Do you really believe this?  There is a load of equipment well under 4 figures that will provide stellar performance. Have you sonically compared equipment from the '70s with equipment from today?  You would spend probably two thirds the price of a new receiver to fix the old one....IF...you could find someone that knows how to do component level repair. Most repairs today are done only to board level....problem on a board, that's as far as you go, replace the whole board.  Not sure that would work with a '70s era receiver if the parts are available.  You can get more performance for less money in a modern receiver.

Though they may not be "elite" equipment you can get more performance for less money in a number of moderately priced receivers.

The attitude that it is better just because it is older is silly.

Of course this is just my opinion as a serious A/V fan for over 40 years that would not trade my current setup for my 1974 receiver for all the money in the world.

Unless your budget has four digits or you really must have a remote control, you're not going to buy better equipment than they made in the 70s. Unless you're shopping for a CD player, in which case the best ones are from the early to mid nineties.

And you're not feeding the throwaway society we have become, which is just as important.

Yay, my trusy Harmon Kardon HK380i tuner/receiver/amplifier circa 1979 just lost it's right channel. I was using it in my living room streaming to an Apple Airport Express, so RP is currently playing though one speaker. Got a good 30 years out of that sucker!

Now I get to go audio shopping. Oh yeah. Wait a minute, I'm broke! Well not totally, can anybody reccomend an inexpensive powered speaker system. I've been kind of looking around lately and so much is surround sound stuff that I'm just not into. I just want something in the 1 to 2 hundred dollar range that will do the job. I'm using a pair of Edirol powered speakers in my bedroom that sound great, but I'm not sure I wan't two pair of those, besides those are more studio monitors (near field) than I would like for the living room.

Anybody using anything that they love?

Is that the recommended spelling?

Thhe correct spelling: Recommended

Just seems right somehow, doesn't it? 

The correct spelling: Recommended

Okay you guys are guilting me out. I've had this thing since high school and so of course I really do love it. I'm taking it down to the local repair shop and gettin' me another 30 years worth of awesome music! Man, good thing I wasn't looking for help on putting my dog down!

In spite of the damage wrought unto the consumer electronics service industry by the advent of low-priced throw away technology, there still remain several shops with the knowledge and skills at hand.  If our owner of the HK unit valued this particular amp for its characteristics, the cost of repair would likely outweigh the attraction of its modern replacement.  But our RPeep seems more inclined to replacing it.  So be it.  The consumer always dictates the supply of goods and the availability of the necessary skills to repair same.

Sorry about your loss of the Mission amp.  I have an old HK Citation Twelve Deluxe main amp sitting here with one dead channel.  I'll get to it one day - one of these years. 

Absolutely agree. However, the likelihood of finding a tech to fix most ANYTHING these days is pretty remote. It's far more likely murph is faced with replacing it than having it repaired. Heck, the repair cost would almost certainly be far more than buying a comparable new unit: probably $75 just to open the case, IF he can find someone willing to even look at it.

Correctly sized and rated electrolytics as spec'd in the original device will most likely outlive the usefulness of the device.  If your head is all bent out of shape over the motherboard bad cap controversy, all you need know is that at its root were several cap manufacturers who put out sub-standard product.  Replacing the defective electrolytic cap with an identical valued electrolytic cap from a quality maker corrects the problem.  Except of course for a certain Toshiba DVD player of mine, one of many thousands, where indeed, the original designers were idiots and upping the replacement cap's voltage spec was necessary...

Oh, the only reason I even ask is because I use film-and-foil caps for building speaker crossovers, that's all. In that world, electrolytics are considered inferior, but your experience says that's not the case in active devices. Since I'm not a EE or tech, I didn't know if there's anything to be gained by using the more exotic caps. Plus, some crossover designs employ a little bitty film cap on top of a larger electrolytic, to provide the required capacitance and still get the fast response of a film cap. It's fairly common in speakers, I was just wondering if the technique is ever used in amps as well.

Why ever would you want to?  To what purpose? 

