Hoping for some help

[JDCrae]

So the first receiver I ever bought, my Kenwood VR-507 is in use down in the basement on my workbench. It has suited me well, well powered and has been a great piece to have. I bought it in the UK when I was stationed in England, so it is a dual voltage version, which to my understanding is pretty rare to find here in the states.

The remote crapped out forever ago, apparently the IR sensor on the inside of the machine was known to go bad on these things, and I never really cared as I was usually close to it anyway, but the volume knob problem I am having is driving me insane. This is the unit I use to test anything, and for music while I am working on god knows what The volume knob doesn't respond well unless you turn it slower than you thought you could turn anything. If you even remotely turn it like a normal person would, the dB number on the screen goes all over the place, and typically settles where you started, sometimes going lower. This makes it tough when you need to quickly turn down the volume for something important, as that is not really an option.

Anyone know anything about this type of problem or what would be entailed in repairing. Not really trying to dump a lot of money in it, but also don't want to spend alot replacing it either. Its good for 100 watts per channel stereo, or 140 if I run it on 220 at 8 ohms. Nice headroom to test just about anything. Things weighs like 50 lbs I swear.

From my limited understanding, its something like a rotary encoder, not a typical potentiometer, but I could be wrong on that as well. Any suggestions on how to fix it myself or who to bring it to for a reasonable price would be hugely appreciated!

Jeff

Couple addendums, I know little to nothing about electronics. I understand car wiring, house wiring, and crossover networks to a minimal degree, but as to what goes on in that black box? Nada. Just wanted to put that out there

[Roscoe Primrose]

Do some of the legwork for us... See if you can find a schematic/service manual on-line somewhere.

Roscoe

[JDCrae]

Was actually searching all day for that. All I have been able to find is the attached. Am continuing to look but not sure if this is even helpful. The filename said 505 but I thought I saw 507 in the diagram

Attachments

[JDCrae]

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/698432 ... uct-VR-507

Wasn't letting me download it

[Roscoe Primrose]

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/698432/Kenwood-Vr-505.html#product-VR-507

Wasn't letting me download it

I got it. I'll take a look at it sometime this weekend....

Roscoe

[JDCrae]

Really appreciate it. Found a video on YouTube where a guy took it apart and cleaned oil off the encoder surface and pins but nothing said about whether it worked out or not. He mentioned it was some oil that is used to weigh the knob down to give resistance when turning or something.

[Roscoe Primrose]

As far as I can tell, the rotary encoder is no longer available. I can't find the specs on the original unit, so I don't know if one could find a workable substitute....

It may be easier to fix the remote. Did changing the volume on the remote turn the volume control on the receiver, or merely change the volume? And, does that encoder have other tasks?

Roscoe

[JDCrae]

Thanks Roscoe for looking into this, do you think it would be worth taking the faceplate off and cleaning off the encoder? Don't even know what I would use to clean it. The youtube video guy indicated the grease they use to add resistance to the knob gets all over the contacts and that is causes a problem.

The remote I had for it is long gone, but I remember trying to use a universal remote and it still would not work. Seems the IR sensor on the inside is known to go bad on these units.

[Roscoe Primrose]

Thanks Roscoe for looking into this, do you think it would be worth taking the faceplate off and cleaning off the encoder? Don't even know what I would use to clean it. The youtube video guy indicated the grease they use to add resistance to the knob gets all over the contacts and that is causes a problem.

Well, it's not really useable right now, worst that can happen is it's still not really usable... Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/CRC-Plastic-Conta ... ct+cleaner would probably be a good choice.

The remote I had for it is long gone, but I remember trying to use a universal remote and it still would not work. Seems the IR sensor on the inside is known to go bad on these units.

A replacement IR receiver ought to be easy...

Roscoe

[JDCrae]

I will have to look into that. Have never done anything like this repairs wise. I'm always up for a good learning experience.