I recently picked up this Pioneer SX-780 receiver from a local record store. I brought her home, hooked her up and she powered on fine but there was no relay click and I couldn’t get any sound to play. Bummer.
I hit up the trusty AudioKarma message boards and found this solution and decided to give it a try.
In short, over the many years these have been operating, the solder joints on the voltage regulator run hot and develop cold/cracked solder joints.
I removed the old solder, cleaned the board, applied fresh solder and everything came back to normal!
If you have a SX-780 doing the same and have some soldering skills, below are photos are what to clean and solder. Please note: we cannot be held responsible for damage to anyone’s units (or even themselves) so if you do not have experience soldering or working on vintage gear, please consult with someone who does.
Flip the unit on its side so the power on/off switch is on the bottom and the volume knob is up top like the photo above.
You will be focusing on the lower part of the unit near the Darlington Power Pack and Pin 12. I have circled the three joints in the photo below for easy reference.
Simply remove the old solder, clean the joints and reapply fresh solder. Carefully power up the unit and if yours is like mine, she should come back to life easily.
See below video for operation:
Before you go…
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