Just to be clear, this video is NOT promoting power washing as a method for cleaning your gear. It was my first time doing it and I took the risk because this is UA-cam, and it happened to work out well in this instance. I had fun making this video and I hope you got some enjoyment from watching it!
I just power washed my greenhouse plastic windows and realized the pressure was high enough to punch holes through it…but your pressure is more diffused so it is unlikely to cause actual damage. Electronics just need to be completely dry before power is applied and it’s ok.
I am a ham radio operator and I remember back in the late 1970s one of our elderly local ham operators took his old Heathkit Receiver down to the car wash for cleaning then he put it in his oven on the lowest heat for a lengthy period of time (of course he removed all the tubes, knobs, and plastic for obvious reasons of course) and it worked fine after a thorough drying and spraying potentiometers with contact cleaner. It’s not something I would have done but with his experience he took precautions and it worked well for him.
Watching your video reminds me of an unforgettable Marantz print ad I saw in the 70's where the company got a letter from the owner of a 2230 whose apartment building caught on fire (a total loss, I think), and as he watched them clearing the debris a crane picked up what he thought was his 2230 receiver. He asked the crane operator to drop the load and it plunged to the ground. He retrieved the waterlogged receiver with its partially melted dial and destroyed power cord, let it dry out over several days, and replaced the power cord. He pugged it in, and the blue dial lit up. Its tuner worked, he checked all the inputs including the phono input and they all worked! Marantz checked his receiver and it still met factory specifications!! That's a testament to the craftsmanship the put into those 70's receivers!
I manufactured printed circuit assemblies for many years and they all went through an automated high pressure hot water wash to clean off the flux present in the solder. They were also conveyed through a heated air dryer section to make sure all the water evaporated. The key is to make sure they are fully dry which you accomplished nicely with your oven. I’m happy to see you didn’t fill it up with rice!
not sure what equipment you had to wash the boards... we had a washer but it was filled with industrial alcohol... the top rim of the bath was a cooler so the alcohol wont evaporate... then of course it comes out into the air dryer.... the key if you use water is to use di water as its pure and has not metalic particles...
Putting a receiver on it's side and shooting it with a high pressure washer and knocking it over...... And putting soaking wet floor mats back into your car......priceless.
Very bold move! I will now subscribe! Not to long I was at an auction & bought a 2015 receiver with the wood option. a 6300 turntable, the 5120 cassette deck & the Imperial 7 speakers and everything had the original owners "Handbook of Instructions" for the great price of $55.00. I couldn't believe it ! The door on the cassette is broke but everything works, the whole system probably could use a good cleaning, but I'm extremely happy to own it. I'm 61 yrs. so I remember when stereos like this we're popular.
That works sometimes. I did this with a 1942 Zenith radio before completely rebuilding it, but I used Purple Power and a brush. It works great now, at least as good as new. Replace every electrolytic in that receiver, check all the transistors, and it will outlast you. Electrolytics last 15 years according to their manufacturers. They turn into resistor/capacitor hybrids after that. Capacitors block DC. Bad capacitors don't. Replace them all.
Wow! I would have never thought to put a vintage receiver through a power wash at the car wash! But it looks like it survived. And not only would I like to see you rebuild and replace what is necessary and bring it back to spec, I’d be willing to take it off your hands when finished. Thanks for another great video and please keep them coming!
Normally with a cap coupled output, the DC at the speaker terminals disappears with a load connected. This is why the "bloop" sound when they first power up.
@@gino3286 You have to understand what happens as a cap charges up. Think of an arrow going in a counter clockwise direction from chassis ground up to the negative side of the coupling cap. This is the charge that accumulates when a positive voltage is applied to the positive side of the cap. It dissipates when a load is connected.
@@mdzacharias hi thank you for the very kind and valuable reply So the coupling cap has one terminal at half the supply voltage and the other to ground voltage continuously?
@@gino3286 Once the cap charges up through the speaker load, the voltage disappears. I don't think of it as "ground" voltage. That is where the speaker connection is made.
Amateur radio guys have been washing and drying in the oven for years. Tube gear loves a great bath with warm soapy water. Just make sure its dry before plugging it up and bring it up slowly...
Thanks David. I picked up a 68 Rockola 440 jukebox that is the filthiest I've ever seen. Oh the stories of some smokey bar this could tell. Anyways, I'd love to bath all the electronics and clean up so I'm just double checking with on if you think that would be ok. Of course I'd let the dry for a long time. Not oven, wife would crush my boys for that. ;-)
I'd expect the output is dc coupled and previous stages are ac coupled. However, I would also anticipate dc on the outputs should cause the protect circuit to disconnect the speaker terminals.
Thanks for taking us on a ride in your 240. I've owned a couple in the past, including a silver wagon with blue interior. They're the working man's Bentley.
When CFC's were banned, The electronics industry moved to H2O as cleaner. i was just worried about the power transformer as the coils could still be wet inside. Heck i even wash my PC's motherboards with H2O and dish soap lol. the key is what you did, dry it. weather you use anhydrous alcohol to displace H2O, Infared(oven), or good old Sun. just make sure to dry it.
I would not be to concerned about the TX as it is encased in metal and was not submerged. Sure water got in it but them things are heavily insulated and water should not get into it deep enough to really be of concern unless the insulation was bad to begin with. Still heating the thing up and thoroughly drying it is always the best thing to do.
I've done the same thing with my power shower head before. Dried it with a hairdryer then put it near a radiator to deep dry. Worked a charm. Best thing i found to use is a steam cleaner. Gets the dirt cleaned off but doesn't really soak the board too much. I just make sure not to spend too long near electrolytic caps with the steam.
Never thought about the power washing process, but working in electronics industry yes we wash water soluable fluxes. We usually use DI/RO water and will meter in an aqueous batch cleaner. Other than you would be shunned by other members of the household, good dishwasher with aqueous batch cleaner in the rinse aid bin works too!
I just want to say what I would do to clean this in a low risk way. If this is discrete component electronics, test the unit, discharge the caps, turn the unit upside down and use a multi straw vacuum head to clean out the heavy dust and dislodge it so it falls out. Use tuner cleaner on all the pots. Spray all the vacuumed spots with 90% alcohol and let soak but not dry. Then rinse with more 90% isopropyl being careful not to get it on the pots or plastic components of the face. If soaked, some plastic components will fracture from alcohol. Let dry in the sun.
