Classic Hifi Care

Yesterday I decided to work in the shop and see if could find a problem with my Magnavox Symphony. It has what I call a motor boating/oscillation problem. It does it whether on the radio or records, but not all the time. I knew of a problem with the Collaro changer. Who ever had it before me hacked the wires that went to the cartridge, but, because it did it on both radio and records I figured I needed to check everything again. Mind you, I have already rebuilt all electronic components. I started by pulling the Symphony apart. I cleaned ever control, switch, and connector. Then, I ran new wires from the cartridge to the RCA jacks on the bottom side of the changer. The hack job, included soldering the wires to the cartridge, cutting the wires halfway down the tone arm, which also cut the braided common wire. Then poorly soldering the signal feed wires, taping with blue duct tape, and then twisting the commons with what little threads of wire they could twist together. It's a wonder it worked at all. Everything but the changer is back together and working. The changer is still on the bench hooked the the Coronado shop system. I'll test it again today and if everything is ok, back in the cabinet it will go for the final test. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my repairs did the trick.

Bill

Just curious... does the oscillation stop when you place a hand or finger on the plinth while playing a record? ... my dual 1009 did that but it turned out to be a miswired cartridge

It did not, kept right on going and would stop when it got good and ready to stop. I now have the Collaro back in the Symphony and it seems to be working great. No oscillation, no hum, and the sound coming from it is nice and clean. With my luck, that won't last long.

Bill

You gotta have faith. It's a Magnavox, a Magnificent Magnavox to be more exact. They didn't name them "magnificent" for no good reason, you know.

I have faith in your troubleshooting and repair ability. I know how thorough you are. You nailed it!

I never owned a British car but I suspect Collaro and Magnavox require similar shaking out and a different set of tools.

Selling a Magnavox to someone who can understand the non-standard operation and who will exercise it. A buildup of grease gets infused with dirt and careless cartridge changes and retrofits cause hum issues. VM and RCA fare better when serviced by beginners. I rarely saw VM and for the job I had, instead learn to degrease and fine-tune RCA, Magnavox then BSR, used in the post 75 (?) Mag products. I always hated cartridge and wiring issues, opting for a total replacement at that time.

I had a terrible time getting the hum out of a '60 Portable Magnavox with such a changer, until I realized platter/pan and cart ground was at a different potential. Nobody ever worked on it, maybe it was barely used for a reason - hum would increase along with volume, so it may have been ok for only casual listening.

I will defer to those who don't really like doing cartridge wiring, me included , but the devil is sometimes in those details.