Results 1 to 18 of 18

Thread: Pioneer amp Volume

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default Pioneer amp Volume

    Got a Pioneer VXS-D503S AV amp with dirty volume pots.
    By the schematic it appears that it's five pots in one.
    The volume is also remote controlled using a motor see photo. I don't have the remote.
    Just want to get in and spray the pots. They will be the squarish section of the control. Any ideas how to get inside ?

    Service manual See page 16 :

    Last edited by loopyloo; 05-08-19 at 09:08 PM.



Look Here ->
  • #2
    Senior Member
    Reschs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Outside a few schooners
    Posts
    3,080
    Thanks
    907
    Thanked 2,147 Times in 1,058 Posts
    Rep Power
    933
    Reputation
    33238

    Default

    That type of pot is essentially sealed. You can try flooding it with CRC 226 or similar. Do not use WD40.
    Next step is to loosen the screws that hold the sections together and get the lubricant in.
    Ultimately remove and pull apart and clean.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to Reschs For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (06-08-19)

  • #3
    Senior Member
    Uncle Fester's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Commonly found in a pantry or the bottom of a fridge, searching for grains, fermented or distilled
    Posts
    6,405
    Thanks
    2,289
    Thanked 4,414 Times in 2,517 Posts
    Rep Power
    2046
    Reputation
    81778

    Default

    Wait before you possibly ruin high end pots with sprays or attempts to take it apart !

    I see an electro right next to it and possibly more elsewhere that might be faulty and creating a DC path over the pot.
    This can cause noise while you adjust it.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 06-08-19 at 10:46 PM.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

  • The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Uncle Fester For This Useful Post:

    hinekadon (07-08-19),loopyloo (06-08-19)

  • #4
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Yellow is the motor.
    Blue is just hold downs for the pot.
    Red is the pots. That's a lot of solder joints for just five pots.

    Now I need to get these wires out of that white connector to remove the volume board. I can unclip each end and lift them a bit but then feels stuck, don't want to force it. How does that clip work ?




  • #5
    Senior Member
    Reschs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Outside a few schooners
    Posts
    3,080
    Thanks
    907
    Thanked 2,147 Times in 1,058 Posts
    Rep Power
    933
    Reputation
    33238

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post
    Wait before you possibly ruin high end pots with sprays or attempts to take it apart !

    I see an electro right next to it and possibly more elsewhere that might be faulty and creating a DC path over the pot.
    This can cause noise while you adjust it.
    If it is a leaky cap, the noise is there whenever you move the pot.
    If it is a dirty pot, moving it rapidly from zero to full several times will give temporary relief.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to Reschs For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (06-08-19)

  • #6
    Senior Member
    Reschs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Outside a few schooners
    Posts
    3,080
    Thanks
    907
    Thanked 2,147 Times in 1,058 Posts
    Rep Power
    933
    Reputation
    33238

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by loopyloo View Post
    Yellow is the motor.
    Blue is just hold downs for the pot.
    Red is the pots. That's a lot of solder joints for just five pots.

    Now I need to get these wires out of that white connector to remove the volume board. I can unclip each end and lift them a bit but then feels stuck, don't want to force it. How does that clip work ?



    I might be wrong but, I think that with that connector you release the clips and pull the ribbon cable out.
    To reconnect you insert and reset the clamp.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to Reschs For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (06-08-19)

  • #7
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Reschs View Post
    If it is a leaky cap, the noise is there whenever you move the pot.
    If it is a dirty pot, moving it rapidly from zero to full several times will give temporary relief.
    Yes the scratchyness is intermittent and turning the pot several times only removed some of the noise.
    I imagine buying a new pot would be out of the question. They'd prob want to sell me the entire board and then there'd be availability and enormous pioneer price to consider, so I'm not even entertaining that notion.

  • #8
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Reschs View Post
    I might be wrong but, I think that with that connector you release the clips and pull the ribbon cable out.
    To reconnect you insert and reset the clamp.
    I hope they're not one way clips like a fluro tombstone has.

  • #9
    LSemmens
    lsemmens's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Rural South OZ
    Posts
    10,585
    Thanks
    11,867
    Thanked 7,061 Times in 3,338 Posts
    Rep Power
    3153
    Reputation
    132592

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by loopyloo View Post
    Yes the scratchyness is intermittent and turning the pot several times only removed some of the noise.
    I imagine buying a new pot would be out of the question. They'd prob want to sell me the entire board and then there'd be availability and enormous pioneer price to consider, so I'm not even entertaining that notion.
    Given the age of the amp, chances of getting a Pot out of Pioneer would be almost as good as the chances of me becoming a multi-millionaire in the next few minutes. They're more likely going to try and sell you a new amp. Good luck with the cleaning, and I'd be looking at the caps. If they can be easily swapped, I'd do that just to eliminate one potential source.
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

  • The Following User Says Thank You to lsemmens For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (07-08-19)

