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Author Topic: Otari MX 5050BIII questions  (Read 16708 times)

Offline Kenkirk

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Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« on: January 06, 2009, 12:28:27 PM »
Happy New Year everybody!

I have a minty Otari MX5050BIII on my bench. It is a buddies that has just subcribed as a charter member after hearing my tapes! Anyway, I am just about done with its tuneup but have hit a snag. Each VU meter needs one bulb. I can't seem to find a quick way to get to these bulbs. Anyone replaced these bulbs?

I also need to place a parts order with Otari, but things seem to have changed since I placed an order a few months ago. I was not able to reach a human, so I sent an email. Anyone order parts recently?

Thanks!!

Ken
Ken Kirkpatrick
Cat Ultimate preamp, Basis Debut Vacuum, Basis Vector tonearm, Urishi,Walker motor drive, Cat JL-1 amps, Sony XA9000Es SACD, Wadia 860,Yamaha CT 7000, Nak Dragon, RX 505, 2 REL Stentor II's, Sonus Faber Amati's, Cardas Golden Cross and Siltec cables, Otari MX 5050 B III, Teac X2000R

Offline dwilawyer

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2009, 01:23:00 AM »
you need to ask JoelJoel he just recently ordered some.

Travis

Offline Kenkirk

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2009, 07:33:49 AM »
Yea I noticed that too. I did get a email reply from Taka and I placed the order. Now to find out the easiest approach to replace the lamps!
Ken Kirkpatrick
Cat Ultimate preamp, Basis Debut Vacuum, Basis Vector tonearm, Urishi,Walker motor drive, Cat JL-1 amps, Sony XA9000Es SACD, Wadia 860,Yamaha CT 7000, Nak Dragon, RX 505, 2 REL Stentor II's, Sonus Faber Amati's, Cardas Golden Cross and Siltec cables, Otari MX 5050 B III, Teac X2000R

Offline Ki Choi

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2009, 01:24:31 PM »
Ken:

To replace the lamps:

You need to remove or pull out the audio section of the deck.
Withoug removing the VU meters, you can gently pry open the clear plastic window exposing the meter face and movement.
You will see two lamps with axial leads soldered into the bottom portion of teh VU meter.
Unsolder the old lamp and resolder the new ones.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Ki
Ki Choi

Offline Kenkirk

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2009, 01:43:40 PM »
Thanks Ki!

I was hoping I could do it this way. I had the audio section open, but before I started to pry on the plasic, I wanted to make sure!

Ken
Ken Kirkpatrick
Cat Ultimate preamp, Basis Debut Vacuum, Basis Vector tonearm, Urishi,Walker motor drive, Cat JL-1 amps, Sony XA9000Es SACD, Wadia 860,Yamaha CT 7000, Nak Dragon, RX 505, 2 REL Stentor II's, Sonus Faber Amati's, Cardas Golden Cross and Siltec cables, Otari MX 5050 B III, Teac X2000R

Offline ironbut

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2009, 02:00:37 PM »
Ken, sometimes doing stuff like this seems like a lot of work for something that isn't necessary for the decks functioning. With the Technics, you have to pull the capstan motor to replace the counter belt so it's somewhat similar (I never look at the counter). The bright side of this is that most of these machines were designed to be assembled by non skilled workers and if done in the correct order, it's pretty foolproof (famous last words). And the more times you do these procedures, the easier it becomes (I can pull my motor in 15 minutes now). The easier it is for you to pull out some of these units, the more likely that you'll do this to get proper access to other things you want to check or replace (with my motor out I can really see how all the adjustments work).
I guess what I'm getting at here is that doing basic repairs on these isn't as tough as many folks might think. Once you get a little confidence it can be pretty fun.
steve koto
 Sony scd 777es(R. Kern mods)> Vpi Aires>Dynavector XX-2mkll>Bent mu>CAT ultimate>CJ premeir 140>Magnepan 1.6qr(Jensen xover)Headphone Eddie Current Zana Deux>AT ad2000,HD800 ,Metric Halo ULN-2 (battery powered),
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Offline Kenkirk

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2009, 05:00:48 PM »
Oh I agree Steve! I have been playing with electronics since I was a kid. Neighbors would drop off stuff for me to try to fix before they threw it in the trash. I would pull the tubes, go test them, clean up everything, look for burnt wires, broken solder joints etc. I was surprised that I could fix about half of the stuff this way. The rest hit the trash. So I have confidence, but I always get a little nervous if the gear looks new. So easy to scratch things when you reach for a beer...  :-)  But anyway, I have worked over a handful of reel to reels. I even completely recapped my Teac X2000r. But I do this for fun. But this Otari on the bench is getting ready for new TP tapes! And it looks sweet! So I have to be careful and not crack the VU meter covers! The rest is done except for the final alignment. I have a MRL tape, but keep hoping my TP alignment tape will show up soon! I need it! My MRL tape is cut at 7.5 ips. I want to dial in these beasts with a 15ips tape.

Also I might add, after working on the Teacs and Pioneers, and Nak cassettes, these Otari's are a treat! They way they open up for service is wonderful!

Ken
Ken Kirkpatrick
Cat Ultimate preamp, Basis Debut Vacuum, Basis Vector tonearm, Urishi,Walker motor drive, Cat JL-1 amps, Sony XA9000Es SACD, Wadia 860,Yamaha CT 7000, Nak Dragon, RX 505, 2 REL Stentor II's, Sonus Faber Amati's, Cardas Golden Cross and Siltec cables, Otari MX 5050 B III, Teac X2000R

Offline Ben

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2009, 05:26:14 PM »
Still you can goof ... I just had it open to find why the idle arm was
sticking and not dropping when the tape playback had ended. The foam
pad had shifted inside. While I had it upside down it was good chance to
clean the heads, so after that delay, I put the side panel back
and moved to test the machine with a tape. Woops ... The side panel
was put on upside down. So after supper I will be putting it right side up.
<--- So I lied about not monkeying around.
 