I still have my 1976 Marantz 2220b that I got for high school graduation. It has been in my parents house for years unused.. it originally came with the vinyl wood print covered metal cover.. I added the particle board walnut veneer case-- I left the vinyl cover metal cover on and just removed the feet and slid it inside--power cord first.. it still looks the same. I did clean it well a few years ago but it wasn't all that dusty being double vented--two case protection.. the 2220b only has one amplifer unit on the right side sharing both channels. I now just used it for the FM radio every now and then on Saturdays when I'm doing house work. It's a piece of fine furniture basically with the oiled Walnut case.. no scratches after all these years of basically sitting unused. I had used deoxit on the switches back when I dusted/vacuumed it out.. using a soft slim interior paint brush while using the vacuum.. I've replaced all the bulbs with the original fuse type, but that's really it. I don't use it enough for the bulbs to get all that hot. I'm planning to order some blue LED fuse type replacements, but for now it's not really necessary since I use my vintage Yamaha equipment if I play loud music. I remember a magazine article back when I first got the Marantz of a unit that had survived a house fire where the fire department had put out the fire and the Marantz receiver had survived falling through the ground floor during the fire suppression.. a little wet, some of the wood vinyl burnt off and power cord cut off from falling through the second story of the mentioned burned house fire.. I remember thinking how cool and robust this brand was to suvive all of that and fired right up after they replaced the power cord.. this in part was why I wanted one in the first place.. so I got mine as a result of the Stereo Review article.
Tektronix would routinely wash test equipment coming in for repair/recalibration. I have washed many circuit boards from broadcast video tape machines. Those machines were $100,000 when new. The company bought me a dishwasher for that purpose. Then you blow excess water off with a 30 PSI air hose followed by a 17 hour 120° trip through a food dehydrator to get it totally dry.
You got us! Twice!! Moments of incredulity: soap wash and 500 degree bake. Truth be told the whole thing is incredible! Love your channel love your style. I’ve learned so much. Thanks and keep up the great work.
I got one that is worse today from an auction. A apioneer sx 9000. It had a slim Jim wrapper inside . The wood case looks great but has plenty of space to go right on in.
We actually used to wash really dirty test equipment at Hewlett-Packard. We used a compressed air wand that sprayed water and soap solution on the equipment followed by a fresh water hose down and finally we used compressed air to get most of the moisture off followed by a three to four day stay in our hot air oven with blowers circulating the hot air around the equipment. The only casualties was that sometimes the transformers on the older tube type equipment would give out because of incomplete drying, even after seven or eight days, necessitating replacement of the transformer.
I told them to use a vacuum oven. Bean counters estimated it would take just under five years to break even. I never did get to see how they arrived at that estimation.
@@ShainAndrews A friend who worked for one of the big aerospace outfits near LAX told me they had one of those for their in house service shop and it did a fantastic job! HP just never would layout their money for that kind of stuff, especially after the bean counting Harvard trained MBAs got their claws into management.
@@pauliedweasel I left just after Hurd took the helm. The company had been going the wrong direction for far too long before that. I knew it was never going to be the same.
@@ShainAndrews Towards the end of my 15 years in the instrument repair group when the company really started to get into using motivational meetings and pushing their propaganda about having a good attitude, the pirates among us changed their term for the meetings from Quality Circles to Circle Jerks, and the whole attitude blather we started to refer to as your ‘Coefficient of HPeness’ which could either be ‘Up’ or ‘Down’. 😜
Dust has a lot of salts and metal particles and with enough air humidity it can become as conductive as a wire producing shorts, if your circuitry do not have any part that can result damaged by washing it with water then why not give a try, great job. My suggestion is to replace all the potentiometers and switches that generate noise when turning or pushing and refresh all soldering with fresh thin using neutral pine flux, thank you for the video.
A lot of people have no idea that you can wash your electronics. I have done this with my vintage analog synthesizers and it always worked great. Only thing I would say is spray some Simple Green and let it set for 5 min then power wash it to dissolve the difficult dirt. This method worked great.
I did it with my computer after it was in a flood. Took it out cleaned it with soap and water from all the mud and it works. Only things didnt work was a Cd-Rom and HDD.
I did a similar thing with an old Realistic receiver a few years back but with my garden hose. I let it bake in the Florida sun all afternoon and it too worked perfectly - in fact it is still my garage receiver and I play it every day.
I have done a careful water and Windex wash with a garden hose on the driveway several times. It is the quickest way to get all the dirt and grime out so you can move forward with restoration. I only do it in the Summer so that a couple of days of hot Texas sun can dry it completely. I'm sure the power washing will work fine.
Many years ago, c92, my then roomate put his Marantz integrated amp in the bathtub. I was freaking out! But, after about a weeks time dying out, the system powered up and played like magic. This many years later, I am still awestruck. I still won't put my own equipment through similar treatment.
I washed many TV and Radio chassis in the sink or dishwasher but never used a power washer. I used a hair dryer to knock off most of the water and then placed a small table fan next to it for hours, making sure to 100% dry everything before attempting to power it up. I also recommend spraying DeoxIT or WD40 inside potentiometers and other tiny places which might have trapped the water.
I like to use a heat gun at a safe distance, but yes - same effect. You are correct, and it does work. I think he proved that here. I'd hate to let water get into the main power transformer, but they are usually sealed pretty well - and if dried quickly, they be fine.
After finding this channel, I have Upgraded to the LED's and, am also installing the Up2Stream Blue tooth in my Marantz 2218. I never thought it would be sooo easy! Wish I had an "O Scope" to tweak the Pots, and really Dial this old girl back to Factory Spec's! The service manual is amazing.
I have a a Scott 390r that was plugged in underwater for three days. Took it out hosed in off and sun dried it. Still works perfectly. Same with the aiwa cassette deck that was with it.
