Haha, you’re right… thanks for the laugh. Truth be told, the only item in the video that I paid over $1000 for was the Siglent spectrum analyzer. Almost everything else was less than $500. it’s amazing the deals you can get on test equipment in the USA these days, especially if you take a little risk and buy items that appear to need minor repairs. I mean who wants to pay $300 for a solder sucker when I can get a HP 8644B that had an msrp of $24,305 in 1992 for 265 bucks? Lol
Your lab is awesome, I'm sure you dedicated a lot of time studying for the best instruments and searching online for good available instruments and prices. A lot of Dedication and patience. Congrats!!!! You don't have so many videos about electronics, would be grate if you do videos about Audio, I would be very interested. Thanks for showing your lab.
You ain't an official repair man until you've got a couple of Flukes to put on show. 😉 Thanks for sharing this unique little tour into your corner of the world. 👍
That's some impressive collection! Greetings from my little lab in Poland, where I live, work and record, doing it all on a very limited budget. Tighter than Ethel Granger's laces!
Thanks for the kind words! There is a lot of great gear in that group, and a lot of great lab ideas. A few things I particularly love about yours: 1. Overall organization! I love the dedicated soldering area, separate from most of the test equipment. 2. Several awesome instruments, such as the Tektronix 11000-series, the Tek color digital oscilloscope, the spectrum analyzer, function generators, etc. And several great items that are still on my "to acquire" list, like the DMMcheck and Hakko fume extractor! Also, your 575 is working! I finally obtained one, but I haven't had a chance to check it out. I suspect it will need some significant TLC... 3. Your frequency standard and distribution amplifier setup. Very nice. I have a GPSDO, but I don't have it in any kind of permanent setup yet. And I don't have a distribution system for it at all. I have some plans (dreams?) to clean up more of my basement so that I can relocate my workbench to a new area and significantly expand it. That will also free up a bunch of space from its current location which I can then use to better organize and consolidate my audio system. One of these days! Once again, you've created a fantastic setup! Cheers!
@@waltwimer2551 The best lab is using the least possible amount of equipment & investment to achieve the most possible results. There's alot of redundancy here for trophy purposes.
@@NicholasT-f9n I see absolutely nothing wrong with collecting vintage test gear in order to preserve history and engineering works of art. People do the same with cars, stamps, vintage toys, vintage radios, books, beer cans, signs, and on and on and on. 😎👍
That Textronic Curve Tracer isn't just functional, it is absolutely beautiful, a real work of mechanical/electrical art. Love it (In case you hadn't guessed).
It sure is! The ceramic strips inside are beautiful. Also, the HP 5342a is another work of art,on the inside at least. If you’ve never seen one torn down, look up @curiousmarc video on it
@@jessihawkins9116 that’s funny, I’m going to an auction this weekend and they have two hp 5372a time interval analyzers listed as oscilloscopes, hoping to get one dirt cheap
Envious of owning all that modern test equipment. Costs a fortune here is Australia. Most things are hard to find and go for high prices here. Just paid $6000 for a Tek P7054 oscilloscope without input connectors. Still using a hp 141 spectrum analyser. Still, I am close to retirement so guess you got to stop sometime keeping up.
Very, very nice lab. I'm soooo jealous. Maybe someday I'll have better gear than I currently own. A word of warning about the red ink on the Simpson meters - I forgot my meter was exposed to the shop lights and ink faded. I'm so mad at myself for that. Protect all of your red colored printing from fading folks.
At least you can just open the garage door and unload these monsters onto your bench! I need to install a dumbwaiter or something to them downstairs ;)
Where do you live? I must know. As we speak, I'm assembling a team of old-school electornics engineers and we'll come rob your lab-in our new-fangled, folding walkers.
el chavón pone "tour of my AUDIO" y tiene equipos de conteo de microondas, generadores de Mhz...y osciloscopios tektronics de 500 mhz, fuentes de alta tensión...etc .etc...hahahaha ....para queeee....que vas a arreglar un satélite o un equipo de audio....yo te reparo todos los equipos de audio que vos quieras con un pinche tester , una fuente lineal de 30v , un generador de 200khz y un osci doble canal de 20 mhz
Pretty nice setup. I worked in electronics and telecommunications most of my 50 years work career. My last position was a gateway earth station where we used all but a few transponders on a C band satellite.
pre pedeset godina tektronix uredjaje su imale samo drzavne institucije.privatna lica nisu imala novac da ih kupe. ja sam restaurao jedan tek 525a i povremeno ga koristim.
So what type of stuff do you repair? And would you be willing to take on a couple of jobs? I've been on the lookout for years for someone I can trust to work on some equipment for me. I tend to trust a hobbyist who knows what he's doing over a repair shop that's just out to make money. Stuff I need repaired: Pioneer receiver SX 780; old Galaxy Pluto 10-11 meter multi mode radio (CB). What say you?
I'm mostly interested in 70s'-80's HiFi at the moment, so the SX-780 is right up my alley. I still work full time in an unrelated field, so I'm not interested in having gear shipped into me for repairs. If you happened to be near the Rochester, NY area then we could talk.
@@seeharvester you could try Arnel Bautista in Virginia Beach. He’s very highly regarded and although I see him post mostly on a marantz restoration Facebook group I’m in, I heard he does Pioneer too
It's obvious you have a better source of income than what you can derive from repairing hi-fi's. So this is your hobby space. It's too neat. BUT you are missing the MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF EQUIPMENT - A METERED VARIAC. .......My Lord! A DIM BULB dim bulb. 😁😆😅🤣😂😉
It has an ammeter on it. I also have a line splitter and an amprobe ac50a leakage current clamp (.01mA resolution) if want better resolution. I have been collecting parts to put it all in a nice enclosure with panel meters eventually. I mostly work on transistorized equipment, so it doesn't get much use anyways.
I agree all modern scope are GARBAGE when it comes to usability ...where are the frigging common setting knobs and switches!!!??? ...UTTERLY HATE THE MENUS CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The variac is usually after the isolation transformer and has a higher current rating (+40%) and CB protected. The isolation transformer in the video looks like a Tripp-Lite IS1000 Isolator, which only puts out 8.3A at 120VAC. Which means your AC power supply rig is only good for 1000 Watts which is fine. The 1000 Watts at 120VAC is about the max you can have without an inrush current limit feature for an E core isolation transformer on a 20 Amp branch circuit. If you go larger than 1000 Watts you usually make your own custom AC power supply with added features. One being the use of a hospital grade toroidal isolation transformer (20 Amp) with internal thermal switch and winding shield. However, the inrush is rather massive, so a inrush current limit circuit is added. I like the switched resistor method and not the MOV. The resistor approach mean you can quickly power cycle. The MOV should be allowed to cool down, or have a cool down timer.
Yeah, I rarely need over 200 watts when using those tools. Since that video i've changed the setup a bit. I replaced the Variac and Dim Bulb with a Tektronix TU-75B. I also added a HP 6813A AC Power Source connected to a 25a 240v circuit for all of my AC needs. Still have the isolation transformer on another bench for working with some tube gear.
@@philsanalogbasement The HP 6813A look like a nice unit. It is interesting that the TU-57B uses internal incandescent bulbs that can be switched in and out of circuit from the front panel, but it does not have an AC current meter which is really important for repair. In the USA for electronic manufactures repair depot (troubleshooting to component level), with the increased use of switching power supplies, there are usually at least two AC power supply centric test benches, one for repair/burn-in and one for calibration/test, separated by 6 feet or more (derived from the NEC?). The repair/burn-in bench usually has a custom fully isolated AC power supply, and many procedures and test gear to maximize equipment and technician safety. Like the use of battery operated scope (like a Scopemeter) or a PC based scope with High Voltage probes if specific test waveforms have to be documented. Equipment fully power with certain types of faults can explode electrolytic capacitors while it is being worked on, which is a bit scary for inexperienced techs. Obviously, at repair/burn-in the unit is given some basic tests, needed preliminary calibration and then burned in (amount of time varies), with some tests being rather unique depending on why units are returned to repair from outgoing test. The calibration/test bench has a pure sinewave AC power supply with analyzer much like the HP 6813A. However, many times you will see two units the pure sinewave variable isolated (mains only) power supply and an AC power analyzer (sometimes a custom ordered bench unit with specific accuracy requirements) which usually has the following as a minimum: Very accurate AC volts and AC current, Power Factor, AC Amps THD, AC Volts THD, Real Power, Apparent Power and AC current leakage (often a separate meter). The calibration/test bench is never used for repair due to the technician and test equipment safety, and the different procedures and training needed. A senior technician will obviously be able to man either of the benches. A cart is used to move the repair around the shop. Once the unit is repaired the cart is moved from the repair bench (area) to the calibration/test bench (area), being documented along the way. If the unit does not pass calibration/test it is returned to repair with the responsible electrical design engineer being flagged to help analyze the faulty unit.
