The pinch roller is likely not engaging the capstan. I have a TEAC which had a completely frozen pinch roller lever, and it did just that. It allowed me to get it cheap, but the repair required me to use a heat gun to soften the old grease. It's working great now though.
Yes, many of those older Akai units were built in two or three versions; with and without a built in amp and speakers.
I looked up your unit, and was surprised to see that it weighs over 60 pounds!

He's a chunky boy.

The pinch roller is moving over and engaging the capstan when I hit play. Although, I don't know if it's engaged properly. Is the speed regulated by the capstan/pinch roller?

And dumb question: I'm testing without a tape on the player. Is a tape necessary to get it playing at the correct speed?

In "play" mode, the take up reel will spin at a high speed without a tape. That's normal. The speed of the pinch roller and capstan regulate the passage of the tape past the heads and onto the take up reel. With a tape loaded, the take up reel will maintain proper tension, and will turn only as fast as the capstan allows the tape to move.

Gotcha. Looks like I need to find a tape then. Appreciate all your help so far.

Anytime.

Here's hoping for another 45 years out of this one

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Picked this up today at Renniger's in Kutztown. Dual power supply and 75 watts.

I may use it as a preamp for the SAE power amp. My Rotel preamp has an issue with the volume control.

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Nice score!
What is the nice looking cassette deck in the background?

Check post 185 for a better picture. It is a Tandberg TCD 340 A. Unfortunately, one of the three motors is clicking.

I went to turn on the deck and now the lights went out and nothing is working except one of the motors is running. Good I do not have any cassettes anymore. Deck fills in the hole though.

New caps is new life!

A couple of new additions. A Realistic power meter. Completely unnecessary but I have a soft spot for analog meters. I bought it for $60 non working. I replaced one bad capacitor and it works perfectly.
The pioneer cassette player I bought restored as I don’t have the knowledge/patience to work on vintage tape decks. Again, I can’t resist analog meters.

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I agree. Watching them on our 780 is like watching the fireplace.

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Just finished piecing together a second system, this one for our casita. Realistic sta-82 receiver ($30 on Craigslist), Denon DP-7F turntable ($100 from a pawn shop) Philips speakers ($8 each from a thrift store) and a Kenwood 5 cd carousel player ($10 at thrift store.) Total price: $158. Believe it or not it sounds terrific. I’m eventually going to upgrade the receiver and speakers but for now, I’m loving my system.

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Sounds terrific? Heck yeah I believe it. All that old stuff does!

Isolate those speakers and you will be even more impressed.

Yep, a nice pair of inexpensive speaker stands will really help open up those speakers. Or if you want to keep them on top of the fireplace A/V piece check out Fat Dots from Herbie’s Audio Lab, very reasonable and I really like them.

I used this spray to lubricate and clean the volume knob in my Rotel preamp. Seems to have fixed the issue of sound cutting out.

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Anyone looking for new equipment. Go to Crutchfield website. I just rediscovered them.

How did you apply it ? Outside with Knobs off ? Or did you pop the hood ? Or Both ?
My Kenwood Nine G is getting that crackly cutting out, a knob jiggle clears it up.

Jiggle, or spin? Jiggle could indicate cold solder joints.

You need to open the unit and direct the spray from the straw inside the body of the controls (volume, balance, bass, treble, selector switches, etc.).

Try not to overspray onto circuit boards.

After Deoxit cleaning use Faderlube on potentiometers. It lubricates so they move smoothly again.

Plenty of discussion on audiokarma.org on this topic.

I opened up the case and sprayed into a small hole in the pot body.

Meters definitely ring my chimes. SAE stereo components.

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Let me know when you are ready to part with that rack of amazing gear!

Awesome.. how about some Close ups of the Sansui... 8080 ? 9090 ?

I just bought my dream Sansui Reciever... waiting for Delivery.... Fingers Crossed.. it's in good shape as the seller claimed.

Cheers.

That's a stack of Gorgeosity.

My friend gave me a neat little Kenwood Led acrylic sign to go with my Nine-G.

Its silly but I dig it... got to get a Sansui one too.
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Electrical Windings Co. the very company which produced coils and transformers for the pinball industry, also wound transformers used in SAE, and other audio components.

