Audiolab 8000A (serial number with 'F')

The Audiolab 8000A's with the alphabet 'F' in the serial number were the last production batch before Audiolab was sold to Tag McLaren.

I was lucky enough to secure a unit from a seller who lived down the road!!!. After doing so, I sold my British made Audiolab 8000S (serial number with  'E') and 8000A (serial number with 'D').

The newer 8000A still sounded "a bit raw" and less polish than the higher end units in my collection. Hence I decided to recap the unit using better quality parts, as well as performing some minor tweaking along the way.

My unit with 'F' in s/n

Original

The following pix was taken after the work was done using OSCON, Wima, Panasonic FC and ECA, as well as silver mica's.

Before Wima's inserted into pre-amp section was substituted with silver mica's 

This is what's under the big ribbon cable - the pre-amp section.

After the four silver mica's were inserted

The left side (from front) casing of the unit runs warm as the phono section has it's own voltage regulators which uses the left side of the internal casing as heat sink. I attached two heatsinks to the side to help reduce heat levels.

Took the opportunity to capture a 30second video to show the results, using my basic digital camera. The video was captured in MOV format and has not been modified in any manner of form - direct from the digicam to the PC and uploaded to the blog. 

 

Was quite impressed by the ability of the basic digicam, although my daughter says it does not do justice to the real setup.

Philips Pronto programmable touch screen remote

This is the Pronto I use to control the various units in my collection ... most useful as I do not have to hunt high  and low for the originals when I take a unit from storage to listen. It is seen in it's cradle which functions as a charger as well.

Screen for Audiolab 8000CDM

Pronto charging in cradle

I programmed and customised the Pronto for the Philips CDP, Meridians, Denon HT units, TV, VCR, etc.

The model was reviewed at http://www.remotecentral.com/tsu3000/index.html and the Philips support website is at http://www.pronto.philips.com/

Philips CD-650 (***Update#2***)

The CD650 is probably my favourite TDA1541 chipset CDP.  I have two such units - the other unit is literally  NOS!! I sold my CD880 and kept the CD650!!!

I had to recap the unit after the image produced was leaning towards the left (from front) - common issue for old Philips-based CDP(s). I had several owned a number of other Philips based CDP's (Philips CD880, 670, 460, 640, 624, 634, 482, 931, AK601; Marantz CD52 Mk1, CD52 Mk2; Mission PCM 4000, 7000) and this always happens after 10yrs of usage. 

Only the electrolytic capacitors were swap out for better quality ones - no reclocking or opamp change necessary. The only exception were four of the Philips blue poly caps which were salvaged from my dead Mission PCM 7000, swap out for the silver coloured ones in the original from the opamp area e.g 1n and 2n4.  You can see the changed capacitors in the following pix.

                                        

SK Fong heard the unit as well when he was visiting and was quite impressed - by it's condition as well as sonic qualities after the recapping. And yes it does look like it was taken out the box and this is 1986 ...

I even demo picking up the unit and shaking it vertically as well as horizontally while a CD was being played - you would not heard any skips etc aka as if it was place on a iso-platform. That's 1980's quality for you!!! 

Someone else I know with a Marantz CD50 had to place the unit on a self-made iso-platform using springs to produce similar results.

Update#1

I realised I did not mention the following. I used a Philips BC 0.027uF (blue square poly) as bypass for each of the Nichicon Muse. This was done to permit the high frequencies thru.

28Mar2011 - Update#2

Uploaded the brochure cover for the unit as these are scare on the internet.

Audiolab 8000CDM

Here is the perfect partner for the 8000DAC, the 8000CDM (a bit dusty as just taken out from storage).

CDM and DAC playing a CD recorded with EQ

In theory the "swap-out" should not have been necessary as a transport's sole purpose in life was to read the CD best it could and provide the output in digital form e.g binary 1 and 0's. Binary "1" means high, binary "0" is low. There is not suppose to be any levels of quality in sound relating to the "1" and "0"'s. The DAC then converts the digital signal to analogue signal for us to hear.

Errr ... I found much difference after the swap out was done.

Here's the front view of the 8000CDM after some of the internals were swap out.

Top front view

Bottom view

Followed by the view from the top. Have added a heatsink to the voltage regulator transistor at the back of the unit as it ran hot - not sure why they was no heatsink on it in the 1st place.

Lastly the close-up of the signal processing area which is located behind of the CD transport mechanism. Higher quality components used are OSCON, Wima, EPCOS and silver mica's as well as Panasonic ECA and Rubycon capacitors. Reclocking should not be necessary as there are IC's for PLL in this area.

View the blog for my Audiolab 8000A at http://myoldvintagehifi.blogspot.com/2010/09/audiolab-8000a-serial-number-with-f.html to see and hear how the units perform together.

Meridian 606

My trusty Meridian DAC was lacking in bass when compared to the past. The 602 is the transport paired to the 606.

Normally DAC's are not demanding in terms of current requirement (unless extremely old). Hence I recapped only the electrolytic capacitors related to the power portions on the PSU board (not shown) as well the DAC board. The caps in question are the five from the bottom half of the board - up to width of the two sets of ribbon cables.

DAC board

Once done, the good ol'bass was back!!!

602 with companion 606

Note:
The 606 has no standby mode since it was designed to be left on for optimum performance.

Meridian 204

The Meridian 204 tuner needs no introduction. It is a respectable sounding tuner with good reviews on the net. One such example can be sampled at http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/reviewsM-N.html#meridian

201 and 204 in stand-by mode

Rear of 204

Due to age, the battery on the main tuner board was leaking and there was a thin layer of "sticky" dark green slime around it - can't really see from the pix. The battery is the Varta with a '+' sign between the Nichicon capacitors.

When I rung the local agent, they quoted $200!!! to service the unit aka replace the battery and clean-up the "slime"! I though it was steep, way WAY steep for such a simple job.

Hence I decided to change the old battery and take the opportunity to recap the electrolytics myself.

After some scouting around, I manage to locate the following replacement from a supplier at Sim Lim Tower for about $20.

Works like a charm ... had to use contact cleaners to gently clear up the "slime". Otherwise the motherboard could be rendered useless after a while.

Sorry did not take a pix of the unit after completing the job.

Will update with more more pix(s) of the unit in action once I have time to reconfigure the 204 and setup the entire Meridian set which currentlycomprises of the 201/204/209/602/606/557 and A500

Sansui AU-9900A (***Updated***)

The Sansui AU-9900A is one of all time favourite units. It is know as the AU-10000 in Japan. You can view many details pixs of the unit at the AMP8 (Japanese) site.

Unknown to many Sansui fans, the 9900A is one of the rare Class-A units produced by Sansui. I managed to locate the service manual which confirms via 50mV setting via adjustment of the trimmers on the main driver board.

I was not aware of the above until I  managed to get a unit from eBay and paid for postage from the US. I initially though I bought a faulty unit when it was running warm and then hot!!! Had to get a dedicated fan to suck the hot air out before the exterior of the units was reasonable to touch!!! Unfortunately the fan is a little noisy ... (need to obtain a less noisy fan)

This is the pix under the covers.

You can see the original capacitors (some deformed) on the PSU board below. Please be aware of the bi-polar caps on the power board.

This is the original pre-amp driver board. Before re-cap, you could heard some raw-ness in the reproduction, especially on the high frequences.

Original pre-amp board

Pre-amp board after re-cap

The original AU9900A sounded so good I sold my AU-20000 (and kept the 9900A). The AU20000 was considered by many to be the top of the line integrated amp from Sansui!!!

The following is the pix of the main driver board after it was recapped. Took the opportunity to swap out some cheaper parts with better quality ones.

Audiolab 8000DAC (###Updated###)

The British made Audiolab 8000DAC is well loved for it's warm and natural sound.

DAC and CDM playing CD recorded with EQ

According to various documentation on the net, the Philips TDA1547 is the heart of the unit - not able to see the actual chip as hidden by the Audiolab cover on the motherboard (see below).

Decided to recapped the unit a while back (before creating this blog) as it was taking atleast an hour to warm up and sound decent. Volume before the recapping was very low as well - really sounded tired.

Took the opportunity to do some part replacements along the way as the unit had a treble and bass roll-off when I was listening to it using my Accuphase and Meridians (later on those).

Anyway, the pix below is the resultant of my efforts.

I am using the 8000DAC with the 8000CDM (black tray), 8000T and 8000A (all true Brits). Such 8000A's were the last of the true Audiolabs with "F" in the S/N (aka before sold to TagMcLaren).

From top

From bottom

And I added a few heatsinks to the power regulators to reduce heat levels as well. In addition, two silver mica's were added as by-pass to the non-EC capacitors.

View the blog for my Audiolab 8000A at http://myoldvintagehifi.blogspot.com/2010/09/audiolab-8000a-serial-number-with-f.html to see and hear how the units perform together.

3Nov2012

Recapped the EC in the PLL control section of the DAC located at the bottom LHS of the unit - 4*100uf 35V and a 47uF 16V, as the power supply filter to the LM317 could be better. Now working fine again.

Musical Fidelity Tubalog DAC (using valves - ***Update#2***)

I have several DAC(s) and am in the process of recapping these gems after many years of service.

This is about my only valve DAC, the Musical Fidelity Tubalog DAC. Some consider this model to be the best DAC from the British company.

With Sony CDP-333ESA as transport

From top with cover

I decided to get the grand old lady recapped since she was beginning to sound a bit tired e.g low volume, lack of details, did not sound like "being there".

MF used Torx screws with a rod in the middle to wart off "itchy fingers". Took a while before I was able to locate the correct screw driver to remove the lid to review the below. The pix was taken after I replace the 3 electrolytic caps on the board with the valves. The 3 caps were initially Panasonic FC. When I tested using stock Nichicon caps (with brown jacket), there was no noticable differences. Hence left the Nichicon in-place. The 2 large brown film caps on the same PCB as the valves were initially replaced by Wima's. Later the Wima's were replaced by Gad-Viva oil caps from Germany. The Gad-Viva's are worth every penny!

Original before recapping (except for Panasonic FC on buffer PCB)

PSU capacitors as these have to be less than 40mm in height.

After recapping

Bypass added to main PSU filter caps

During the recapping process, the sound of the DAC becames more involving and natural. I took the opportunity to replace a few "el-cheapo" parts along the signal path, especially in the audio sections- really opens up the unit!


13Mar2013

After some great results using ERSE Pulse-X capacitors in my speaker project,  decided to substituite them into the Tubalog's output stage.

The result? As Gomer Pyle (shows my age) would say ... "G-o-l-l-y"!!!

Bass became firmer with clearity across the reproduction spectrum!!! Sounds superb thru my Meridian 201/557/A500 components