SP10 Mk II vs Mk III

I have three SP10mk2 units with five original power supplies, two are bad that needs to be repaired. I can take care of the power supplies and I do have a service manual. Since I have experience in building tube amps and judging by the schematic, it's not that complicated. However, I am certainly no expert when it comes to integrated circuits and chips! The one SP10 with speed issue is definitely in the boards inside the SP10 chassis. Yes, it's a crapshoot. An IC might be blown or it could be a bad cap. I will attempt to fix the extra power supplies first and then move on to the bad speed unit. Fingers crossed. It will take some time as I am in no hurry as I still have two other functional units. But I don't even use them that much because I am quite happy with my other turntables right now. Thank you so much for all the information posted here and I really appreciate the help, which makes this hobby worthwhile.

Happy listening and fixing stuff!

Hi All,

I've got 2 mkii's and one chassis ala Albert Porter. I've replaced all the caps in my PS, but none on the table's boards. Relative to the PS, how critical are the caps on these boards? Also, how difficult/easy is it to access these boards, get them out of the chassis, and replace the caps? Finally, how many caps are there on the internal board(s)?

Another unrelated question... my second chassis is pretty darn ugly. If I wanted to give it a facelift, perhaps make it black, what method would you suggest, within the "reasonable cost" category.

Thanks, Peter S.

I take the position that any modern electrolytic of recent manufacture (and of proper value and voltage) will be fine to use anywhere in the MkII. Ergo, I use Panasonic FC or TS-ED types, depending upon voltage needed. They are cheap and have vanishingly low ESR, compared to anything that was made back in the 70s and 80s. Others might tell you that they can "hear" the differences among electrolytics in this circuit and would therefore use boutique brands of caps. I don't choose to argue that point either way. IMO, the caps on board the main chassis are every bit as critical as the PS caps, and maybe moreso, since they reside in proximity to the ICs and transistors that function in the servo circuit. Getting at them to replace them looks to be not too bad. I am going to give it a try myself.

If I wanted to restore an SP10 cosmetically, I would have it done professionally by an experienced company. Such a one can be found in the UK; I don't know their web address. Google will find it, I think. Unfortunately, their service is not cheap. Fortunately, the workmanship looks excellent.

Vantage audio in UK does repairs and upgrades.
http://vantageaudio.com/

Gallery of works done on various units.
http://www.vantageaudio.com/info/L07Drepairs.htm

OK - so I'll go to Mouser and purchase the replacement caps for the boards. I did a quick count from the replacement parts list in the service manual and it looks like there are about 30 electolytic caps on the boards. One thing I just don't get: the specs for these caps are strange. I'm used to seeing capacitance followed by minimum voltage. Why does the service manual show a variety of units for the spec following the capacitance. I see a number of units, examples include: 50WV,50W, but no 50V. What gives???

Also, regarding restoring the deck - I don't think I'm so perfectionist to pay 500 pounds to restore the surface of the deck. I was thinking of something on the order of an auto body place - something where I could tape up everything except the top and side surfaces and have them do a nice job. I know it would be a departure from the original, but this is a second deck - and it wouldn't bother me, as long as it looks good!