Gary's good tunes 700 build

It's on it's way but unfortunately will take 7 to 10 days, say Canada Post.

In your experience, have there been different colour lenses on 700B meters? Somewhere on this site, someone posted about meter lens colour but maybe it was re PL400's. If they have known to have been different, maybe wait until the one I sent gets to you and swap lenses?
 
I haven't noticed any difference on the 700s a lot on the 400s. I'll wait.
 
62vauxhall said:
It's on it's way but unfortunately will take 7 to 10 days, say Canada Post.

In your experience, have there been different colour lenses on 700B meters? Somewhere on this site, someone posted about meter lens colour but maybe it was re PL400's. If they have known to have been different, maybe wait until the one I sent gets to you and swap lenses?
Click to expand...

I see most have dark lens but there is clear also (at least looking at the amps still here). Then again, the same covers fit both 400 and 700B meters
 
Gary, your lens was in better shape so I swapped lenses and it'll be on it's way Monday..tracking Number---771465592391
 
Thanks Lee.

And thanks Jerry.

This converted amp is a mixed blessing. It sounds friggin' awsome and I'm appreciating it more and more each time I listen to it. And that's the problem, I'm listening A LOT!! No Netflix, no reading, no cooking. There's a couple of hours each day between shifts so I'm driving a 1/2 hour to get home, pull tunes and listen. I should be doing errands, shopping or taking a nap because I'm gone from 4:45AM to 8:30PM Monday to Friday and get less than 5 hours sleep those nights.

I thought my system was pretty good before but all my music sounds so much better even at the (low) levels dictated by living in a condo. I just listened to Mountain - Climbing on 8 track and now have a piano concerto playing on reel to reel. It's like I want to hear everything I've got, as soon as possible, through this amp. Maybe because I'll never get through all I've got in the rest of my lifetime.

Still have yet to play a CD through it.

Now, I want a better pre-amp. I've got a NAD 1000 that's been fine with the (modified) Hafler DH220 I've been using but now I don't think it sounds as good as I thought it did. But, I'm want rich and cash poor so the NAD will have to do.

Anyone have an APT Holman they want gone?

When I get that meter back in, I am going to drive the amp to a friend's who lives in a house and see how high I can get the needles to go.
 
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It's good to hear that this is a great improvement for your amplifier Gary. You'll have to keep us posted regarding the full power test. Cool stuff!!
 
Lee....I picked up the meter yesterday and installed it this afternoon. The amp is 20/20 again. Those meters are probably not easy to come by so you really went above and beyond with that.

You (and Jerry) really went out of your way for me and I cannot really express myself properly as to how grateful I am.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to take the amp to my friend's place (with the house) to give his Wharfedale E90 Pro's some exercise.

BTW: good call on the guava.
 
I can't speak for Jer, but I'm glad you appreciate everything, that's why we do it. Thought you might like the Guava. It's been my favorite for all day/everyday....
 
Lee, sorry for so many PM's about the intermittent left channel. I know I would get tired of hearing from me so often.

I am sure you are right about it being the Protection Relay Board since tapping it (as I mentioned) brings the channel back temporarily as does increasing the signal level going into the amplifier. Not sure of the significance, but that topmost relay being warmer than the other one below seemed suspicious.

You suggested to bypass it but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. Since detaching the wires from it looks like just loosening set screws, are you able to say where the board came from? My thought was to contact that supplier, order a replacement board and just replace it. Was it from Watts Abundant? There's a board on their site that looks very much like this one.
 
Gary,

Don at Wattsabundent is the designer and seller of this board and his URL for contact information is:

http://home.earthlink.net/~dimlay/id17.html

From this one post I would guess something along the lines of a loose connection or maybe a solder issue such as a cracked joint. This did travel via FedEx or another shipper and these guys can be brutal at times.

Can you take a couple of close up photos of the DC protect board? Maybe something will jump out.
 
62vauxhall said:
Lee, sorry for so many PM's about the intermittent left channel. I know I would get tired of hearing from me so often.

I am sure you are right about it being the Protection Relay Board since tapping it (as I mentioned) brings the channel back temporarily as does increasing the signal level going into the amplifier. Not sure of the significance, but that topmost relay being warmer than the other one below seemed suspicious.

