PL 3300 Series II rebuild/upgrade

scottonnob

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I'm going to rebuild a 3300 that's been sitting on a shelf for a couple years. An NAD pre that I had been using is no longer working properly. I bought the 3300 to replace the NAD anyway, but I just never got around to working on PL unit. And just to once again express my appreciation for all the generous assistance that comes from this site, Dennis is already helping me out with parts and procedures. Thanks Dennis.

3300Rebuild — 1.jpg 3300Rebuild — 2.jpg 3300Rebuild — 5.jpg
 
scottonnob

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3300

A good friend of mine, who has since passed away, used to sell upgrade kits for PL products. None of his stuff is still around, but I found this document in my files. It's from his kit I used to rebuild my first 3300. So I'm just curious what you guys think of this particular modification.

LDX Upgrade.jpg
 
Gepetto

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scottonnob said:
A good friend of mine, who has since passed away, used to sell upgrade kits for PL products. None of his stuff is still around, but I found this document in my files. It's from his kit I used to rebuild my first 3300. So I'm just curious what you guys think of this particular modification.

View attachment 30546
Click to expand...
It is an extremely good upgrade from the original RC only power supply filtering
 
marcok

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The LM 78xx and LM 79xx are perfect fixed dc regulators and they are perfect " ripple killers " .
Anyway your circuit is not " good " , because caps values are not coherent with typical applications .
Replace 0.1 uF with 100 uf and 1 uF with 47 uF .
The rule is : input caps must be twice the output caps .
There is also another empiric rule : 1uF = 1mA .
So these values are good up to 100mA .
You can easily check the typical ANs .
To be honest I have not understood the values used in your circuit .
Ciao
Marco
 
Gepetto

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marcok said:
The LM 78xx and LM 79xx are perfect fixed dc regulators and they are perfect " ripple killers " .
Anyway your circuit is not " good " , because caps values are not coherent with typical applications .
Replace 0.1 uF with 100 uf and 1 uF with 47 uF .
The rule is : input caps must be twice the output caps .
There is also another empiric rule : 1uF = 1mA .
So these values are good up to 100mA .
You can easily check the typical ANs .
To be honest I have not understood the values used in your circuit .
Ciao
Marco
Click to expand...
The existing bulk caps are still used in conjunction with this add on circuit. Thus there is very much more capacitance on both input and output after this add on is installed.
 
marcok

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Thank you Joe ,
Now it's clear ! I have meant to connect this circuit after the rectifier .
I apologize for my mistake .
Ciao
Marco
 
scottonnob

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Since my friend Lou passed on a couple years back (2014), and since all of his work is now unavailable, I thought I'd post the instructions that he supplied with his kits, which he sold on Ebay. The kits are no longer available anywhere, but I thought perhaps some of you more knowledgeable guys might comment on the upgrades he used to recommend. I know that Lou would be pleased to think his work hasn't been entirely erased from the community.


View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 1.pdf View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 2.pdf View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 3.pdf View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 4.pdf View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 5.pdf View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 6.pdf View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 7.pdf View attachment LDX Upgrade — Page 8.pdf
 
Bradrock

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I know nothing of the upgrade. But I do know one thing;

Flat trackers ROCK!!!:cheers::cheers:
 
Northwinds

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Thank you for contributing this! These documents are nice to have in the PL archives here
 
NavLinear

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Scott and I want to come up with a comprehensive list of components to swap out such as metal film resistors to replace the carbon comp ones where improvement can be gained, replacing the electrolytic capacitors and capacitors in the signal path where improvement can be had. ICs will also be upgraded, pots cleaned and... I'm gathering information from one of Lee's 3300 II upgrade threads that include a number of inputs from Joe that we'll use here. My plan is to list of components to be replaced and couple that with part numbers of the new components.

I have a question for you guys about the lower value capacitors. What series do you use for audio signal path capacitors? I'm having trouble locating metalized or film or foil polypropylene and/or polyester capacitors below 33pF. WIMA produces a series (FKP2) that begins at 33pF and up. These are rated to 1000V and in the preamp circuit we're dealing with low voltages. We want to replace capacitors down to 10pF. I've located Cornell Dubilier silver mica caps series that go down to 1pF. Here's a part number of a 10pF cap as a reference - CD5CC100JO3F.

Any thoughts regarding a best path forward is appreciated.
 
laatsch55

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Dennis , was it the thread where we brought the low frequency response down??
 
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NavLinear said:
Scott and I want to come up with a comprehensive list of components to swap out such as metal film resistors to replace the carbon comp ones where improvement can be gained, replacing the electrolytic capacitors and capacitors in the signal path where improvement can be had. ICs will also be upgraded, pots cleaned and... I'm gathering information from one of Lee's 3300 II upgrade threads that include a number of inputs from Joe that we'll use here. My plan is to list of components to be replaced and couple that with part numbers of the new components.

I have a question for you guys about the lower value capacitors. What series do you use for audio signal path capacitors? I'm having trouble locating metalized or film or foil polypropylene and/or polyester capacitors below 33pF. WIMA produces a series (FKP2) that begins at 33pF and up. These are rated to 1000V and in the preamp circuit we're dealing with low voltages. We want to replace capacitors down to 10pF. I've located Cornell Dubilier silver mica caps series that go down to 1pF. Here's a part number of a 10pF cap as a reference - CD5CC100JO3F.

Any thoughts regarding a best path forward is appreciated.
Click to expand...
I think ya got it covered there Navo...

I can dig out my cap stash and see what we put in that 3300 Navo...
 
NavLinear

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laatsch55 said:
Dennis , was it the thread where we brought the low frequency response down??
Click to expand...
Yes - that's the one that I copied some of the text and filed it away. I've been going through my notes and I didn't find any reference to the small picofarad film caps.
 
laatsch55

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Navo, the only sub 33pf I have is some CD-10pf mica....
I have some 33pf Wima film caps...


I happen to have that pre-amp here if you need to see more of it....
 
laatsch55

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Give me a list of the cap component numbers ya want and I'll get em off this 3300...
 
NavLinear

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laatsch55 said:
Give me a list of the cap component numbers ya want and I'll get em off this 3300...
Click to expand...
C108 and C208 10pF

I believe there is a 27pF cap that's in the signal path but can't seem to find it.

C114 C115 and C214 C215 33pF

C102 and C202 100pF

Did you wind up using LM4562 for Z101 and Z102 and TLE2072 for Z103 and Z104?
 
laatsch55

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Z101--OPA 2134 on a Brown Dog adapter, Z102, 103, 104 TLE 2072.

C108, 208 have the stock 10pf ceramic cap. Must be why i bought a bunch of the 10pf CD mica's...

C114, 115, C214, 215 33pf, Wima Film Caps, 1000 volt 5% PCM5 Mouser part number----FKP2O100331D00JSSD

C102, 202---Kemet 100pf film cap, 63 volt 5%, Mouser part number--
PFR5101J63J11I( could beL) 4
 
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