  • #10
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by lsemmens View Post
    Given the age of the amp, chances of getting a Pot out of Pioneer would be almost as good as the chances of me becoming a multi-millionaire in the next few minutes. They're more likely going to try and sell you a new amp. Good luck with the cleaning, and I'd be looking at the caps. If they can be easily swapped, I'd do that just to eliminate one potential source.
    Sounds like you did no good on oz lotto tonight

    Silly thing is.....I had a faulty pioneer amp sitting in the shed for years. Couldn't be bothered fixing it so threw it away only a few weeks ago. It might have had the right pot in it. Bummer !
    Last edited by loopyloo; 07-08-19 at 01:20 AM.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to loopyloo For This Useful Post:

    lsemmens (07-08-19)

  • #11
    Senior Member
    Uncle Fester's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Commonly found in a pantry or the bottom of a fridge, searching for grains, fermented or distilled
    Posts
    6,405
    Thanks
    2,289
    Thanked 4,414 Times in 2,517 Posts
    Rep Power
    2046
    Reputation
    81778

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by loopyloo View Post
    Sounds like you did no good on oz lotto tonight

    Silly thing is.....I had a faulty pioneer amp sitting in the shed for years. Couldn't be bothered fixing it so threw it away only a few weeks ago. It might have had the right pot in it. Bummer !

    Shame on you

    I have never thrown an amp away in my life, at least not without scavenging all the useful parts.

    The oldest hifi amp I have is a 2x50W from Braun from 1969, weighs abut 20kg !
    ...and yes I am too lazy to replace EVERY electro-cap in it, there are 100's and they already started to fail in the 1980's.
    This would be the closest to a valve amp in sound. It has huge output transformers with that big warm sound that you could clip without it sounding nasty, ideal for the hard rock I listened to back then. Could beat any 2x100W (true RMS) and connected to my folded horn cabinet just with a 50W 15"Heco speaker, the old paint would crumble down from the 4.5m high ceiling when I bought my first CD (It's a kind of Magic from Queen) and magic it was when it looked like it was snowing inside the room.
    So that CD together with that amp was a 'break-through' experience that I wanted to share

    Anyhow the message: Don't throw good old stuff away if you are a passionate hobbyist/tinkerer and I see you as such.


    I would just solder out that ribbon connecter if you cant lift the cap off, then it is one way.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 07-08-19 at 11:57 AM.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

  • The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Uncle Fester For This Useful Post:

    hinekadon (07-08-19),loopyloo (07-08-19),tristen (07-08-19)

  • #12
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post
    Shame on you

    I have never thrown an amp away in my life, at least not without scavenging all the useful parts.

  • The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to loopyloo For This Useful Post:

    hinekadon (07-08-19),Uncle Fester (07-08-19)

  • #13
    Premium Member
    SS Dave's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    North Canberra
    Age
    63
    Posts
    2,117
    Thanks
    5,296
    Thanked 7,917 Times in 1,280 Posts
    Rep Power
    3335
    Reputation
    154682

    Default

    To remove the ribbon cable you push on the retainer it's spring loaded.
    Death smiles at everyone. Grumpy old men smile back.

  • The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to SS Dave For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (08-08-19),tristen (08-08-19),Uncle Fester (08-08-19)

  • #14
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by SS Dave View Post
    To remove the ribbon cable you push on the retainer it's spring loaded.
    Bingo ! ... spot on Dave.
    Thanks

  • #15
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default


  • The Following User Says Thank You to loopyloo For This Useful Post:

    hinekadon (16-08-19)

  • #16
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    The volume control is made up like this.
    Only had to separate the layers a little to get the spray in. Easy !
    Hope it works ok when I reassemble it.

    Last edited by loopyloo; 16-08-19 at 09:29 PM.

  • #17
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Managed to insert some spray and put it all back together with no problem, then I turned to pot back and forth lots of times before turning it on.
    It still crackled, but this time I hear it crackling even while not turning the volume.
    Very strange how it would crackle for up to 10 secs then suddenly fade to quiet, then after maybe 5-6 secs it would start crackling again. That repeated a few times.
    I noticed dolby was on, so turned it off and the crackling stopped immediately. It would also crackle with simulated stereo turned on.
    After a couple of minutes playing with it, the crackling stopped altogether. Even after leaving the amp unplugged overnight, when I tried it again the crackling was gone. I guess it just needed some saturation.
    Guess I'll just have to consider it fixed.

    The 2 buttons that when on caused the crackling to happen, "dolby" and "simulated surround".

    Last edited by loopyloo; 18-08-19 at 10:44 PM.

  • #18
    Senior Member
    Reschs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Outside a few schooners
    Posts
    3,080
    Thanks
    907
    Thanked 2,147 Times in 1,058 Posts
    Rep Power
    933
    Reputation
    33238

    Default

    Looks like you have two faults.
    The scratchy volume and a noisy transistor.
    The noisy transistor, or IC, in the surround circuitry.
    This will be heat related and chased down with freeze spray and heat source.

  • The Following User Says Thank You to Reschs For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (20-08-19)

  • Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •