Revox B160 repair, align, & removal of poor quality upgrades.

Bought as a non working unit this Revox tuner had been subjected to some poor quality "Upgrades" by a third party.

[@gasgiant7122]

Well done Simon, great video, great example of "if you don't know what your doing, leave well alone. Leave it to a professional like yourself.

[@AverageJoe2020]

A pleasure to join you on this debugging exercise Simon, Sounds really good. Job done. J.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Cheers Joe, really enjoyed this repair.

[@allthegearnoidea6752]

Great repair Simon thanks for sharing.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Cheers Chris

[@matthewenderby]

Hi Simon from down under! Thank you for your inspiring video, I love your approach to fault finding with these videos.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Thank you Matthew.

[@TheDefpom]

Good to see the full video, and seeing what was there which needed fixing.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Thanks Scot

[@MichaelBeeny]

Another possible way to show off sound quality would be to feed the output from the tuner directly to your recorder or record it directly into your editing software. The later should be compression free and the best option I realise there is NO real way to show how something sounds on You Tube, but probably better than via a loudspeaker and the cam mic. Good tuner, only ever sold one but it did sound very clean I remember.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

I might do that sometime. Cheers Michael.

[@schorse1000]

I'd say, the B760 is probably one of the best tuners ever. But of course, the first thing that comes in mind when you hear Revox is reel to reel tape.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

They have a great reputation. The b160 despite being the budget model sounds better than all of my tuners.

[@alanlefevere3678]

Excellent work!

[@twister1264]

Superb repair. Great video

[@IanScottJohnston]

Nice repair, especially after it's been bodged previously.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Still can't understand putting a 1000 puf cap across a 4.7 in a coupling stage?

[@tonyperry6702]

How much time did you invest in this one? Great job.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

+Tony Perry About 4 hours I guess.

[@suzesiviter6083]

Have you got any component debugging tips from your extensive experience, such as: 1) high value resistors can go open circuit but not open circuit 2) Diode can go short or open circuit 3) MOSFETS... 4) Bipolars... etc. Tips like that so it would be easier to identify which components are the most suspect in open/closed circuit conditions?

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Thats a tricky question.. Generally Old carbon resistors tend to go high value and sometimes open. It's not possible to check higher values in circuit generally, although lower values usually in be tested in circuit. Diodes in my experience tend to short, Mosfets can be checked with a meter but it's not that reliable. Jfets should show a few hundred ohms between the DS junction. Bipolars can be treated as two diodes with the common junctions connected (depending on NPN or PNP.

[@suzesiviter6083]

Simon Spiers: Thanks, no uni will give you information like that, not even on the servicing courses. I dont trust new equipment as much as that built in the 70's and 80's in many respects, mainly because designers now use components to meet the Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF), to save pennies and get the product working just beyond its warranty, where in the past, they did not penny pinch.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

In the era of this gear I'm working on their reputation was gained through build quality and reliability. It's a shame modern equipment is not designed to be repaired. You csn download service manuals with tips on fault finding? Try finding one Foa an ipod! What are you studying?

[@suzesiviter6083]

Simon Spiers: I am after a schematic for a 120W PA amp: PAM-120, if you could give me any pointers where to find it. Thanks. I have done studying, it was in electronics at uni, so ok with design side, but servicing is a different ball game so to speak in many ways.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Suzy Siviter Any good? elektrotanya.com/interm_pam-60_120-power-sm.pdf/download.html

[@Stefano_iannuzzi]

Hello Simon I have my radio Revox B160 where everything works except the search of the stations. Can it be due to capacitors on the power supply? I would like to point out that I have kept her still for many months. There is a low-frequency noise. but the antenna signal display does not appear. Thank you

[@SoddingaboutSi]

I would as you say check power supply caps as the hum should not be there. This would cause problems with the tuning circuit for sure.

[@Stefano_iannuzzi]

forgive me Simon Spiers but I don't understand. I wanted some help to know what the cause could be. Thank you

[@SoddingaboutSi]

@@Stefano_iannuzzi replace power supply capacitors first.

[@Stefano_iannuzzi]

Thank you Simon Spiers will be the first thing I do, of course I'm going to have to get the list of capacitors.

[@miss.wright3035]

Your iron temp is too high for these Studer pcb's. No more than secs tops on a pad.

[@Justplast]

Hi Simon that Dim Bulb tester is nice did you build?

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Yes. Very simple once you have the parts.

[@Justplast]

Simon Spiers can please supply me with a dip gram please thanks.

[@Justplast]

Sorry diogram

[@SoddingaboutSi]

Have a look at this video from Radiocruncher. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TXq42iar-WftE&index=4&list=WLkzbin.info/www/bejne/i3TXq42iar-WftE&index=4&list=WL

[@revolvingtoto007]

frako caps are timebombs they must go

[@chrisdado]

Yep, every one I've encoutered in vintage gear was leaky or high ESR. Horrible caps.

[@rogeronslow1498]

What's the strange shading ring around the mains transformer?

[@SoddingaboutSi]

On the bottom of the transformer? There's a plastic mount?

[@rogeronslow1498]

@@SoddingaboutSi No. Around 5:48 there's a good shot of the transformer showing a shading ring over the windings. But it isn't the usual copper strap but rather copper wires wound around the outside of the core. It's to reduce the leakage field from the transformer. Just never seen it done with wires rather than copper foil.

[@SoddingaboutSi]

~I could be just there when the transformer was impregnated to hold the lamination's together and also to prevent acoustic noise from buzzing lamination's. I doubt if it has any magnetic effect.