I could see this more for an amp but a receiver is a no way for me, those usually have paper behing the dial and i would worry about getting moisture in the IF cans and pots
I worked in a shop many years ago that rebuilt mining pumps, 3000 + horsepower and about the size of your Volvo. These things would come out of a mine and they were FILTHY. The control boards inside enclosures looked as dirty as that receiver. All of the electronic PC control boards were carefully removed, washed by hand under a shower head in a sink with a soft brush and degreaser, blown with low pressure compressed air, placed into a dish rack, and then into a small tent with a dehumidifier and a fan blowing on them for 48 hours. No problems whatsoever and the boards looked like new, far easier to test and replace components on for the techs also.
Great work there! I got a 2230 myself this week, and sound on one of the channels gets really low after some minutes, but only when using main speakers. Using the remote speaker outputs, it's perfect. So I guess I'll have to clean that main speaker button.
To date I brought a 2230 and a 2226B back from a similar state. I didn’t power wash mine. After having seen your video I would have. In any case, their restoration is quite fulfilling. Enjoy and have fun. Love your videos.
I have done the same thing on old gear. My friend brought me a Pioneer SX-950 that was in a fire and fell through the floor and into the basement, when the fire department came and put out the fire the reciever sat under water for several days. I let it dry out and I hard wired a power cord and speakers and it came on and the relay clicked and it worked fine. I had to replace all of the jackes and knobs, I used it for about a year until I sold it to my friend and I think he still has it. After that I power wash alot of equipment and let them dry out in the Florida sun. Call me crazy but it works for me.
LOL wow, same here! Very similar deal. A friend had some late 80's Sansui equipment went through a fire and dousing by dirty water and was under water in the basement. He gave me the stuff and I "washed" and blew out w/air, let dry for a week and it all came back to life! Like your stuff, due to the heat melting knobs and stuff, we tossed it out anyway. Shame
Marantz gear is still great in 2022! Nowadays audio manufacturers will tell that you need power conditioner, $500 interconnects, $1000 speaker cables etc in order for your stereo to sound good.
I had done this kind of washing on colour tv, amplifiers, computers and electric fans with bathroom hose. Just cannot bear to see all the dust on the equipment. Simply leave it to dry out for a week and you are ready to go. No need to go through all the above processes.
Why did you not put your floor mats in the oven too? Your car will smell like mold in the summer. :) Nice video. I just bought a 2230 in the same exact shape, but with knobs, indicators, and faceplate intact. I really look forward to following your restoration. Perfect timing for me. BTW, I saw another video of a guy pulling an old receiver out of the mud on the banks of a nasty, polluted river. He hosed it down in his yard and it powered up when dried. Interesting.
This is a real world testament to how "overly built" the 2230's were manufactured. The sound of the 2230 rivals all three of my tube amps, which includes a 300b. The ONLY receiver in my collection that sounds better than the 2230, is my Sansui G-8000. But the 2230 is a photo-finish second place. Luv your channel Bro.
Really enjoy your videos! I'm new to the collectible receiver hobby, but love Marantz and Pioneer stereo receivers. They are truly beautiful music machines. Question though, why bake that receiver in your stove? Wouldn't it just be as practical to let the receiver dry out a couple days? Have a passion for Marantz
Just subscribed. I'm also a Marantz fan. Have been since 1992, it's been years since I looked at my multiple stacks of receivers, I know I have a couple still.
I have cleaned many electronic circuit boards with soapy water, and rinsed. I have a small countertop convection oven in my garage, and i put it on a temp of 145 160 degrees, let circuit board dry, and then switch off the heat and let fan run. Never had any issues.
the secret is drying it out real good .. I've brought receivers' home from the dump frozen in the snowbank let them sit on a heater for a week to dry out and presto work fine . good video
I have wondered about hosing out an old receiver before but never a power washer. I just never had the balls to try it. I bought one of those $90 volume pots from ebay for my 2250b but have yet to install it. I am seeing some alps blue pots on there recently and they have the loudness taps but you need to look hard as most dont have them. I wonder if an alps would fit and sound better. Great video
THANK YOU and if really dirty I am very surprised to clean with high pressure. especially considering the wiring, fear of tearing the wires or damaging them. you put the water under pressure very close to the cards 170 ° it's good for cooking the plastic trays, at least weaken them
Fascinating, after drying you have lots to do for this Marantz. Don't forget about the heat sink grease for the output transistors. Love from Nova Scotia.
i have power washed nearly every audio gear i have worked on (100's). you just have to make really sure you have properly dried it. i usually do all that you have done and just to be extra careful, i let the unit be for a week to get rid of all the moisture. in that time it sits close to my wood stove which is how i heat my cabin 🙂
Awesome. Glad it worked out. You do that with any modern gear and it's gonna break apart from the pressure and melt in the oven. Can you use a hair dryer instead of an oven?
Never use those types of car washes until you bring a bucket with you and spray the water into the bucket to check for sand. Some of these will have a significant amount of debris in the water. If you don't, you can cause alot of damage to your paint (or receiver) by blasting it with sandy water.
Where is this wonderful place with the heated garage bays! Somehow, I'm not surprised that one of those vintage Marantz receivers would still work even after being pressure washed. I think there is a vintage ad out there that claimed that a Marantz from that era survived smoke and fire, a fall all the way to the basement during the house fire. Then a good flooding from the firefighting and weather getting into the burnt out house. Apparently it was still working and testing up to spec, even though it was all beaten up.
Washing electronics is actually perfectly safe as long as you discharge the capacitors FIRST, and properly lubricate the pots once it is finished drying in order to prevent any oxidation. i've washed keyboards, PC motherboards, video cards, amplifiers, and more. The thing you have to be most careful of is properly drying chokes, transformers, and other windings and make very sure water isn't hiding between them and the PCB. I set my oven on "dehydrate", which makes it about 140'f and I let it heat for about 4 hours. the plastic doesn't get all smelly when you keep the heat low also. Oh.. and i normally use an ultrasonic cleaner. Pressure washing can remove lacquer on windings.
You forgot to make use of your sledgehammer as a sonic cleaner....by taping the stereos chassis with as much force as possible while holding a steady flow of garden hose water on it! I hear it does wonders!
Seems crazy but its not, long as it was discharged before washing and dried before powering back on. I build used gaming PCs, I've put a few motherboards and video cards through the dishwasher and wash other parts in the sink with soapy water. Dry them out in the oven at 200°f leave the door cracked a bit. I usually only do this on used parts that came from a smokers home. They stink and usually covered in yellowish tacky coating.
