Static electricity shorted out channel on stereo....

I bought a late 70's Sanyo am/fm/cassette/turntable on eBay about 6 months ago. The guy who sold it to me cleaned and lubed to near perfection. It's i n great condition and plays well.

Today I went to turn it down and when I touched the volume knob I felt a sh ock of static electricity. Ever since then one of the channels won't work. I initially thought it was the speaker, but i switched speaker cables and t hey both work on the one channel, but not the other.

Could static have done this? What would likely be the remedy?

Thanks in advance!!!!!!!!

Reply to
David Bean
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shock of static electricity. Ever since then one of the channels won't work . I initially thought it was the speaker, but i switched speaker cables and they both work on the one channel, but not the other.

A static discharge to a knob would probably go straight to the mechanical c hassis (steel bracket that the knob's axle goes through). So, it's unlikely to be the cause of a one-channel dropout.

If you haven't already done it, exercise all the switches (speaker select, mono/stereo, selector, muting, tape monitor...) that you can see. If that doesn't fix it, there could be an electronic component failure (needs a technician's TLC). Some quick diagnostics: does the nonperforming speaker have any background hiss or hum? And, is there any DC voltage on the speaker terminals? Can you hear anything through a headphone jack?

Reply to
whit3rd

if the pot has a metal shaft and the pot isn't mounted to the chassis but just soldered to the circuit board, yes, it is possible to damage the circuit where the pot is connected to.

You see pots can get dirty over the years and two things can happen, you lose the good electrical bond between the shaft of the pot to the bushing or the bushing isn't grounded, or you don't have a grounded plug on the system..

I would check the circuit the pot is connected to.

Jamie

Reply to
Maynard A. Philbrook Jr.

Yes, static electricity could easily damage ics or mute transistors back then. There was a Pioneer car radio back then that had rf capacitors and transistor that would short if someone with a static charge touched the antenna. Hitachi had a line of televisions where the microprocessor would die if the keys on the front of the set were touched by a person with a static charge. My guess is that there is a solid state component that will need to be replaced.

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Reply to
Chuck

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