I am in the process of rebuilding my first El Diablo: Cassette mechanism already fully disassembled and restored, new motor from Pacific Stereo installed, so far nothing but troubles but the big ones already got solved. While thinking about full recap I noticed that it has bipolar caps for its crossover. Trying to comprehend why would they go into such troubles I realized something even stranger: midrange (SPKR 2) is wired out of phase with woofer and tweeter... Why would anyone do something like this?
Bi-Polar capacitors are normal in Crossovers and essential if the amplifier is a Bridge configuration (both sides of the LS driven) which is the usual way of getting high output power from a low supply voltage. Some reading for you. https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/crossover https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/replacing-capacitors-in-speaker-crossovers.123348/ Can’t comment on the reversed phase of the mid-range although the intention is that it should’t be reproducing the same sounds as the other two speakers. In theory a three way crossover should also incorporate inductors but they are big heavy and expensive.Maybe they are doing some trick with air loading. Try flipping mid range loudspeaker leads and see if you can hear a differrence.
new motor from Pacific Stereo installed How much did you pay for this motor and can you share the information in buying this from?
I paid total $79.94 to Pacific Stereo. Motor is advertised at tapeheads.net forum: Universal, extremely high-quality replacement cassette capstan motor available NOW! For ElDiablo it should have CW rotation and also 2.5mm shaft mod. two motors side by side with a shim to reset the pulley:
p.s. at the top here, I still have One very broken jvc rc-550 that basically needs all of the linkage from the function slide switch on the mainboard to the top as mine is all broke or shattered to bits. and then I have 4 working? Victor rc-550's One of which I am keeping for me as the plan was a very long time ago to have 4 of them but I got older and those ideas changed now that I am older wiser an such so that now I just wish to hang on to only one... victor rc-550. I am in Shock at the price you paid for just this one motor. I thought these were $40.00 each not the $80.00 that you paid. I copied this below from the tapeheads where I am a member of some years there but I do not post there too much if anywhere anymore as I post enough just to youtube Universal, extremely high-quality replacement cassette capstan motor available NOW! www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=32263 Universal, extremely high-quality replacement cassette capstan motor available NOW! http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=32263 I want to order one! Excellent. If you are a TH member with at least a 90-day history and a post count of at least 20, you can have one motor for $38.95, plus $7.95 Priority Mail shipping (USA domestic. International shipping will be significantly higher). Members who do not meet the 90-day and post requirement will pay a higher cost of $44.95 each. I want to order more than one! Cool! 90-day/20-post members can have two or more motors for $34.95 each. Non-qualifying members, no discounts for multiples. Shipping stays the same, up to ten motors. PayPal? Not a problem. But there is a 4% surcharge on the total amount (6% if international). Need a 2.5mm shaft? No problem. But modifying the motor for a 2.5mm shaft application requires additional work, and cost for that motor is $20 more than whatever the cost for the 2.0mm version would be based upon your status.
I know, I joined Tapeheads over three years ago, but my post count there is just below 20, so: Cost for the 2.5 version is $64.95, CA sales tax is $4.71 domestic shipping is $7.95. PayPal is surcharged. Total cost for domestic is $79.94. I'll need your email address and shipping address, and I'll send you a money request. Thanks, -PS If you decide to buy one (or a few) from PS, I can mail you (for free of course) a few inches of steel tubing of exactly the right 2.0mm ID/2.5mm OD and my shim, I won't be needing it.
So... Today my El Diablo is finally resurrected!! I listened to it "as-is", test tape was my childhood fav Eruption. The sound was dark, bottom-heavy, and punchy, the way I loved it 30+ years ago! Then I disconnected the mid-speaker (working against the huge woofer for mid-range) and it got seriously loud boomer!!! Its short of amazing how much the mid draws out of the amp power! Then I reconnected mid in the "standard" config (yes, bipolar x-over caps help with such experiments!) and BOOM!! Mids came out, I can actually hear what "Precious Wilson" is singing, and tone controls actually control something, not just booming and hiss... in short, when mid is wired "correctly", it is a bbox for the middle-aged guys like me
did you take pictures of these changes? could you share if you have any pics? I finally found the Mid-range speakers and the woofer that I was going to change out of my rc-550 but now I am in search of the tweeter that I wanted to use, and when I find that I will make a new post
here it is: step 1, desoldered Positive to check how it sounds without mid step 2, positive and negatives soldered to + and - of the mid so that now it works in phase with woofer and tweeter, Not against them BTW, with Pacific Stereo motor and Turntable Needles belts W&F is better than factory-promised specs of 0.17:
Jorge, would you happen to have a picture of a Lasonic TRC-918 of where the speaker wires originate from on the main board? I have that model but to service it easily you have to unsolder the speaker wires from the main board.. I believe some-boy else was in there before me and soldered the wires back in the wrong places and I would like to correct this and mine works but it only gives sound out of both speakers WHEN the headphones are plugged in & you know that the speakers are cut off when headphones are in the jack but not in the one I have and yes I asked this question long ago in my own thread but I have not gotten a response yet and as you know your stuff I thought I would ask you as I do not wish to guess and solder the wires in the wrong place and ruin the amplifier an or related circuitry. do you have this information or know somebody that could share this with me?
Nope, sorry, I do not have any Lasonics in my collection... not yet sounds like instead of soldering speakers to the OFF switch at the h/p jack, they got soldered to the headphone OUT. Even w/o schematics (which I do not have) it may be an easy fix: find all soldering points for the h/p (female) jack, then use the tester in the BEEP mode to find which one is the switch. If you have some broken headphones, just cut it off at the plug and use Ground+Left+Right wires to figure which one, L or R was used by the previous noncompoop for the speakers. Desolder speaker wire and reconnect for the switch. To be on the safe side, first check that my idea of one of the h/p coils is being used as a Switch, plug in 3.5mm (ot 1/4") plug with no wires/headphones to check that speakers stay OFF whether the dud is in or out I feel you, bro! Reviving someone else's "resto job" is NOT fun at all!!!