I'm never really clean the pots I kind of blow them out with some compressed air and then spray them with a light WD-40 or something some kind of oil sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't
Dude, some of your viewers are Seniors with weak hearts. Take it ez on us man. I bout had a stroke when you moved toward the receiver with the blue soap brush.
My peak cringe moment was when you tried to power wash the bottom while it was standing on its side. I knew that it was going to fall on the cement with a sickening thud. You got lucky. Good thing these things are built like tanks. I own a 2020B, two 2245's and a 2325 that I use every. single. day. for hours on end. LOVE Marantz. Really enjoying your channel, too.
Using Deoxit D5 and compressed air instead as my power supply is apparently not the same beast as the Marantz. The Power Wash was wild; however, it was the Baking at 170 for 90 minutes that floored me. Wow. Just for that I have to subscribe and see what's next.
This video is a good thing. Now if anyone sees an orphaned vintage amplifier laying in a pile on the side of the road or a landfill they might be hesitant to just think: it's been out in the elements for a while and is surely won't work now??? They might grab it. Bring it back to their abode and give it a good home. As this video suggests, it might still work fine.
New sub here. Between the humour, the cool old Volvo & cool old electronics the channel really ought to take off well. Key to washing electronics is (as already stated loads of times) to make sure it's 100% dry before applying power, and ideally before weeks pass... Main thing that worries me about pressure washing is driving moisture into bigger transformers &/or damaging smaller transformers/coils. Other than that, hosing off is a reasonable way of cleaning grime off & in extreme circumstances (lots of cat piss) I've even thrown them in the dishwasher.
That's what we do in the factory, brand-new PC boards of all types are put in a "dishwasher" made with slots for the boards. I was shocked when I first saw it, thinking water was anathema to any electronics. Other places I worked used trichloroethylene(then it was banned) nasty stuff, but wow does it work, and of course alcohol.
The DC voltage is there when load resistor in not connected because it is capacitatively coupled speakers. When you connect load or speakers, the capacitor gets charged and open circuit and no voltage between output and ground. Hopefully this explains. You should get DC voltage with no load, that's healthy.
Wow...I have a Sony STR-D2020 receiver that needs new main audio filter caps, both are blown out... I'm willing to pressure wash the inside of it because its loaded, and I mean loaded with dust, and grime even though it was stored in thick sealed bag inside the house for the last 30 years....great job on this Marantz !!!
Funny. Time will tell if that bath did some damage. It’s true that a build up of dirt will cause problems, but I generally use misty circuit card cleaner and a paint brush to clean.
A few decades ago I accidentally dumped a pint of india ink into my Harmon Kardon receiver, so I unplugged it and opened the cover and wiped up as much as I could with a pile of napkins, and then I let it dry. When I tried it 2 days later the only sound that came out was a loud hum, so I opened it up again and went to work with a toothbrush and water and got a lot more ink out. When I started it up I could hear the radio but there was still a hum. So I took it over to the sink and ran water on it for about 20 minutes until the water ran clean. This time I dried it in the oven with just the pilot flame on, and when I turned it on and it was perfect. I used it for 3 more years and then sold it.
As long as it’s just a short time getting electronics really wet is fine, provided the very important caveat that there is no power at all - even batteries, and it’s completely dried soon after. I’ve accidentally left a humidifier running just next to a computer lying open on its side, and it was soaking wet inside - fortunately I discovered it and after drying there were no problems with it even months later… :) Gotta be careful though when doing high pressure that any material like oils and other lubricants will get washed away too, so any moving parts need to have care taken like pots and switches etc. Old electronics are like old Volvos, they are usually really rugged and can take a lot and last long if you just take care of them. ;)
The thing about elecronics is that if it is completely discharged, it will not actually be destroyed since the electronics destruction comes from water short circuiting the electronics itself. That being said, as some others have said: Never actually take this risk, you never know if something is completely discharged or not.
Just to be clear, this video is NOT promoting power washing as a method for cleaning your gear. It was my first time doing it and I took the risk because this is UA-cam, and it happened to work out well in this instance. I had fun making this video and I hope you got some enjoyment from watching it!
if its dried thoroughly it should be ok . Get it dry !
Why not? As long as the resistors don't fly around and the thing stays upright and not bangs on the floor; )
I just power washed my greenhouse plastic windows and realized the pressure was high enough to punch holes through it…but your pressure is more diffused so it is unlikely to cause actual damage. Electronics just need to be completely dry before power is applied and it’s ok.
I am a ham radio operator and I remember back in the late 1970s one of our elderly local ham operators took his old Heathkit Receiver down to the car wash for cleaning then he put it in his oven on the lowest heat for a lengthy period of time (of course he removed all the tubes, knobs, and plastic for obvious reasons of course) and it worked fine after a thorough drying and spraying potentiometers with contact cleaner. It’s not something I would have done but with his experience he took precautions and it worked well for him.
@@polarbear3427 jajajaajjaaj
Watching your video reminds me of an unforgettable Marantz print ad I saw in the 70's where the company got a letter from the owner of a 2230 whose apartment building caught on fire (a total loss, I think), and as he watched them clearing the debris a crane picked up what he thought was his 2230 receiver. He asked the crane operator to drop the load and it plunged to the ground. He retrieved the waterlogged receiver with its partially melted dial and destroyed power cord, let it dry out over several days, and replaced the power cord. He pugged it in, and the blue dial lit up. Its tuner worked, he checked all the inputs including the phono input and they all worked! Marantz checked his receiver and it still met factory specifications!! That's a testament to the craftsmanship the put into those 70's receivers!
I very much recall the ad. IT was placed in audio and stereo review magazine of the time from 70s.
Now you will listen to a much more cleaner sound.
It's more better.
🤣🤣 Bubbly sounding 😆
The pressure washing was hard enough to handle but I about cried when it tip over and smacked on the concrete
I manufactured printed circuit assemblies for many years and they all went through an automated high pressure hot water wash to clean off the flux present in the solder. They were also conveyed through a heated air dryer section to make sure all the water evaporated. The key is to make sure they are fully dry which you accomplished nicely with your oven. I’m happy to see you didn’t fill it up with rice!
not sure what equipment you had to wash the boards... we had a washer but it was filled with industrial alcohol... the top rim of the bath was a cooler so the alcohol wont evaporate... then of course it comes out into the air dryer.... the key if you use water is to use di water as its pure and has not metalic particles...
