solve a problem that i had sinse 1 year ago... the center speaker and the rear left didn´t work... till now.. I resolder those components and.... PROBLEM SOLVED Thank you one more time.. Regards From Portugal
Great video, gave good confidence to learn from the experts. I have Sony STR DB 870, all the speakers output are distorted. | went through the power transistors (complementary) all ok and the big block white resistor all reading very small ohm and also checked the solders of the components. Underneath the power IC on the board slightly blacked. What else could be the culprit. When I feed it through any channel outcome is same. Also did the headphone check and that is perfect sound. Thanks in advance
If you are looking for 60/40 specifically, The Source and Circuit-test (RP Electronics) still make that chemistry. If you are okay with the newer 63/37, you will be able to get MG or Kester at most local electronics places. If you are looking at bulk orders, I use All-spec for my supplies. The site can be a little bit of a pain to navigate at first, but the search bar is very helpful if you have part numbers.
ive got the DE505 been working for many years until now, intermittant no sound. thanks for video i was thinking maybe a capacitor issue but hopefully an easy fix like you found
sony str de505 fixed, i hope. its working for now, i found a rectifer loose and re soldered it. mine has an removable access panel underneath. thanks for the motivation to fix it.
Fast and easy repair! IU have its big brother the Sony STR DE935 bought it new back in the day, however I never hooked it up until about 3 years ago as I had another amp I liked, finally decided I should use it, after all I bought it! Its a great amp, mine is on 24/7 unless I'm going to be gone longer than overnight, then iy gets power down. It has an option to turn the display off, which I do...so as it will prolong the life the display. ~Jack, VEG
You still can buy Kester 60/40, my vintage roll of 1/2 # 60/40 that I bought in the 80's from Rat Shack is still going, will replace it with Kester brand. I use 60/40 for generic use and use Kester 63/37 silver for higher end stuff.
2 of the local suppliers now only have the cheap stuff, but I haven't been into the big shop because I work Saturdays, having Monday off, and that shop is closed Monday.
I have a Sony STR DE-205 (from 1996) on my Computer Desk and use it every day as a real Amplifier for my PC. At the year 2000 i bought a new Sony 5.1 Channel Amp and my Dad uses my STR DE-205 for a long Time. Another few years later i bought a Yamaha RX-V673 to use it mainly for my Home Cinema area. So my Dad bought himself a cheaper Yamaha AV-Receiver too and i get my Sony STR DE-205 back. At this Time it has some weird Audio Output that i fixed really fast: The Speaker-Relay had cold solder joints. I decided to check the whole unit with a magnifying glass for more questionable solder Joints to resolder them as a precaution. But i found only a few solder joints that speaks to me "resolder me". Especially the solder joints of the Driver IC needs a bit fresh solder. I don't understand why these Driver IC's aren't mounted on a heatsink. Now the unit is 24 Years old and works fine. I think there are two things that have saved the Life of this unit: I only hooked up speakers that have matched the allowed values and i never had a reason to turn the Volume up to the maximum. At the half way up it was loud enough. A few years ago i bought one set of spare parts (driver IC and the output Transistors) just in case something went wrong. But so far i never had to replace these parts. With every unit i get to repair i do my routine measurements and checkings. Often the owners connected Incompatible and/or more speakers in parallel, so the impedance was too low for the AMP and i have to rewire the Speakers. Not only one of all my Amplifiers i ever had did blow up, because i always handled them gently and triple checked every connection before i turned them on. I like to watch your Videos. I think it's nice to know that the most malfunctions are still the same and also has the same reason: Operator error.
You can still buy leaded solder from eBay sellers in China! There's a tonne of it still stocked. I bought some more a few months back because mine ran out.
I have a STR-DB780, which was a bit more complicated to open up. Problem was crackling sound and I could not get any reasonable sound on speech, but other sounds were ridiculously loud. And relays kept on ticking randomly. With your video I knew what to look for, thanks a lot for that! ^_^ Mine was not so bad around the power amps, but those relays were in a pretty bad soldering state. I did solder those P.A.s as well, once I got it opened up. Clearly you're a professional guy on this and IMO you are correct on all other stuff, but one; I think you still CAN get non-RoHS soldering wire ordered! Check out f.e. on the site of DigiKey for that. ;-) Good work, mate!
Hey there. I've got an STR-DE475 that has an intermittent sound problem. It appears to be a grounding issue at the pinch terminal for the front speakers. I think the plastic is stripped (small wonder, that) where the screws are meant to thread into them to connect the back plate to the grounding tab. I don't think it's a fault with any of the solder joints. I don't have a magnifying glass, but I traced the circuit with a multimeter pretty far without finding any issues. Whereas, if I just manipulate the plastic terminal, I can restore stereo sound. The problem is that it doesn't last. I suppose the terminal settles back into a position where the signal cuts out. That makes it seem to me that the hot is contacting the ground somehow, and that manipulating the terminal must break that shunt, albeit momentarily. It's pretty frustrating. I've had the unit for 20 years and it did what I needed it to for 16 (just playing stereo and being a radio receiver). But now, it doesn't even do that. So it's been moldering for the past four years, aside from when I take it out to try and fix it.
