Any old radio tech's out there?

[Petrol & Powder]

I have a Telefunken Opus 6 that I use daily.
The audio output suddenly decreased. It still works, the stations are clear and strong but the audio went down.

I suspect something is wrong with the final amp but I don't know enough to fix it.

I have spare tubes but I'm not sure one would die that catastrophically.

Anyone know about these old tubes sets?

[drac0nic]

What are the tubes in it. Should be a chart with numbers. Post a pic

[Petrol & Powder]

I'll have to get to that later. Work is intruding.

[sigep1764]

Check the 'coax' *** and neg wires to the speaker or mike output. Much like phone cables, they go bad from flexing. In my experience they tend to lose volume for a short period before they go out period. If the cables test fine, get the multimeter out and test the input and output of the tubes and that should tell you where the drop is.

[Petrol & Powder]

It's working again, I'll deal with it later.

THANKS TO ALL FOR THE ADVICE.

[Bulldogger]

Could be lots of things. Wouldn't hurt to have the tubes tested, if you can find someone. I have a tester, and can put them through it, if you ship them me. (Alexandria VA 22310)

But as stated, at that age it can be a hundred things. The most likely is tubes, failing wire or solder joint or a capacitor going.

Bulldogger

[metricmonkeywrench]

They always work best before they go out.... Remember electrical things operate off of trapped smoke, when the smoke leaks out it don’t work no more.

[Petrol & Powder]

They always work best before they go out.... Remember electrical things operate off of trapped smoke, when the smoke leaks out it don’t work no more.

Ah, the Lucas Electrics theory,....I know it well.

[sigep1764]

Triumph, BSA, MG, or Jaguar?

[slim1836]

And I thought it was the flux capacitor all this time.

Slim

[gwpercle]

Anyone old enough to remember the big "Tube Tester" in Pack-A-Sack stores ?

You took out the suspect tubes from radio or TV , tested them in the tester and if bad got a replacement from the cabinet below the testing board, paid for your tube and went back home to see if that would get things working again .... or am I just dreaming that was real ?
Gary

[fiberoptik]

Anyone old enough to remember the big "Tube Tester" in Pack-A-Sack stores ?

You took out the suspect tubes from radio or TV , tested them in the tester and if bad got a replacement from the cabinet below the testing board, paid for your tube and went back home to see if that would get things working again .... or am I just dreaming that was real ?
Gary

Nope [emoji107], remember them well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[farmerjim]

"Anyone old enough to remember the big "Tube Tester" in Pack-A-Sack stores ?"

Me too.

[popper]

capacitor going Yup, dry electrolytics. Great radio, still worth something. https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/telefunken_opus_6.html details/schem.

[MaryB]

While I could refurbish it with new capacitors the cost is going to approach the cost of a new radio... lot of work labor wise is the problem with older radios.

[drac0nic]

Wow, looking at the layout and the tube compliment I'd think that's actually rebuilding. It's not an AA5.

[Petander]

Tube testers are back,they are being sold to guitar players.

I built my first tube preamp in-78.

[Petrol & Powder]

Anyone old enough to remember the big "Tube Tester" in Pack-A-Sack stores ?

You took out the suspect tubes from radio or TV , tested them in the tester and if bad got a replacement from the cabinet below the testing board, paid for your tube and went back home to see if that would get things working again .... or am I just dreaming that was real ?
Gary
Nope, been there, done that but it was at K-mart.

[Petrol & Powder]

While I could refurbish it with new capacitors the cost is going to approach the cost of a new radio... lot of work labor wise is the problem with older radios.

It's working again so I'm going to say it is something loose.

As far as the cost, I'd be willing to pay more to fix it than I paid for it, but I didn't pay much for it to start with.

[wv109323]

The volume changes could be the volume control itself. They get dirty and fail to change value.

[popper]

Yup, used to spray some cleaner on them to fix, usually scratchy audio when rotating. But caps 'fix' themselves, for a while. Had an old ocean hopper that had main cap with sweat on the outside, just made a lot of hum. Folks must have dumped it when I left.

[Petrol & Powder]

The volume changes could be the volume control itself. They get dirty and fail to change value.
Nope, that works fine,

[Rich/WIS]

Have had several of the old ones, still have one, a "Gavotte", that plays. Picked them up junking in Germany. Have another back in WI with a much more modern cabinet, and had a big table model that even had a dial to tune antenna direction. All came with a voltage selector on the back for 110/220 and a plug in for a speaker. The one I have now had a little green light that would get bright when you were at peak signal but think it has burned out. These are relics of a bygone age.

[varmintpopper]

Gay electron blew a fuse !

[6bg6ga]

It's working again so I'm going to say it is something loose.

As far as the cost, I'd be willing to pay more to fix it than I paid for it, but I didn't pay much for it to start with.

Rock the tubes gently in their sockets and see if it makes any difference. I had an amp that would be working fine and then suddenly drop in level or drop out completely. It turned out to be a dirty contact in a tube socket. I powered it down unplugged it and let it cool down then sprayed just a small shot of cleaner in the tube socket and worked the tube back and forth a little and let the cleaner dry completely then turned it on. It worked.

Tube gear and a lot of radio's are going up in value. Its not the cost of fixing it its a factor of what its worth to you. I personally am a tube freak and I enjoy the clarity of tube line stages, preamps ,and power amps over anything solid state. My gear my tube gear is all home made. It works well and has for years and if it has a problem I can fix it.

[MaryB]

I picked up a tube tester for $75... comes in handy when fixing old ham radio gear.