Putting a receiver on it's side and shooting it with a high pressure washer and knocking it over...... And putting soaking wet floor mats back into your car......priceless.
But the car looks in good shape for its age and is still going… maybe this dudes on to something?
Yes pretty stupid isn't it.
If the water was not bad Enuff, it falls over, the topper is he bakes it. The bunus!
Very bold move! I will now subscribe! Not to long I was at an auction & bought a 2015 receiver with the wood option. a 6300 turntable, the 5120 cassette deck & the Imperial 7 speakers and everything had the original owners "Handbook of Instructions" for the great price of $55.00. I couldn't believe it ! The door on the cassette is broke but everything works, the whole system probably could use a good cleaning, but I'm extremely happy to own it. I'm 61 yrs. so I remember when stereos like this we're popular.
That works sometimes. I did this with a 1942 Zenith radio before completely rebuilding it, but I used Purple Power and a brush. It works great now, at least as good as new. Replace every electrolytic in that receiver, check all the transistors, and it will outlast you. Electrolytics last 15 years according to their manufacturers. They turn into resistor/capacitor hybrids after that. Capacitors block DC. Bad capacitors don't. Replace them all.
Wow! I would have never thought to put a vintage receiver through a power wash at the car wash! But it looks like it survived. And not only would I like to see you rebuild and replace what is necessary and bring it back to spec, I’d be willing to take it off your hands when finished. Thanks for another great video and please keep them coming!
Go ruin your own
Normally with a cap coupled output, the DC at the speaker terminals disappears with a load connected. This is why the "bloop" sound when they first power up.
Hi i do not understand how with a cap coupled out we get DC The cap should not block DC ?
can it be leaking ?
@@gino3286 You have to understand what happens as a cap charges up. Think of an arrow going in a counter clockwise direction from chassis ground up to the negative side of the coupling cap. This is the charge that accumulates when a positive voltage is applied to the positive side of the cap. It dissipates when a load is connected.
@@mdzacharias hi thank you for the very kind and valuable reply So the coupling cap has one terminal at half the supply voltage and the other to ground voltage continuously?
@@gino3286 Once the cap charges up through the speaker load, the voltage disappears. I don't think of it as "ground" voltage. That is where the speaker connection is made.
It's not cap coupled.
Amateur radio guys have been washing and drying in the oven for years. Tube gear loves a great bath with warm soapy water. Just make sure its dry before plugging it up and bring it up slowly...
Thanks David. I picked up a 68 Rockola 440 jukebox that is the filthiest I've ever seen. Oh the stories of some smokey bar this could tell. Anyways, I'd love to bath all the electronics and clean up so I'm just double checking with on if you think that would be ok. Of course I'd let the dry for a long time. Not oven, wife would crush my boys for that. ;-)
It's a cap coupled output amplifier. It will have DC riding until a load is present.
I'd expect the output is dc coupled and previous stages are ac coupled. However, I would also anticipate dc on the outputs should cause the protect circuit to disconnect the speaker terminals.
Thanks for taking us on a ride in your 240. I've owned a couple in the past, including a silver wagon with blue interior. They're the working man's Bentley.
You might want to put a small amount of grease in the bearings of the main tuning cap. Deoxit fader lube the pots .
When CFC's were banned, The electronics industry moved to H2O as cleaner.
i was just worried about the power transformer as the coils could still be wet inside.
Heck i even wash my PC's motherboards with H2O and dish soap lol.
the key is what you did, dry it.
weather you use anhydrous alcohol to displace H2O, Infared(oven), or good old Sun. just make sure to dry it.
I would not be to concerned about the TX as it is encased in metal and was not submerged. Sure water got in it but them things are heavily insulated and water should not get into it deep enough to really be of concern unless the insulation was bad to begin with. Still heating the thing up and thoroughly drying it is always the best thing to do.
I've done the same thing with my power shower head before. Dried it with a hairdryer then put it near a radiator to deep dry. Worked a charm.
Best thing i found to use is a steam cleaner. Gets the dirt cleaned off but doesn't really soak the board too much. I just make sure not to spend too long near electrolytic caps with the steam.
Never thought about the power washing process, but working in electronics industry yes we wash water soluable fluxes. We usually use DI/RO water and will meter in an aqueous batch cleaner. Other than you would be shunned by other members of the household, good dishwasher with aqueous batch cleaner in the rinse aid bin works too!
Vast majority of electronics do fine when they get wet, the secret is leaving them to dry in front of a fan for several days
99% rubbing alcohol works a treat. You can power it up within minutes.
i plug it in to dry faster
Wrong
Got a sub from me. When you approached the amp with the soapy brush I swear to god my heart stopped for a second. Good content!
I just want to say what I would do to clean this in a low risk way. If this is discrete component electronics, test the unit, discharge the caps, turn the unit upside down and use a multi straw vacuum head to clean out the heavy dust and dislodge it so it falls out. Use tuner cleaner on all the pots. Spray all the vacuumed spots with 90% alcohol and let soak but not dry. Then rinse with more 90% isopropyl being careful not to get it on the pots or plastic components of the face. If soaked, some plastic components will fracture from alcohol. Let dry in the sun.
Don't forget the fresh garlic!
Oh lordy. Everyone wants their own channel, but they don't want to put in the effort.
I still have my 1976 Marantz 2220b that I got for high school graduation. It has been in my parents house for years unused.. it originally came with the vinyl wood print covered metal cover.. I added the particle board walnut veneer case-- I left the vinyl cover metal cover on and just removed the feet and slid it inside--power cord first.. it still looks the same. I did clean it well a few years ago but it wasn't all that dusty being double vented--two case protection.. the 2220b only has one amplifer unit on the right side sharing both channels. I now just used it for the FM radio every now and then on Saturdays when I'm doing house work. It's a piece of fine furniture basically with the oiled Walnut case.. no scratches after all these years of basically sitting unused. I had used deoxit on the switches back when I dusted/vacuumed it out.. using a soft slim interior paint brush while using the vacuum.. I've replaced all the bulbs with the original fuse type, but that's really it. I don't use it enough for the bulbs to get all that hot. I'm planning to order some blue LED fuse type replacements, but for now it's not really necessary since I use my vintage Yamaha equipment if I play loud music. I remember a magazine article back when I first got the Marantz of a unit that had survived a house fire where the fire department had put out the fire and the Marantz receiver had survived falling through the ground floor during the fire suppression.. a little wet, some of the wood vinyl burnt off and power cord cut off from falling through the second story of the mentioned burned house fire.. I remember thinking how cool and robust this brand was to suvive all of that and fired right up after they replaced the power cord.. this in part was why I wanted one in the first place.. so I got mine as a result of the Stereo Review article.