Hello great video, I have a question I have a "Sony Receiver STR-DE898 7.1 Home Theater" and some of the speakers no longer sound, the ones that do not sound I have tried them on other Receivers and they work perfectly that means that the audio outputs Red and Black are damaged I really don't know anything about electronics and I would like to know what are the outputs that I should buy to place it on the Receiver thanks
I have a 25 year old Technics receiver with a couple of Sanyo STK's in it. Still humming along with very litle maitenance. Must have got a good production run.
If you never crank it up, then many of then were fine. If you crank it up, or it is installed in a cabinet with poor ventilation, or components stacked which cause poor ventilation then bad things happen.
I still use lead. Another little gift lead free gives is known as `Tin Whiskers'. They can cause shorts and its a big reason you wont see it, as far as I know, in Satellites. Great video.
Tin whiskers happen in leaded solder as well. It was still 60% tin. Spacecraft most likely use gold just like the bond wires in ICs. Cost is no issue in a space craft because once it is launched there is no going up there to fix it. It either works for it's designed mission life of it is a total loss. Some things last much longer than designed mission life. Mars rover for example and voyager spacecraft.
@@12voltvids Yes, but not nearly as bad. Another thing is how lead free looks almost like a cold solder joint. It can add time inspecting a board. I'll take Kester anyday!
I really liked this very educational video. Thanks for showing the basics. I belong to an antique radio club. At their swap meets, I've been able to stock up on lots of the old solder at very good prices. I would think that you should also be able to pick up the old solder on E bay. I'm assuming there's no problem soldering on top of the new solder with the old? And, just to let you know, I usually watch your commercials all the way through to the end. Every little bit helps.... Regards, Tom
My sony reciever has no sound. Has white noise and that's it. I think this might be the problem. Didn't find blown capacitors or burnt out ics. Fuses looked good. Soo I'm gonna check the solder now
hi im from spain i have a little question,i have the same model and im having problems with my central speaker,it works for a time then my home cinema makes a clicky sound y maybe later comes to work again
Smashing repair, A bit of a pain in the bum to get to, but it was worth your effort. Someone will love that :-D. And there was no component damage, nice :-D. if the bad connections were in the transistor bias circuits, then it could have been horrible. Ive seen the same thing happen on the ic's mounted on the crt pcb on computer monitors, same thing, hot rgb driver ic's, death to the solder. I do blame some of the failures because of minimal solder, a thin drum of solder around the pin just asking to crack, the black line of death :-(
Yup, too little solder is a problem on these large pins. Correct on blown parts. I have see outputs and the ICs fail when a bias signal is lost under load.
My electronics rosin core solder pref: Kester Tin 62 Lead 36 Silver 2 and/or 63/37 ( 60/40 is okay too, it's great for copper plumbing) BTW, Caution: Don't suck those fumes!
stk and most other thick film units normally fail at the internal interface between the pins and the thick film unit inside they used aluminium wire or aluminium internal pads and these all used to crack (like the pins go dry jointed on the pcb ) they still do this today .. bosch did it and i think they still do so in most of there automotive parts, and over the years ive had bmws every airflow sensor i have replaced and every abs module has always failed due to this exact same problem
I have Sony STR-D450, left speaker is louder than right, cleaned volume/bass/treble/balance knobs with contact cleaner and still the same... Tried to swich speakers, connected other pair, various cables, sources... And still left speaker is louder :( Thought?
Hey Hello, im from Germany and i have a Problem with the same one. I See you video reparing this sonny witch the same how i have. What can i do to repair it?
I've dealt with stereos made in the 70's that were made of wood panels glued together with no screws, so you would have to break it open to service it. Frank Frank Reiser Video/Audio Service
Most of those console units I worked on you could remove the chassis from the cabinet and work on it separately. You just had to pull the back, which may have been stapled on to the real wood sides.
If you need a replacement for the 60/40 look at this link from Germany: www.elv.de/felder-nige-loetdraht-100-g-spule-1-0-mm.html . It is Ni/Ge Solder esp. for reducing tensions in the solderjoints as proclaimed by the company.
I have one of these which had the loud pop/beng noise on power on and also a quiet front right channel. I resoldered as shown here and that's fixed but the right hand channel is still way quieter than the left. It's quieter via headphones too if that helps anyone suggest what it might be?
I had a Mits Big Screen with the convergence STK and the damn thing had to be replaced about every two years, I agree it was a very bad design. Especially since I had to replace the damned thing myself, after a while the solder pads just gave up and I had to replace the entire board.. I did not do this, and a perfectly fine TV "otherwise" ended up on my burn pile.
My STR-D611suddeenly the left channel has become very low... Tried to switch speakers, and it is fir sure the left output. Please give me some idea before I decide to trash it. Thanks!
i've got an old str-de635 (which i still use daily) which tends to buzz and pop on the speakers from time to time. usually after turning it on for 3-4-5 seconds, and then when it's already on , it does that kind of things randomly for half a second on random channels. is this the same problem with the unit you were repairing?