Very nice collection of equipment, what is missing is a good usb sound board with measurement sw. Which has 10s dB better resolution and noise performance
The levear vp-7725d has stellar specs on thd, thd+n and an ultra low distortion oscillator. I would have been ok with a QuantAsylum, but they have been out of stock for a very long time due to chip shortage. I noticed they recently restarted production and may pick one up as it can perform other measurements I can’t easily do
usually i think im spending to much on test gear but then i watch videos like this and start wondering how much is a second kidney really worth anyway.... ...... ............ !!
Mostly eBay to be honest. But yea, I feel for the people who aren't in the USA - it sounds like it's much more difficult to obtain a lot of this stuff in other countries. The guys from Australia are the most vocal ;)
I found these on Facebook marketplace locally. I think it was a little bit of luck, although I have seen other listings since then for cheap akro mils style bins here and there. Many times they have components in them. I’ve had really good luck with Facebook marketplace when it comes to finding things I want. They aren’t always available right away but since it keeps track of what you search for, when someone does end up listing them, they tend to show up in recommended items.
Hobby, Curious if you repair audio equipment for general public ? If so where might you be located ( city is fine ) as I would prefer not to have to ship something. I have a Kenwood KA-7100 that is a bit sick & needs some love. I'm on far west side of Houston.
Hi, sorry I don't really do repairs for the general public, I just don't have time since I still work a regular job. I'm pretty far away anyways - Rochester, NY. I know there are some good techs/shops in the Houston area, but I don't have any specific recommendations. Good luck!!
@@philsanalogbasement then how do you know there are good techs or shops in the Houston area ? Appreciate your response anyway about your availability.
@@vonleyser I’m in a few Facebook groups related to vintage audio repair and I have seen posts of quality work from some guys in that area, but I don’t have a quickly accessible list, or time to try and go dig those posts up, sorry. Good luck with the repair!
My primary interest is 70s-80s (and some newer) solid state audio - preamps, amps, tuners, etc. I don’t touch mechanical items like tape decks, reel to reels and turntables. I also take on guitar/bass amps, pro audio equipment and car audio on occasion. I’ve recently become more interested in vacuum tube gear - the Antique Wireless Association Museum is nearby, they offer a few classes on building / repairing Vacuum tube radios & amplifiers, with extremely talented mentors, so I’m trying to soak up as much as I can. I’m still in my 30s and someone is going to need to help take care of that collection one day
Yeah, In it’s default configuration the transformer secondaries neutral is bonded to ground, which you don’t want. If you google it there are a bunch of articles / forum posts on it and how to change that.
No issues - first, it’s not all powered on at all times like shown in the pic, usually only 2-3 pieces of gear depending on what I’m working on. Also, most of this equipment was designed to be rack mounted, where they would be stacked even more densely and in an enclosure. Most of the HP equipment has large fans in it for that reason
The lack of controls/knobs is today's scopes is UTTER GARBAGE, unless you like waisting your time going through menus every 5 seconds, totally agree!!!!!!!!!!
With regards to the Hakko I have both, the one that you can change to an iron grip is nowhere near as powerful as the one you have and can clog, you got the right one!
@@philsanalogbasement yes I had the FM-204 station after I got the 240V UK version of the FR301, it is a little better the way you can hold it like a pen but overall the 301 is way more powerful at melting the solder so you can use the trigger quicker. Much faster if you have a ton of pins to desolder.
thanks for the feedback, they are very expensive and no comparisons I could find online. The FM-204 seems to have higher suction(15L/m vs 11L/m on the 301) but slightly lower high end temperature (450C vs 500C of the 301), I rarely need to turn the FR-301 up past #1, since i mostly work on single sided boards, so it's surprising based on specs alone, but good to know.
@@philsanalogbasement yeah I went from the specs too expecting it to be more impressive, but if you think the vacuum is directly next to the subject on the 301 vs on the 204 it has to travel all the way down the tube, I have a feeling that also has an effect