Tektronix would routinely wash test equipment coming in for repair/recalibration. I have washed many circuit boards from broadcast video tape machines. Those machines were $100,000 when new. The company bought me a dishwasher for that purpose. Then you blow excess water off with a 30 PSI air hose followed by a 17 hour 120° trip through a food dehydrator to get it totally dry.
You got us! Twice!! Moments of incredulity: soap wash and 500 degree bake. Truth be told the whole thing is incredible! Love your channel love your style. I’ve learned so much. Thanks and keep up the great work.
I had a 2230 for many years. Best sounding receiver I ever had until I moved on to an AV 5.1 receiver. I loved it!!
I got one that is worse today from an auction. A apioneer sx 9000. It had a slim Jim wrapper inside . The wood case looks great but has plenty of space to go right on in.
We actually used to wash really dirty test equipment at Hewlett-Packard. We used a compressed air wand that sprayed water and soap solution on the equipment followed by a fresh water hose down and finally we used compressed air to get most of the moisture off followed by a three to four day stay in our hot air oven with blowers circulating the hot air around the equipment. The only casualties was that sometimes the transformers on the older tube type equipment would give out because of incomplete drying, even after seven or eight days, necessitating replacement of the transformer.
I told them to use a vacuum oven. Bean counters estimated it would take just under five years to break even. I never did get to see how they arrived at that estimation.
@@ShainAndrews A friend who worked for one of the big aerospace outfits near LAX told me they had one of those for their in house service shop and it did a fantastic job! HP just never would layout their money for that kind of stuff, especially after the bean counting Harvard trained MBAs got their claws into management.
@@pauliedweasel I left just after Hurd took the helm. The company had been going the wrong direction for far too long before that. I knew it was never going to be the same.
@@ShainAndrews Towards the end of my 15 years in the instrument repair group when the company really started to get into using motivational meetings and pushing their propaganda about having a good attitude, the pirates among us changed their term for the meetings from Quality Circles to Circle Jerks, and the whole attitude blather we started to refer to as your ‘Coefficient of HPeness’ which could either be ‘Up’ or ‘Down’. 😜
Dust has a lot of salts and metal particles and with enough air humidity it can become as conductive as a wire producing shorts, if your circuitry do not have any part that can result damaged by washing it with water then why not give a try, great job. My suggestion is to replace all the potentiometers and switches that generate noise when turning or pushing and refresh all soldering with fresh thin using neutral pine flux, thank you for the video.
A lot of people have no idea that you can wash your electronics. I have done this with my vintage analog synthesizers and it always worked great. Only thing I would say is spray some Simple Green and let it set for 5 min then power wash it to dissolve the difficult dirt. This method worked great.
Simple Green is great for removing cigarette tar.
I did it with my computer after it was in a flood. Took it out cleaned it with soap and water from all the mud and it works. Only things didnt work was a Cd-Rom and HDD.
I did a similar thing with an old Realistic receiver a few years back but with my garden hose. I let it bake in the Florida sun all afternoon and it too worked perfectly - in fact it is still my garage receiver and I play it every day.
I have done a careful water and Windex wash with a garden hose on the driveway several times. It is the quickest way to get all the dirt and grime out so you can move forward with restoration. I only do it in the Summer so that a couple of days of hot Texas sun can dry it completely. I'm sure the power washing will work fine.
Many years ago, c92, my then roomate put his Marantz integrated amp in the bathtub. I was freaking out! But, after about a weeks time dying out, the system powered up and played like magic. This many years later, I am still awestruck.
I still won't put my own equipment through similar treatment.
You were lucky to have not damaged the fragile tuning capacitor. Some had Mica wafers in the trim pots.
Nope. You are wrong. It wasn't luck.
I washed many TV and Radio chassis in the sink or dishwasher but never used a power washer. I used a hair dryer to knock off most of the water and then placed a small table fan next to it for hours, making sure to 100% dry everything before attempting to power it up. I also recommend spraying DeoxIT or WD40 inside potentiometers and other tiny places which might have trapped the water.
I like to use a heat gun at a safe distance, but yes - same effect. You are correct, and it does work. I think he proved that here. I'd hate to let water get into the main power transformer, but they are usually sealed pretty well - and if dried quickly, they be fine.
After finding this channel, I have Upgraded to the LED's and, am also installing the Up2Stream Blue tooth in my Marantz 2218. I never thought it would be sooo easy! Wish I had an "O Scope" to tweak the Pots, and really Dial this old girl back to Factory Spec's! The service manual is amazing.
Those aren't "upgrades". That is called "molestation", and reduces the value of the gear.
You don't need a scope to "tweak" the pots. You only need a decent multi-meter. Preferably one with a needle that is sensitive. No scope required.
I should drag my sx-880 out of it's clean closet and fire it up, someday. Got an old Mitsubishi amp out in the shed, too.
Not something I would attempt. You are one brave man.
I have a a Scott 390r that was plugged in underwater for three days. Took it out hosed in off and sun dried it. Still works perfectly. Same with the aiwa cassette deck that was with it.
So that's what happened to your spouse. I'd take this comment down if I were you. lol
I could see this more for an amp but a receiver is a no way for me, those usually have paper behing the dial and i would worry about getting moisture in the IF cans and pots
I worked in a shop many years ago that rebuilt mining pumps, 3000 + horsepower and about the size of your Volvo. These things would come out of a mine and they were FILTHY. The control boards inside enclosures looked as dirty as that receiver. All of the electronic PC control boards were carefully removed, washed by hand under a shower head in a sink with a soft brush and degreaser, blown with low pressure compressed air, placed into a dish rack, and then into a small tent with a dehumidifier and a fan blowing on them for 48 hours. No problems whatsoever and the boards looked like new, far easier to test and replace components on for the techs also.