You suggested to bypass it but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. Since detaching the wires from it looks like just loosening set screws, are you able to say where the board came from? My thought was to contact that supplier, order a replacement board and just replace it. Was it from Watts Abundant? There's a board on their site that looks very much like this one.
Click to expand...

I have a new one. Want to borrow it to see if that is the problem before ordering a replacement? Doug
 
Fitz, thanks for the offer and I see that you and I must live close to each other and if necessary, I would gladly accept your offer. I'll know better after the following....

Nav, you may have caused me to discover the problem by asking for close up pictures of the board. After taking the first one, I flipped the board over for a shot of the topside and doing so caused two wires to pop out of the terminal block. The amp did take a tumble on the trip home so maybe the impact loosened a connection or two enough to create intermittent contact.

I've been awake for 19 hours so am going to bed now but will reconnect those wires and snug up all the set screws in the morning. Must examine picture #1 to see which wire goes where and hopefully get them right.

Are you able to advise? Lately, I'm not trusting my judgement concerning things electronic.

Protection relay bard 1.jpgProtection relay board 2.jpgProtection relay board 3.jpg
 
62vauxhall said:
Fitz, thanks for the offer and I see that you and I must live close to each other and if necessary, I would gladly accept your offer. I'll know better after the following....

Nav, you may have caused me to discover the problem by asking for close up pictures of the board. After taking the first one, I flipped the board over for a shot of the topside and doing so caused two wires to pop out of the terminal block. The amp did take a tumble on the trip home so maybe the impact loosened a connection or two enough to create intermittent contact.

I've been awake for 19 hours so am going to bed now but will reconnect those wires and snug up all the set screws in the morning. Must examine picture #1 to see which wire goes where and hopefully get them right.

Are you able to advise? Lately, I'm not trusting my judgement concerning things electronic.

View attachment 17073View attachment 17074View attachment 17075
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Hey Gary,

Your problem is most likely the screws backing out during transit. I've seen this a time or three with hardware that was designed to handle severe environments only to succumb to the transit environment. I have not installed a dc protect board in a 700 but Lee, Jer or Joe should be able to advise. If they're not available we can dig into the schematics and figure this puppy out. I think this gal will be singing real well soon.
 
Yep, damn if it doesn't also vibrate out those nuts on the 400 DCP's too. That's why I started to solder them right onto the speaker posts. That was also Ron's problem initially with ole "Blackey" and how he kept having to replace a fuse now and then.
 
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62vauxhall said:
Lee, sorry for so many PM's about the intermittent left channel. I know I would get tired of hearing from me so often.

I am sure you are right about it being the Protection Relay Board since tapping it (as I mentioned) brings the channel back temporarily as does increasing the signal level going into the amplifier. Not sure of the significance, but that topmost relay being warmer than the other one below seemed suspicious.

You suggested to bypass it but I'm not exactly sure how to do that. Since detaching the wires from it looks like just loosening set screws, are you able to say where the board came from? My thought was to contact that supplier, order a replacement board and just replace it. Was it from Watts Abundant? There's a board on their site that looks very much like this one.
Click to expand...


Gary, no need to apologize man....it's cool..
 
Gary, I'm pretty sure the black wire goes in the ground post it's sitting by, but as far as the " 1 AC" Jer will have to chime in on that one...
 
This morning, I thought the best thing to do first would be tightening the terminal screws that still had the wires inserted. Starting with the leftmost blue wire going to the AC spot, I manipulated the board a little to hold it while using the screw driver, but that movement cause all the remaining wires (except the blue one) to pop out.

At the moment, there is:
one white wire coming from the topside of the back pane
a red wire coming from the topside of the back pane
two black wires contained in heat shrink running left to right along the amplifier's topside
and a second white wire coming up from the bottom
that have become detached.

Rather than guess which goes where, Jerry, can you please advise which wire goes to what terminal?

I should have labeled them but was not expecting them all to detach. That wire is pretty stiff stuff.

Protection board relay 4.jpgProtection board relay 5.jpg
 
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