Correctly sized and rated electrolytics as spec'd in the original device will most likely outlive the usefulness of the device.  If your head is all bent out of shape over the motherboard bad cap controversy, all you need know is that at its root were several cap manufacturers who put out sub-standard product.  Replacing the defective electrolytic cap with an identical valued electrolytic cap from a quality maker corrects the problem.  Except of course for a certain Toshiba DVD player of mine, one of many thousands, where indeed, the original designers were idiots and upping the replacement cap's voltage spec was necessary...

edit:  And polarity?  pbbt.  That's just one suggested way to install it - from an obviously biased party - the manufacturer...

Not many techs find it either fun or efficient to work on something that an amateur tech has already had his hand in.  Incorrect substitutions, under or over-valued components, solder bridges where no solder bridge is supposed to be, busted traces, etc etc.  "You want an estimate?  I estimate that it will cost more to fix it now than if you brought it to us in the first place."

/former life as a service manager/tech

Wuss. You probably read the instructions before assembling stuff, don't you? And take maps for long trips? No guts.

Just kiddin' ya Beaks. That's awesome you were able to find the schematic, free no less. I had to buy the ones for my Sansuis, but since some poor devil took the time to scan them and everything, I didn't mind. Prolly saved me from blowing something up, too.

Just wondering, since we've mentioned caps and polarity, I might as well ask someone who will know: can you replace polarized electrolytics with film-and-foil caps? Obviously the size and lead configuration could be an issue, but is there any electrical reason?

Indeed.  Here's the service manual and schematic for his HK.  Skip to page 24 to see the layout of the output stage.

I'm not picking on deoxIT at all - just reverting to basic troubleshooting technique.  Namely, find the source of the problem and then determine the best repair solution. 

If its the tape monitor switch, cycling that viscously a few times should bring back some of the signal, if even staticy/distorted.  If no action there, it could the the input selector switch(s).  Not all switches are suitable for use with deoxIt and similar - as they may be sealed against contamination.  In that case, the only solution is replacement, or if you are ever so brave - removal for total disassembly, clean and reassembly.  Of course this all assumes its oxidation that is the cause of the woe - which is indeed often the case.  Could just as easily be a cold solder joint on one of the switches, interrupting the signal for that channel - also a very common issue in amps where the pads for the low level signal switches are soldered directly to the board.

Could also be a minor failure in the preamp circuit.  The fact that the unit still has power and apparently hasn't popped any fuses may indicate a problem somewhere in the preamp area, and not anywhere near the outputs.

As I said, I'm not familiar with deoxIT as its been a while since I've done any work requiring such a product.  I'd be leery of any high-priced solution that removes oxidation.  Its not like this is a new issue at all - back when I was servicing systems, one of the best products I found was these small green aerosol cans from Sony called ... wait for it ... "Sony Lube".     Can't recall where we got it at the time, but I liked it much better than other lubes we used - it had a low residual and was silicon based, IIRC.  As you likely know, there is never one spray, lube or protectant that does it all in every circumstance.  My shop bench is a testament to that, as is any decent electronic bench - with at least five different spray cans awaiting the next victim/patient.

And yeah, audiokarma is a good place for info.  As always, read, digest and read some more before applying any miracle fixes that anyone is touting.  That said, there's still plenty of good info on vintage audio repair to be found on Usenet / Google Groups.

How many years did you spend as a tech doing electronics servicing for consumer electronics?  "Large-ish" "output capacitors"??  Say what??

Sounds to these ears like you are applying the tiny bit of knowledge you may have acquired in fixing a computer motherboard with "bad caps".

Thanks mzpro, this one "looks" good, and the price is right...


  

Before applying any fixes, fluids, let alone a soldering iron, it is necessary to diagnose the specific area of failure.  Oxidized tape monitor switches are indeed a common failure - proving they are the cause is straightforward.  Methods for fixing the tape monitor switch are not always reliable, and are dependent upon construction of the switch - unless the part is replaced with a new switch from the oem.

As for "chinese fakes", I suppose you mean subs from NTE and the like - for the 2Nxxxx devices...