Technics amp - Repair or chuck???

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

firstly a huge thanks to anyone with any knowledge helping anyone like me - great site!!!!

So I have this gorgeous Technics SU-VZ220 stereo amp which I bought in 1991. I have four speakers attached to it (new BOSE301 and some wondeful older Infinity floor-standing speakers). Recently the left speakers are almost mute and crackly until I fiddle around with the volume, give the tape monitor button a jiggle and kick it in its side. Then it kinda warms up a bit and after a few minutes plays perfectly again. I brought a €400 Marantz home a few weeks ago and sent it back because it just couldn't deliver the sound that my old Technics can... Today I was almost talked into buying the NAD C326BEE amplifier, because I went out shopping in a state of worry that my technics is about to completely give up the ghost. Someone else tried to convince me to get the award-winning Yamaha AS500. I have read reviews of both that don't convince me - the yamaha not really enveloping you with sound and the NAD being too bassy...

I'm no music prof, but I have bladdy good ears, and I know good sound when I hear it. I have recently started building up my vinyl collection and listen to lots of folk, alternative and electronic stuff - you know like Midlake, Radiohead, Antlers, Fever Ray, Joanna Newsom, blah blah blah. Is it really possible that my old Technics tops the rest, or have I just grown accustomed to sound??? When I go to a shop, they try to convince me that a new amp in a €500 range has to sound better than my old amp.

I suppose my question, quite plainly is: should I get the Technics fixed for ca €100, or should I keep kicking it until it explodes and then be forced to buy a new amp??? I don't want to spend more than €500 on one...

Thanks so much for your ears

 

[Frank Harvey]

I think if you find the Marantz doesn't improve what you have, I doubt there'd be anything within your budget that will. I think you'd need to start looking at something like the Audiolab 8200A. Whether this does the job, only you can say...

What is it that the Marantz lacked? Overall volume and power? Or is it just that it wasn't the same tonally?

 

[lindsayt]

Contact Cleaner!

Have you tried fixing the amp yourself by spraying some contact cleaner on the mis-behaving parts inside the amp?

If it was mine I'd get it fixed for 100 Euros if I couldn't fix it myself. Seems crazy to spend 400 euros on another amp that sounds no better.

 

[Anonymous]

thanks for your reponses...

The difference was really just tonally.. I don't need much power anyway. I don't listen to my music very loudly, but I listen to a lot of stuff that has very fine little sounds and the Marantz sounded somehow too muffed. My Technics seems so much clearer - more like crystally

I think the concern with repairing the technics, is that this is only the start. I mean it's 20 years old. I just think if I have to start repairing now, then I might end up spending as much on repairs as I would on a new one... I think I'll try cleaning it, as suggested.

 

[eggontoast]

I think the concern with repairing the technics, is that this is only the start. I mean it's 20 years old. I just think if I have to start repairing now, then I might end up spending as much on repairs as I would on a new one... I think I'll try cleaning it, as suggested.

This is not necessarily true amplifiers don't generally break down more and more as they get older, the only parts that degrade are the capacitors and the stories of these are greatly exaggerated on the net. It just sounds like dirty controls, either buy yourself a can of contact cleaner or take it to a tech for a service. He should be able to clean the controls, check that the caps are OK, re-bias it etc should be as good as new afterwards, it shouldn't cost to much either.

 

[Frank Harvey]

thanks for your reponses...

The difference was really just tonally.. I don't need much power anyway. I don't listen to my music very loudly, but I listen to a lot of stuff that has very fine little sounds and the Marantz sounded somehow too muffed. My Technics seems so much clearer - more like crystally

as it's more of a tonal difference, only you can choose it's replacement! Personally, I'd say that if it can't be upgraded by something this side of £500, stick with it! As mentioned, it probably just needs a clean, so give that a go first