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Old 11-12-2016, 01:00 PM
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60's RCA radio muddy audio

Got this beauty at the radio club this morning for $10. I cleaned the controls real good, but it's still having an annoying problem. It sounds excellent most of the time, but every once in a while, out of the blue, the audio will get very muddy and distorted. Most times it will fix itself after a while. Tuning doesn't help, and it's on both AM and FM when it messes up. Any ideas? Somebody at the club said it's either the discriminator or the IF needs an alignment. I think it's just the big blue filter caps.
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Old 11-12-2016, 03:52 PM
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You want help. give us a model number. Many of us here have extensive libraries of Sams (and knowledge), but none are very forthcoming without a model number...

Probably R_C ## model number format...

http://www.videokarma.org/showthread.php?t=265964
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Old 11-12-2016, 04:40 PM
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Rjc47w.
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Old 11-12-2016, 05:12 PM
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Your radio is listed as SAMS 832-7. Since the problem is on both bands, most likely in the audio stages,bad cap or transistor. All the best, Tom.J
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Old 11-12-2016, 08:16 PM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tom.j.fla View Post
Your radio is listed as SAMS 832-7. Since the problem is on both bands, most likely in the audio stages,bad cap or transistor. All the best, Tom.J
I have a couple of that model. RCA out did themselves with that model!
I found, years ago that the output transistors needed resoldering, as they ran rather hot. It's the ones with the heatsinks. Just hit the PC board connections with a little fresh solder an you should good to go.
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Old 11-12-2016, 08:36 PM
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Originally Posted by dieseljeep View Post
I have a couple of that model. RCA out did themselves with that model!
I found, years ago that the output transistors needed resoldering, as they ran rather hot. It's the ones with the heatsinks. Just hit the PC board connections with a little fresh solder an you should good to go.
Thanks, mate! That's two things I can do next Saturday, the other one is change out those two big blue filters. I found an old thread where those capacitors failed and caused problems. What do you mean RCA outdid themselves? When I saw this radio down in the storage basement where members can buy stuff, I fell in love, and did not set it down until I owned it. I even pulled the money out of my wallet with one hand.
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Old 11-12-2016, 08:48 PM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Originally Posted by TUD1 View Post
Thanks, mate! That's two things I can do next Saturday, the other one is change out those two big blue filters. I found an old thread where those capacitors failed and caused problems. What do you mean RCA outdid themselves? When I saw this radio down in the storage basement where members can buy stuff, I fell in love, and did not set it down until I owned it. I even pulled the money out of my wallet with one hand.
When I said they outdid themselves, I meant that I was impressed by the performance.
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Old 11-16-2016, 12:43 PM
Captainclock Captainclock is offline
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I repaired that same exact model radio for a friend of mine who had gotten her radio from her grandfather, all it needed was a pilot bulb replaced (it was a screw-base type bulb) anyways I thought it was a really nice model I believe it dates to the mid 1960s right around the time RCA, Zenith, Magnavox and some of the others started going Solid State, Magnavox had a similar model to this radio from the same time period.
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Old 12-31-2016, 08:09 AM
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Nice radio, but it will never sound as good as the Zenith H845 it's sitting on top of in your picture
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Old 12-31-2016, 08:40 AM
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The best sounding radio I own is in my avatar. That radio sounds absolutely crystal clear, with excellent tonal range. If it broke, I'd be devastated.
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Old 12-31-2016, 09:58 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Originally Posted by TUD1 View Post
The best sounding radio I own is in my avatar. That radio sounds absolutely crystal clear, with excellent tonal range. If it broke, I'd be devastated.
IIRC, that's the last model of the seven tube chassis series. A few tubes were different, a 14GT8 instead of the 19T8, a 12DT8 in the FM front end and a 12BE6 AM osc and mixer. The FM tuning assembly is a lot different and more self contained.
I have that chassis in a few plastic cabinet sets and a clock radio. Slightly different control location.
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Old 12-31-2016, 10:00 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Originally Posted by davet753 View Post
Nice radio, but it will never sound as good as the Zenith H845 it's sitting on top of in your picture
It still pretty well holds it's own.
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Old 12-31-2016, 01:09 PM
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Originally Posted by dieseljeep View Post
It still pretty well holds it's own.
Absolutely. I've got that RCA in the garage, and it sounds fantastic. They're a surprisingly good performer on FM. Next to a Magnavox stereo table model I restored last year, it's the best sounding solid state radio I've came across.

The audio output circuit in the Zenith H845 is nothing special (except for the tone control circuit), and the FM tuner section is a bear to get aligned correctly, but when all is said and done they sound great. I think what helps is the combination of 2 quality speakers and the thick, wood cabinet.

I've got two of the H845's. One is a mint condition all original, and the other is one I restored to use at the office. It's been used all day, 5 days a week, since I restored it about 4 years ago. I started having some FM drift issues last month; a weak 19T8 was the culprit.
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Old 01-06-2017, 09:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TUD1 View Post
The best sounding radio I own is in my avatar. That radio sounds absolutely crystal clear, with excellent tonal range. If it broke, I'd be devastated.
My Aunt near York, Pa had one identical to yours, always tuned to the "beautiful music" easy-listening station. You did not notice the radio right away since it was so sweet it just added to the ambience of a farmhouse kitchen in the 1960's
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Last edited by DavGoodlin; 01-06-2017 at 09:05 AM.
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Old 01-06-2017, 10:16 AM
dieseljeep dieseljeep is offline
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Originally Posted by DavGoodlin View Post
My Aunt near York, Pa had one identical to yours, always tuned to the "beautiful music" easy-listening station. You did not notice the radio right away since it was so sweet it just added to the ambience of a farmhouse kitchen in the 1960's
It's amazing how some of these threads drift off the original topic, which is great and adds to the interest and fine with me!
It's getting a little dry around here!
My question is: was the distortion corrected in the solid state RCA?
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