More than likely it is the same issue. It is very common, and depending on which connections break it can cause distortion, sound to cut in and out, go into protection, and even cause components to fail.
12voltvids i managed to fix it, now it's as good as it was before. thanks. if i didn't see your video i would probably not even think about fixing it. (mine has the removable bottom, so it was an easy fix as i didn't have to take it apart).
Hello friend here in Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro I am not getting the model of the sony model str501 will be able to help me because I tried to leave in many electronic but no one discovered the defect say it has that there is a diagram of the device! but I have then opened the radio and I saw that a resistor coming out a smoke almost imperceptible I disconnected one side of that resistor and the radio armed without appearing written on the screen protection But there is no audio in the speaker! Help me!
under side access denied.Thats indeed stupid! I couldn't agree with you more.Before I thought I was the only person that felt that way. Anyway..Royalty free music..good one..may I have some of that good guitar music...haha...seriously if you would be so kind to! Good video!!!
I wish I could, but that would be violating the license. You can get all that great music through the web site musicbakery.com You can listen to everything, on the site.
I have 2 of them that have failed str type modules, same design that have failed. They are the voltage amp drivers like in this one but the thick film design. I have another one my bench amp that the stk power module was bad when I got it. They certainly did not forgive when customers did dumb things like short the speaker wires. That's why Sony went back to discrete. Sony used them in the convergence circuit on their projection TV and they failed left right and center. At that time that made me very happy because I could charge big bucks to fix big TVs.
The 3 channel STK ICs used in the projection TVs were a disaster, and at 90 bucks a pop, that was the initial price from Sony, they were an expensive disaster for the customer. By the time the set was picked up, repaired and delivered they were looking at a 500.00 bill. When the after market ICs became available they dropped a little in price, but so did the reliability of the counterfeit ICs.
Hello, I have a question about sony HCD-Rv 600D. This is an old deck I buy from a customer It work properly about six months and Now there is no sound. In Display panel shows only Sony Demo. Do You Know how to cancel this. ( if the demo mode is on we Don't Get any sound ? )
sajin ks sachu Sorry don't know the procedure on that one. Demo mode is usually activated by holding one of the buttons for several seconds. Like the power or volume down or input. The owners manual will tell you how to do this. Most owners manuals can be found online.
sajin ks sachu Do an online search for the procedure. I had a Panasonic mini system in for service that the client said it was in demo mode and after research I discovered that all I had to do to cancel that feature was set the time on the clock. I just googled the model number with turn off demo mode and the results had the info. Good luck.
You can order Kester 60/40 solder from Jameco Electronics (jameco.com) located here in the San Francisco Bay Area. A 1-pound spool is around $35 US. Thanks for the video.
The old way was better you know using lead off wires to the high power component from the printed circuit board so the printed circuit connection doesn’t get flexed.
you would have thought the techs that work in Sony service centers would have complained about these receivers not having a bottom plate that could be removed and then someone working in the Sony design center would have done something about it.
We did complain but the factory didn't care. It really didn't add that much more time to the repair, except that the power transformer was unplugged with the board in service position, so it is harder to test under power.
Both. I worked for Sony Canada for a year and then I left and went to a dealer service center an spent 20 years there. Got fed up with the bs, got out and got a real job with the fone company. We still do phones but it is mostly Internet and cable TV now. Hey it pays the bills and is a union shop so good benefits and a pension.
12voltvids Thank you for your videos, Ive successfully fixed a dvd players power supply and laser besides cd and tape deck of an older philips hifi after watching a few. Your recent Marantz video might help me fix my Akai AA930 receiver which isnt producing sound through the speakers and only a faint signal through the headphones when i raise the volume 3/4 up (I didnt touch it for a year, it was working perfectly before).
60/40 is still available! www.radioshack.com/products/rosin-core-solder-8-0-oz?variant=20331827909&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrai5sf3U2wIVRrbACh3fLwqNEAQYASABEgJktvD_BwE
Well that's what we have to use if we want to make any money on the video. If I had to give away my earnings then I simply wouldn't do it as I am sure you would do at your job if your boss said great job, but we are going to give your earnings to (insert whoever claimed your money here) Actually, much of it is great music. It might not be to your tastes, but I bet many would think the same for what you listen to.
And here is another fucking troll out there spewing shit. What difference will it made if someone is wearing a metal watch when working on equipment? It isn't like we wear mhem if we are working on energized equipment. Rule 1 if electrical work is when working on energized equipment only 1 hand is in the work space, the other hand is in your pocket. That way if you do make contact with a hot circuit, there is no path of discharge across the heart, and no risk of electrocution. If anyone had told me not to wear my watch or wedding ring at work I would have told them to fuck off. I don't wear a ring now not because I am afraid of getting a shock, but because one day I caught it on a door handle at a store and it dam near took my finger off.Gave me a deep cut almost to the bone. Doctor at the ER told me stories of how many fingers he had seen severed in the exact same way.