A Donal Murphy connection to my rack I did not know about. Thanks for the intel, jrpinball!

A very reliable source brought this tidbit of knowledge to my attention.

Shot of the boys sitting on the sidelines while the Luxman's in rotation.

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I have that same Pioneer SX-780 I bought new in 1979. I recently had it recapped. Sounds amazing.

It's a nice sounding reciever. Easy on the eyes too

Hello all, my first post is a question that may have been addressed but I did not see scrolling through the threads, my apologies if I missed them. I'm thinking there will be conflicting thoughts as I've had conflicting advise but here goes: I have a Pioneer SX-737, the dial pointer light is out and the FM light is fading, so I wanted to see about fixing the lights. I went to 2 shops (both within 1.5 hours) that work on vintage receivers, the first one said my lights are the least of my concerns and I should not even be using it until I do full restore. This included replacing all of the caps, transistors and other components likely to fail which would cost about $700. The other shop said he could repair the lights and recap if I wanted but thought if it worked why mess around. Honestly, the receiver sounds fantastic but now I'm a bit concerned that it should have some work done. $700 sounds excessive but is that the way to go or is replacing the lights and recapping enough? Thank you in advance for your feedback.

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It is excessive..
You need a Repair, NOT a full restore.
I spent $800 on a Full Recap and restore for my Technics SA-700 100 Watt... but it was really Crapping out, and I wanted to bullitt proof it for the next 20 years.

Get the lights fixed and serviced....not fully recapped .
SX-737 is not a high power Reciever $700 is too much $.
My friend has a SX-737 it's a great sounding receiver.

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"I should not even be using it until I do full restore." This sounds like someone trying to sell you on something based on fear. The guy I deal with is more in the camp of the second tech you mentioned. If it sounds good, I'd just get the second guy to tighten up the lights and such.

It's a 7070. It's running my main system since i blew a channel on my Luxman R-1120 with an accidental needle drop
How's the dream Sansui have it yet?

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I have that same DogfishHead Record Store Day print on my stereo room/den wall.

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Gorgeous 7070.. I almost bought one or a 8080 as my first Vintage stereo... but I went with the QRX-5500... More lights and Dials...
My " new " Sansui shipped from Michigan yesterday... fingers Crossed... estimated arrival in SoCal Wensday.

Just Deoxited my Marantz 2252-B .. I cleaned my Kenwood Nine-G last week and it worked a trick.
Maybe the Marantz doesn't need to visit the Doctor...
More fingers crossed.

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I personally wouldn't set foot in the first shop again. That's some shady mechanic nonsense.

I agree!
unless it’s overheating or not working properly there’s no reason for a full restoration.

I agree. I suppose all of this recapping and rebuilding won’t hurt anything, but it gets expensive fast and you never know if it would have worked fine for years without it. Also, I talked to a pretty good tech and he said he gets a lot of business fixing things that were given “complete rebuilds”. He said a lot of time it is slipshod work that just makes things worse.

I will say, in my limited experience some of the old transistors are more problematic than the old caps. I had this issue with my Kenwood KA-7002 amp. It was working fine but suddenly degenerated into an awful mess of crackling and popping. It turned out that there were a bunch of bad transistors. I got it fixed but it was expensive because the thing isn’t easy to work on either.

I could have known this in advance of buying it if I had read up on it in the audiokarma forums. It is a well known problem and there are lots of discussions about it. I recommend searching there for any specific model of anything you are considering buying so you can read up on the good, the bad, the potential problems and how they can be fixed, and ideally restoration threads if they are available.

I'd have the second shop repair the lights, clean pots and switches and check/adjust the bias and offset.

The Eagle Has Landed !
No damage.. expertly packed, double boxed styrofoam and bubble wrap. Working and in fantastic shape.

SANSUI G-7500 Pure Power Stereo DC Reciever.
1978-1979.
First record.. My favorite album...
THE WHO, Who's Next, Music On Vinyl pressing, the best press of Who's Next I've heard.

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That's a rarity these days. I think half of my receivers have arrived damaged in some way. Congrats

Very nice! Did you get that from a business or private party? I'm looking to upgrade my Realistic.

Private seller. The Ebay add said Michigan.. but it was shipped from Ohio ?