Great work there! I got a 2230 myself this week, and sound on one of the channels gets really low after some minutes, but only when using main speakers. Using the remote speaker outputs, it's perfect. So I guess I'll have to clean that main speaker button.
I can hear the warm Marantz sound just through your microphone, and my "poor" Sony TA 419R. Nice!
Because of you , I have my Marantz 2270 . I learned from you . Thanks !
I really enjoy this channel, and your sense of humor.
To date I brought a 2230 and a 2226B back from a similar state. I didn’t power wash mine. After having seen your video I would have. In any case, their restoration is quite fulfilling. Enjoy and have fun. Love your videos.
I have done the same thing on old gear. My friend brought me a Pioneer SX-950 that was in a fire and fell through the floor and into the basement, when the fire department came and put out the fire the reciever sat under water for several days. I let it dry out and I hard wired a power cord and speakers and it came on and the relay clicked and it worked fine. I had to replace all of the jackes and knobs, I used it for about a year until I sold it to my friend and I think he still has it. After that I power wash alot of equipment and let them dry out in the Florida sun. Call me crazy but it works for me.
LOL wow, same here! Very similar deal. A friend had some late 80's Sansui equipment went through a fire and dousing by dirty water and was under water in the basement. He gave me the stuff and I "washed" and blew out w/air, let dry for a week and it all came back to life! Like your stuff, due to the heat melting knobs and stuff, we tossed it out anyway. Shame
That was a lot cheaper than half a case of contact cleaner. Drying it in the oven was priceless.
Marantz gear is still great in 2022! Nowadays audio manufacturers will tell that you need power conditioner, $500 interconnects, $1000 speaker cables etc in order for your stereo to sound good.
Imagine her surprise if your wife walks in when you're taking it out of the oven. "What's for supper?"
I have washed receiver's before , they work great and do not rust.
Just dry them.
Tektronix used to wash their oscilloscopes, and was a recommended cleaning method
Thank you so much for saying Stations not Channels as this generations says.
I had done this kind of washing on colour tv, amplifiers, computers and electric fans with bathroom hose. Just cannot bear to see all the dust on the equipment. Simply leave it to dry out for a week and you are ready to go. No need to go through all the above processes.
Awesome!! Amazing how well built these units are! Made to take a beating!
No they aren't made to take a beating. No telling how much unseen damage was done when it hit the concrete.
Why did you not put your floor mats in the oven too? Your car will smell like mold in the summer. :)
Nice video. I just bought a 2230 in the same exact shape, but with knobs, indicators, and faceplate intact. I really look forward to following your restoration. Perfect timing for me.
BTW, I saw another video of a guy pulling an old receiver out of the mud on the banks of a nasty, polluted river. He hosed it down in his yard and it powered up when dried. Interesting.
This is a real world testament to how "overly built" the 2230's were manufactured. The sound of the 2230 rivals all three of my tube amps, which includes a 300b. The ONLY receiver in my collection that sounds better than the 2230, is my Sansui G-8000. But the 2230 is a photo-finish second place. Luv your channel Bro.
Really enjoy your videos! I'm new to the collectible receiver hobby, but love Marantz and Pioneer stereo receivers. They are truly beautiful music machines. Question though, why bake that receiver in your stove? Wouldn't it just be as practical to let the receiver dry out a couple days?
Have a passion for Marantz
It re-flows the solder and of course dries it in the process. 🇨🇦✌️
This is the content we crave.
I was thinking, spot free option only, then I saw the soap brush! You got me 😮
Just subscribed. I'm also a Marantz fan. Have been since 1992, it's been years since I looked at my multiple stacks of receivers, I know I have a couple still.
Water shouldn't hurt the components in the amplifier as long as it dries completely before you plug it in
Aidan- happy that experiment worked and you have a project worth your time. I might have served it with a nice bechamel sauce though.
I have cleaned many electronic circuit boards with soapy water, and rinsed. I have a small countertop convection oven in my garage, and i put it on a temp of 145 160 degrees, let circuit board dry, and then switch off the heat and let fan run. Never had any issues.
the secret is drying it out real good .. I've brought receivers' home from the dump frozen in the snowbank let them sit on a heater for a week to dry out and presto work fine . good video
Wow, you have a Volvo 240 Wagon and a Jaguar XJS with an LS swap. You are my hero!
I've never power washed before being worried about the tuner but I have used an air compressor, paint brush and cans of cheap contact cleaner.
Man I miss my old Volvo!! New sub, buds. Fixing old hifi gear? I’m in.
Despite your disclaimer you've set a dangerous precedent. I'm off to the jet wash tomorrow morning with my Pioneer SX-650.
I have wondered about hosing out an old receiver before but never a power washer. I just never had the balls to try it. I bought one of those $90 volume pots from ebay for my 2250b but have yet to install it. I am seeing some alps blue pots on there recently and they have the loudness taps but you need to look hard as most dont have them. I wonder if an alps would fit and sound better. Great video
When I saw you grab the brush at the car wash my jaw dropped. You're a funny guy Tyler.
THANK YOU and if really dirty I am very surprised to clean with high pressure. especially considering the wiring, fear of tearing the wires or damaging them. you put the water under pressure very close to the cards 170 ° it's good for cooking the plastic trays, at least weaken them
Fascinating, after drying you have lots to do for this Marantz. Don't forget about the heat sink grease for the output transistors. Love from Nova Scotia.
i have power washed nearly every audio gear i have worked on (100's). you just have to make really sure you have properly dried it. i usually do all that you have done and just to be extra careful, i let the unit be for a week to get rid of all the moisture. in that time it sits close to my wood stove which is how i heat my cabin 🙂
Awesome. Glad it worked out. You do that with any modern gear and it's gonna break apart from the pressure and melt in the oven. Can you use a hair dryer instead of an oven?
Never use those types of car washes until you bring a bucket with you and spray the water into the bucket to check for sand.
Some of these will have a significant amount of debris in the water.
If you don't, you can cause alot of damage to your paint (or receiver) by blasting it with sandy water.
