Who rewinds power XFRs?

And there is the Mother Ship, McIntosh itself.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

I did take the long shot and emailed McIntosh directly. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I assume given the age of this tuner/pre, they won't be of much help.

You can do better that that post. How is it bad? Shorted turn, open turn, short to core? Which winding? Primary or secondary? What told you the transformer is bad? Likely there is a transformer available with similar ratings that will replace the transformer.

Paul

It *looks* bad...

Paul Drahn wrote: ==============

.... Phil l

A few things: a) McIntosh winds their own transformers. b) McIntosh has been in business for many years, and through many ups and downs. c) Meaning that their management at least has some basic business intelligence. d) Suggesting that the transformers they make/made are not unique to each individual component. e) Suggesting that it is quite likely that they may have that transformer available.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

downs.

gence.

individual component.

available.

It's not. I emailed McIntosh asking about a replacement, or a suggested "u niversal" replacement that might physically fit the tight chassis that coul d be installed with some circuit modification, or perhaps a suggestion of a rewinder they were familiar with or might even have used. I received a v ery quick and terse (if not polite) email from McIntosh Friday that answere d all three of my questions with a simple "I?m sorry there are no options for this transformer." Boom.

The MX110Z is very very tight. There's literally no room for a transformer that would allow the case to fit if the replacement was any bigger even by a small percentage. This particular piece is known to have a power transf ormer that runs *very* hot even when everything is otherwise normal. The tr ansformer has a B+ winding and three filament windings and is also supposed to be more heavily shielded than the average bear.

I could probably find a way of cobbling a different power transformer and a nother smaller filament transformer somewhere else on the chassis (or just build a remote XFR box with an umbilical) but I don't want to reinvent the wheel at this point, plus I feel most of the *value* of this piece is in th e originality of it, not to mention Mc's careful design of the filament cir cuit and wire routing for hum mitigation. Add to that the fact that two of the four selenium rectifiers under the deck relieved themselves of tiny so lder balls (which happens when the 1A slow blow is replaced with a 20A fuse ), and all cans are original and probably need to be restuffed, and it just seems like a project not worth the time at this point.

I returned the tuner/pre to the owner yesterday with the suggestion of eith er putting it on ebay, where this model in non working condition will bring $400 at least, or keep checking ebay and finding one in poor cosmetic cond ition with a good XFR in it.

Or send it out to be rewound.

Boom.

rectifiers under the deck relieved themselves of tiny solder balls (which happens when the 1A slow blow is replaced with a 20A fuse), and all cans are original and probably need to be restuffed, and it just seems like a project not worth the time at this point.

Sounds like a mistake I made ca. 1960 when I built a valve oscilloscope (which I still have; sentimentality!). I built it around the mains transformer whichwas between two bulkheads and gave the whole thing rigidity. So when it failed rewinding it was the only solution. And building a coil-winder out of Meccano was my solution to that...

rewinding? I've never done one and have no interest in trying. Thanks.

Follow up for general information. I received a second email from McIntosh a couple of days ago that said the only person they had to rewind transform ers recently passed away. While looking for a rewinder on the web, I had s een references to a rewinder many used but who was in poor health, so maybe McIntosh used the same guy.

That means nothing. Management team assistants can be good or bad irrespective of time. The smaller; more prejudiced; more nepotistic and less meritocratic, the worse off. Like with the Trump family.