Sony tuners.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I have a sound system at home which goes to every room. Bit like a hotel one. 4 radio services.

Was installed many years ago - long before Alexa and similar. But as decent quality as the amps and speakers used in each room.

Used to have a mixture of tuners. AM, FM, and DAB. To get all my favourite stations. Now, since FreeView has them all, Sony VTX-D800U TV tuners, used audio only. And like a lot of older Sony stuff, very well made. Likely about 20 years old and on 24/7. Bought used from likely a hotel system.

Last summer in the heat, a couple died. PS faults. They are in a roof space which gets pretty hot in the sun. Turned out to be the SMPS IC. Bought a few spares and got them going again.

One died recently. Thought I still had a spare IC but couldn't find it.

Looked on Ebay, and some complete tuners on offer. Put in a very low bid on two of them, and won them both.

Should have enough to see me out. ;-)

[Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)]

One issue with Freeview is that many of the feeds on there ar mono these days. If you want stereo world service and some of the commercial ones then internet is the only way, For stereo bbc local stations, then fm and dab and internet are the way to go depending on where you are of course. For r4extra, internet again. I do wish the powers that be would try to sort out the complicated mono and stereo feeds, in my view, providing stereo over freeview should be a no brainer and not use a lot of bandwidth. Brian

[Brian Reay]

By coincidence the topic of old audio kit came up in my weekly chat with some American friends yesterday. One of them has a collection of old ( he thinks 40 ish) Sony kit most of which has developed faults- the multi CD deck, cassette deck, and record deck. In his case the faults seem to have been mainly mechanical- drive belts slipping, although a set of contacts needed cleaning on the record deck.

He was able to order new drive belts for the record and cassette deck. The Multi CD deck is more of an issue- it seems the replacement belts aren?t available. He is going to try and make some, apparently it isn?t uncommon. Being a radio amateur and retired engineer, he isn?t afraid to tinker ;-)

[Andy Burns]

Hopefully this won't be a cross-over with the "roof space fire" thread,

4x10W STBs, kept away from anything flammable?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They have zero in the way of ventilation slots, so would seem to run pretty cool under normal conditions. No signs of overheating in the one which had failed. All the caps in the SMPS fine too. Normally the first thing to fail.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Not really. Only time it gets used is at night - and speech only.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Spoke a bit too soon. One has arrived, and powers up just fine. But is tuned to the trnasmnitter wherever it came from, but not London. And the child lock is set. It doesn't need to be set at all to use the tuner, so no factory code like 1234 as on many things. So I'd guess if someone went to the bother of setting it, they'll have used their own number.

Googled for factory reset and found two ways. Neither of which works.

Seller is just a dealer so doesn't know the code.

You get three goes at entering the code then it locks up for a while before you can try again. Dunno for how long.

[sintv]

[Andy Burns]

try 0000

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Tried that and all the obvious ones.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Bit more Googling found 1,9,left,blue, 0,0,6 got it unlocked. Went to retune, but showing no signal in software.

Had another look for the spare SMPS ICs and found them. TOP 244. Fixed the original. It shows full strength and quality on the same aerial feed and working OK again.

Given I only paid £11 including postage, not worth the bother of sending it back, since I'd have to take it to a collection point or pay extra for home collection.

[Brian Reay]

Is the one you've just bought the same model as the existing one? If so, can't you use some of the bits to repair the old one?

I'm also curious what these beasts are. At first I assumed you'd rigged up some custom system using standard Sony units - perhaps with a control system you'd built etc but now I'm thinking it is a commercial system, perhaps like you'd find in a Hotel etc.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The only thing that has failed on any of the existing ones is the TOP244. And when that first failed, I bought 5 spares. Given as is often the case with electronic bits that P&P can be a big part of the total cost.

They are a standard FreeView tuner that you'd have once bought to convert an analogue only TV. Since all new TVs include FreeView, not much demand now.

I'm using them sound only. The aerial feed daisy chains together unlike FM etc receivers, making that side simpler.

It all dates back years. In the 80s, FM reception in this part of London was poor. Meaning a portable radio etc simply didn't work well. So decided on a high quality audio distribution system to every room - run on 10 pair telephone cable.

You could then decide what final audio quality you wanted in each room by the choice of amps and speakers.

Bathroom has ceiling speakers. Kitchen area (much used) LS3/5a.

Assuming listening to the same channel, no audio delay between rooms. Unlike things digital. ;-)

[Robert]

LS3/5A - wow. A retro speaker with an intersting BBC history. Used to cost a fortune on eBAY dependant on actual manufacturer or I think supplied as a kit....

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Last time I looked, they still cost a fortune. Mine are ex broadcast, bought long before they became so 'in fashion'. Still pretty good for a small speaker, though.

[charles]

I've still got mine, too.

[tony sayer]

Yes some made kits, but the better ones were the 11 ohm Rogers ones sometimes now going for over a grand on e-bay;!!