Quickie Problems

[brucef]

I have been using the quickie for several months now and up until now it has been working great. Yesterday it started to have some issues. I have a cd player plugged into the inputs closest to the front. Turned evrything on, started the cd and no sound. First thing I thought was that the batteries have finally gone dead. I have been using the same set for months. I shut everything dow, put in fresh batteries and fired everything up. Still no sound. I shut it all down again and hooked the cd player into the back inputs. Tried again and everything worked. After the music played for a while, I noticed some intermitent static. It seem to get worse as time went on. Finally shut it down and did a quick visual on the solder joints etc. Nothing jumped out initially and I have not had time to really give it a closer look yet. Any thoughts as to where to start??

[brucef]

Just to clarify, when I plugged the cd player into the back inputs I did switch the selector to the back inputs.

[brucef]

"Just for information did you change the switch position?"

The position switch is the stock one from the original build. Wondering if it could be the switch that is the issue.

[aragorn723]

Are any of your measurements out of whack? 

Dave

[brucef]

I will check things when I get a chance and report back.

[brucef]

I hooked things back up this morning and both inputs are working again, but both of them have quite a bit of static. i checked voltage at the test points indicated in the manual. They are as follows:
1A 35.1
1B 35.1
A6 25.9
B6 25.7
A5 1.8
B5 1.8

I looked over the solder joints but don't see anything that looks suspect, but then again I am far from being an expert.

[aragorn723]

A6 and B6 are about 20% higher than they should be (19-21v).  That's probably worth looking into.  Also, have you tried swapping out just the RCA to rule that out?

Dave

[brucef]

Dave, If you mean the RCA cable, I have not tried swapping it out. Good thought. I will give that a try.

[aragorn723]

That's the one.. Could be an intermittent connection in there that worked on the first set of inputs but not the others. 

Dave

[brucef]

Well, well, well. So I swapped out the RCA cables with some cheapo ones that you would get at perhaps Walmart or ?? No static, only the usual microphonics as you adjust the volume. Tried them on both inputs and they seem fine. Thanks Dave! Guess I will be asking for some new RCA cables for Fathers Day . Not sure why the voltage is high on A6 and B6. Any suggestions as to what to look for would be appreciated.

[aragorn723]

Glad it worked    How do the solder joints at A6 and B6 look?  Are they bright and shiny?

Dave

[Paul Joppa]

There is still some confusion, going back ~5 years. There is a thread from back then:

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=2488.0

If the 1.5v batteries are installed correctly, the nominal plate voltage (pins 2 or 6) should be around 28v. The observed 26v indicates a fresh tube. In other words, no worries!

[aragorn723]

Paul, thanks for the clarification.  Sounds like a6 and b6 are good!  Wish I could white out my pjccs pdf on that one lol.

Bruce, are you back up and running then?

Dave

[brucef]

Everything seems to be fine. Thanks all for the input and help!

[aragorn723]

Cheers!  Enjoy 

Dave