I've cooked motherboards in the oven to revive them. Just because someone said it can be done!! It worked.
I've heard of using a dish washer for cleaning boards. I've never done it but it should work ok like this did
Where is this wonderful place with the heated garage bays! Somehow, I'm not surprised that one of those vintage Marantz receivers would still work even after being pressure washed. I think there is a vintage ad out there that claimed that a Marantz from that era survived smoke and fire, a fall all the way to the basement during the house fire. Then a good flooding from the firefighting and weather getting into the burnt out house. Apparently it was still working and testing up to spec, even though it was all beaten up.
But How long time it worked after this power wash?
That was awesome in more ways than i thought imaginable
I’ve done a lot of crazy things, including using my gas oven to dry equipment, but never washed something in that manor. 😁
You have a very unorthodox way of cleaning stereo gear , But @ the end of the day it works ! kudos young man.
Washing electronics is actually perfectly safe as long as you discharge the capacitors FIRST, and properly lubricate the pots once it is finished drying in order to prevent any oxidation. i've washed keyboards, PC motherboards, video cards, amplifiers, and more. The thing you have to be most careful of is properly drying chokes, transformers, and other windings and make very sure water isn't hiding between them and the PCB. I set my oven on "dehydrate", which makes it about 140'f and I let it heat for about 4 hours. the plastic doesn't get all smelly when you keep the heat low also. Oh.. and i normally use an ultrasonic cleaner. Pressure washing can remove lacquer on windings.
You forgot to make use of your sledgehammer as a sonic cleaner....by taping the stereos chassis with as much force as possible while holding a steady flow of garden hose water on it! I hear it does wonders!
Seems crazy but its not, long as it was discharged before washing and dried before powering back on. I build used gaming PCs, I've put a few motherboards and video cards through the dishwasher and wash other parts in the sink with soapy water. Dry them out in the oven at 200°f leave the door cracked a bit. I usually only do this on used parts that came from a smokers home. They stink and usually covered in yellowish tacky coating.
Classic... I once did the same thing with a hose on a cheap vintage receiver. Crazy that thing works 😊👍
I'm never really clean the pots I kind of blow them out with some compressed air and then spray them with a light WD-40 or something some kind of oil sometimes it worked sometimes it didn't
Dude, some of your viewers are Seniors with weak hearts. Take it ez on us man. I bout had a stroke when you moved toward the receiver with the blue soap brush.
My peak cringe moment was when you tried to power wash the bottom while it was standing on its side. I knew that it was going to fall on the cement with a sickening thud. You got lucky. Good thing these things are built like tanks. I own a 2020B, two 2245's and a 2325 that I use every. single. day. for hours on end. LOVE Marantz. Really enjoying your channel, too.
Using Deoxit D5 and compressed air instead as my power supply is apparently not the same beast as the Marantz. The Power Wash was wild; however, it was the Baking at 170 for 90 minutes that floored me. Wow. Just for that I have to subscribe and see what's next.
This video is a good thing. Now if anyone sees an orphaned vintage amplifier laying in a pile on the side of the road or a landfill they might be hesitant to just think: it's been out in the elements for a while and is surely won't work now??? They might grab it. Bring it back to their abode and give it a good home. As this video suggests, it might still work fine.
New sub here. Between the humour, the cool old Volvo & cool old electronics the channel really ought to take off well. Key to washing electronics is (as already stated loads of times) to make sure it's 100% dry before applying power, and ideally before weeks pass... Main thing that worries me about pressure washing is driving moisture into bigger transformers &/or damaging smaller transformers/coils. Other than that, hosing off is a reasonable way of cleaning grime off & in extreme circumstances (lots of cat piss) I've even thrown them in the dishwasher.
That's what we do in the factory, brand-new PC boards of all types are put in a "dishwasher" made with slots for the boards. I was shocked when I first saw it, thinking water was anathema to any electronics. Other places I worked used trichloroethylene(then it was banned) nasty stuff, but wow does it work, and of course alcohol.
The DC voltage is there when load resistor in not connected because it is capacitatively coupled speakers. When you connect load or speakers, the capacitor gets charged and open circuit and no voltage between output and ground. Hopefully this explains. You should get DC voltage with no load, that's healthy.
Wow...I have a Sony STR-D2020 receiver that needs new main audio filter caps, both are blown out... I'm willing to pressure wash the inside of it because its loaded, and I mean loaded with dust, and grime even though it was stored in thick sealed bag inside the house for the last 30 years....great job on this Marantz !!!
Funny. Time will tell if that bath did some damage. It’s true that a build up of dirt will cause problems, but I generally use misty circuit card cleaner and a paint brush to clean.
I just stumbled onto your channel and it's an everyday mood for me. Liked the vid!
A few decades ago I accidentally dumped a pint of india ink into my Harmon Kardon receiver, so I unplugged it and opened the cover and wiped up as much as I could with a pile of napkins, and then I let it dry. When I tried it 2 days later the only sound that came out was a loud hum, so I opened it up again and went to work with a toothbrush and water and got a lot more ink out. When I started it up I could hear the radio but there was still a hum. So I took it over to the sink and ran water on it for about 20 minutes until the water ran clean. This time I dried it in the oven with just the pilot flame on, and when I turned it on and it was perfect. I used it for 3 more years and then sold it.
Try Caig DeoxIT Faderlube on the volume control, recommend by the best electronic manufacturers.
As long as it’s just a short time getting electronics really wet is fine, provided the very important caveat that there is no power at all - even batteries, and it’s completely dried soon after.
I’ve accidentally left a humidifier running just next to a computer lying open on its side, and it was soaking wet inside - fortunately I discovered it and after drying there were no problems with it even months later… :)
Gotta be careful though when doing high pressure that any material like oils and other lubricants will get washed away too, so any moving parts need to have care taken like pots and switches etc.
Old electronics are like old Volvos, they are usually really rugged and can take a lot and last long if you just take care of them. ;)
Your one crazy dude, I would have thought caps, transformer ect to fail from moisture. You're very Lucky. Good video.
The thing about elecronics is that if it is completely discharged, it will not actually be destroyed since the electronics destruction comes from water short circuiting the electronics itself.
That being said, as some others have said: Never actually take this risk, you never know if something is completely discharged or not.