Newbie with an 800B

[Day Radebaugh]

Hello:

I'm Day Radebaugh from El Dorado, Kansas, and was happy to find this site.  30 years ago, when I was a starving student, I lived in a house in Baltimore that was in the process of being sold.  They had an old Scott console (with a phonograph, as i recall) which i bought for $5.  I couldn't keep the cabinet, but kept all but the phonograph.  It's been stored inside ever since.

So now I'd like to have it restored, and I would build a new console to contain it.  Do you have any suggestions about how to proceed?  Anyone you know of who could tackle a functional restoration of this unit?

Thanks for your help.

Day Radebaugh

[Day Radebaugh]

Thanks, David.  I did bone up on superhets, and the IF stage of 455KC.  However, the Sam's clearly labels the front end of the 800B as 600KC, which is ahead of the IF stage.  It was my impression that there was a tuned circuit just downstream of the antenna leads tuned to 600KC, which had me puzzled.  

[Bob Bell]

I have just started on an 800B  I have owned for several years but have been terrified to work upon. I have replaced the electrolytics and it sounds great when playing a Dual turntable through it, using a pre-amp. No hum whatsoever.

However, I couldn't get any sound from the radio, except for a lot of static on Short Wave. I cleaned all the switches etc, and now have this problem. As soon as I turn the receiver on, the dial drive motor goes into action, and will not stop unless the set is turned off. Doesn't matter where any of the controls are. Selectivity switch can be in ANY positions can be the AM bands switch. Obviously power is going to the motor when it shouldn't be, but for the life of me I can't see exactly WHERE the problem is. The schematic shows a red/white wire going to the motor, (which I assume to be B+) but I just have two white wires and a black one. Any suggestions?

Bob

[Day Radebaugh]

I will check my unit tomorrow and let you know how it's wired up.  First thought is that one of the preset buttons may be stuck.  If I were trying to fix this unit, I guess I'd set this problem aside by removing power wires from motor and working on whether I could get it to tune AM/FM to anything at all.  The preset circuit is pretty complex, and I would save that one for last.

[Dave]

Agree with Day. Those presets were great when accompanied with the optionally available remote. Otherwise your up timing anyway as there’s always the inevitable warm up drift, especially with FM. I’ve never been able to mitigate the later, so accept the fact this radio will always need a tuning tweak anyway. My motor is depoweref. Besides I always heard what I thought was 60 cycle motor hum in the background.

[Day Radebaugh]

Yes, in a word they're exceptionally "tweaky".  When I did the 800B, I initially thought they'd be ultra-cool, but now I don't use them.  I just tune the radio and enjoy it.

[Bob Bell]

Though I just posted a reply but it seems to have disappeared!

I bought the 800B - power supple, receiver, Jensen speaker and Thorens turntable - really to play records on. It looked very cool and I thought with the Jensen it would sound pretty good, and indeed, I am happy with it. I don't listen to radio much, except for NPR, which I can get though my trusty old Sony STR-V5, which has been a great workhorse over the years.

Nevertheless I would still like to get the radio going, although I am quite happy to leave the pre-set tuning alone.

Just seems a bit silly to have all that equipment up on the shelf and only half of it working. So I will work on the radio and leave the dial motor disconnected.

It is possible that my difficulties might lie with the Ariel - currently I am using a long piece of wire attached to the AM antenna screws ... I don't have a capacitor between the AM and FM. I tried that and it made no difference. There is already a coaxial lead coming from the first FM-IF tower - this is the Ariel for the FM, is it not? Presently I have it draped along my shop.

[Dave]

Well, many complain about the 800 Audio, bass specifically. Bunk, build a good solid and damped cabinet, drop some KT66 tubes in place of those pedestrian 6L6s and get ready for some McIntosh-like audio bliss.

[Bob Bell]

I think my cabinet is pretty good ... I'll try swapping the 6L6s out when I have everything else figured out. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Day Radebaugh]

Dave:

Is the KT66 a plug-and-play swap?  If so, I'm going to do it ASAP.

Thanks

[Bob Bell]

When I disconnected the motor, I just unsoldered one of the wires going to it, and insulated the bare end with tape. Is this good enough or by interfering with the circuit, am I inviting future trouble? 

[Day Radebaugh]

I believe you're OK.  Can you turn the unit off and on now?

[Bob Bell]

Yes, it turns on and off, and can play records again. Oh, the joy!

How did you wire your arial?