RC 4136N with PL 1000

[WOPL Sniffer]

If those RC4136 upgrade adaptors would have cost me $33 like you Marco, i would not have done it. Too expensive. I bought the OPA3124's for $1.50 each and the adaptor boards were $3.75 each and I'll do the surface mount soldering myself. So the total per adaptor ready to drop in was about $8.00 each. Add 10 cents to each one to fit it with a DIP14 socket fr easy mounting.

 

[marcok]

The problem is S&H ( 12,95 $ ) USPS First class .
and I need only one . Now I discovered that the guilties are original RCA connectors ;
What can I say ? These are the rules of our game . ( Vintage Hifi )
Anyway now my PL 1000 has 8 new good conectors and will have a top OP amp
in the crititical path ( input buffer and output stage ) and I think it will be
reliable for many years , considering that all board have 50 V caps .
Ciao
Marco

 

[marcok]

My PL 1000 strikes back .
At very low level ,with correlator in, there were pops in the right channel .
After 3 days I discovered that the right channel board had 4 four 35 V caps and the
other 3 were 50V . After replacing 35V caps everything is O.K.
The mixed population , too .
Unbelievable ! Factory new boards .
Suggestion : in case you want to restore a PL4000 or a 1000 (series 1)
YOU MUST replace RCA connenectors and all 35V caps .
It's useless to become crazy like me !
Ciao
Marco

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

My PL 1000 strikes back .
At very low level ,with correlator in, there were pops in the right channel .
After 3 days I discovered that the right channel board had 4 four 35 V caps and the
other 3 were 50V . After replacing 35V caps everything is O.K.
The mixed population , too .
Unbelievable ! Factory new boards .
Suggestion : in case you want to restore a PL4000 or a 1000 (series 1)
YOU MUST replace RCA connenectors and all 35V caps .
It's useless to become crazy like me !
Ciao
Marco

Marco, you wouldn't believe what I've seen opening up a piece of virgin PL or Carver gear. They used what they had and if they ran out of caps of a certain size, they went bigger. I have a hard time believing they used a smaller cap than what should have been in there. And, i doubt it would have caused a popping noise. If the cap was too small voltage wise, it would have blown up. Their Quality Control was terrible and it looks like they used a chainsaw to strip wire, and put flux on with a fire hose, soldered with a blow torch and came up with crazy ways to mount components. I always recap, reflow and clean everything i open up. Otherwise, you'll be opening it up again and again. As far as RCA connectors, they all get cleaned too. Spray em, soak em, and scrub em..... save yourself some headache and time and do all the work to it the first time you open it. Recap-$40.... Deoxit-$20 only having to open it ONCE??? Priceless

 

[marcok]

Perry,
you're perfectly right concerning the quality : terrible !
Any way when I bought 8/9month ago my PL 1000 in mint condition (for 50€ )
everything was O.K. Naturally I checked the RCA connectors , I deoxed the internal
connectors and I checked the value of the caps , but obviously not all .
During this summer I saw 3 RCA destroyed and I replaced them with the original ones
( picked up from my father's PL 4000 )
Big mistake ! Now you know the rest of the novel .
Concerning the pops the guilties are the 35V caps . (1 and 2.2uF )
( so Ed and Dean wrote in the "Welcome to Phase Linear ( Linnwood ) official site" )
Anyway I have serious desease : The PL / Carver syndrome .
I have become crazy to restore two PL 4000 and one PL 1000 ,
but I love very much these gears .
Ciao
Marco