Set 45,Open baffle speakers,Otari 5050,,Pioneer DV-79AVi DVD/CD/SCAD player

Offline ironbut

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2009, 06:05:07 PM »
Hi Ken, I hope you weren't insulted by my comments? Sometimes the posts I make take advantage of a specific question to make a general statement to the members.
It sounds to me like you 5050 owners should be about ready to start a dedicated thread where you can share your repair/tweaks experiences. Doc tells me that they're really solidly built and that he's super happy with the mods that he's come up with so far. I think that we've had plenty of input on the Technics RS series machines and it would really be great if this forum could become a source for all things Otari  too. They are the most bang for the buck machine out there today and the supply just seems endless ( I almost picked one up a couple of weeks ago).
So, someone needs to step up to the plate and start the Otari MX 5050 thread. I think once the pump is primed, it'll catch fire in no time.
steve koto
 Sony scd 777es(R. Kern mods)> Vpi Aires>Dynavector XX-2mkll>Bent mu>CAT ultimate>CJ premeir 140>Magnepan 1.6qr(Jensen xover)Headphone Eddie Current Zana Deux>AT ad2000,HD800 ,Metric Halo ULN-2 (battery powered),
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Offline Kenkirk

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2009, 08:21:50 PM »
Hi Ken, I hope you weren't insulted by my comments?

Absolutely not! I understand you just fine! And I agree with you. We learn to tweak our turntables, tube amps, etc... why not learn some basic reel to reel alignment! It is fun and not hard. Best to start off with some old beat up Teac found in a garage sale, download a service manual, order a belt and pinch roller and dive in. Big fun. BTW, Taka at Otari told me today there is no service manual for the MX5050 BIII. Whats up with that!!!

I agree about the Otari's. There is a nice supply of them from the broadcast duty days, and they are much easier to work on than the consumer decks. And it is nice to know you can buy a new one also! I am very interested in seeing what Doc has come up with to mod the Otari's. I think they are a very nice robust platform to start from. Mine is stock and it sounds excellent. And it packs tape with a mirror surface! When it is clean anyway...

Ken
Ken Kirkpatrick
Cat Ultimate preamp, Basis Debut Vacuum, Basis Vector tonearm, Urishi,Walker motor drive, Cat JL-1 amps, Sony XA9000Es SACD, Wadia 860,Yamaha CT 7000, Nak Dragon, RX 505, 2 REL Stentor II's, Sonus Faber Amati's, Cardas Golden Cross and Siltec cables, Otari MX 5050 B III, Teac X2000R

Offline ironbut

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2009, 12:57:13 PM »
Yeah, I don't know what's up with the service manual. I know that all the other Otari decks have the big binder type service manuals but other than the user/service manual that around 40+ pages, I've never seen any others.
Have any of you guys ever seen a schematic? There's got to be some floating around out there somewhere.
steve koto
 Sony scd 777es(R. Kern mods)> Vpi Aires>Dynavector XX-2mkll>Bent mu>CAT ultimate>CJ premeir 140>Magnepan 1.6qr(Jensen xover)Headphone Eddie Current Zana Deux>AT ad2000,HD800 ,Metric Halo ULN-2 (battery powered),
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Offline bobschneider

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2009, 01:27:39 PM »
Here's the schematic to the Mark III audio section

http://home.comcast.net/~bobschneider8/Otari/12-Rec%20%26%20Repro%20Amp.jpg

I have the rest of the schematics on my home computer.  I'll try to get them up on my website in the next couple of days
Bob Schneider

Offline ironbut

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2009, 04:21:03 PM »
Fantastic Bob, were you able to find a real service manual then (I just have the download from http://www.analogrules.com/ which doesn't include the schematic). If so, please let us know where to find one.
steve koto
 Sony scd 777es(R. Kern mods)> Vpi Aires>Dynavector XX-2mkll>Bent mu>CAT ultimate>CJ premeir 140>Magnepan 1.6qr(Jensen xover)Headphone Eddie Current Zana Deux>AT ad2000,HD800 ,Metric Halo ULN-2 (battery powered),
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Offline Kenkirk

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2009, 04:30:06 PM »
Thanks Bob!  That is the first schematic I have seen for the deck. Where did you find it???

Ken
Ken Kirkpatrick
Cat Ultimate preamp, Basis Debut Vacuum, Basis Vector tonearm, Urishi,Walker motor drive, Cat JL-1 amps, Sony XA9000Es SACD, Wadia 860,Yamaha CT 7000, Nak Dragon, RX 505, 2 REL Stentor II's, Sonus Faber Amati's, Cardas Golden Cross and Siltec cables, Otari MX 5050 B III, Teac X2000R

Offline bobschneider

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Re: Otari MX 5050BIII questions
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2009, 10:16:34 PM »
All the schematics for the MX-5050 BIII are now up at http://home.comcast.net/~bobschneider8/site/?/photos/.  I also have a pdf of the mechanical drawings and parts lists, although I can't find a way to let anyone access that from my website - send me a PM and I can email it to you.

I got this info from someone who was kind enough to email it to me when I bought my BIII over the summer.  This and the manual with all the adjustment/alignment instructions are all the info I have - I've never seen a full blown service manual, but this info should have pretty much all you need.
Bob Schneider