PV6 balance potentiometer ; looking for

[latole]

Thank you AnotherJohnson.
I will consider writing to CJ, I am in Canada.
Or I'll leave my PV6 as is with these resistors

roberto ;thank, I know those pots. IMO some specs are wrong.
I wish to find original one

I subscribe to topic and I never receive these new posts !

[admin]

I subscribe to topic and I never receive these new posts !

Any chance they are ending up in your spam folder?

[latole]

Now it work , I check something in my profil.........

Thank you

[roberto]

Thank you AnotherJohnson.
I will consider writing to CJ, I am in Canada.
Or I'll leave my PV6 as is with these resistors

roberto ;thank, I know those pots. IMO some specs are wrong.
I wish to find original one

I subscribe to topic and I never receive these new posts !

Yes, you are right, and also I don't like the cheap parts... I do know what you are saying. I just tried to find what you were seeking. CJ might have it, write direct to Jeff, just write in attention to him: service@conradjohnson.com. Attention: Mr. Jeff Fischel, Owner/President Conrad Johnson. He will tell you if the part is available or not.

Good to have you with us, your knowledge in electronics is very helpful for us too! Thanks for your kindness too.

Happy listening!

[roberto]

Oh!, I forgot to mention to you that we are not related or associated any how with the Company. We just are enthusiast and admire the quality parts and the quality sound of Conrad Johnson. We are fans of CJ. And with our experience (old members) with your experience (new members), we can try to help and guide people, the CJ users, to get the best of CJ products. It is good to have you with us!

[latole]

I really appreciate the help I get in this forum.

And personally, even if you were somehow connected to CJ, as long as I can get the parts, I don't care.

[latole]

Yes, you are right, and also I don't like the cheap parts... I do know what you are saying. I just tried to find what you were seeking. CJ might have it, write direct to Jeff, just write in attention to him: service@conradjohnson.com. Attention: Mr. Jeff Fischel, Owner/President Conrad Johnson. He will tell you if the part is available or not.

Good to have you with us, your knowledge in electronics is very helpful for us too! Thanks for your kindness too.

Happy listening!

Hello roberto, I wrote to Mr Fishel this morning.
I wait for an answer

[roberto]

I have being searching everywhere for that particular pot, and really looks that are not available...this is odd. I hope CJ might have the part. Otherwise, you could get one different in shape, and address some cables point to point. Yes, I know, you want it original. Just thinking loud. There are pots with great quality for balance controls.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/173950846899?h ... SweD5ZrCXt. A little bit expensive.

[goonybird]

1) Considering the low cost of pots I would just put a linear A pot in and try it. I cannot see why this wouldn't work, other than the amount you have to turn the control R or L may differ to the Log B
2) The difficulty when restoring older units is the pot size has just got smaller over time.
So get a smaller Log B and insert/solder wire to extend the tags to the circuit board.

[latole]

1- You cannot see why this would not work ? You don't read or understand my explanation about pots Feb 10 ? See below. I reproduce.

2- Sorry, I desagree, the pot size is not a issue, the issue is the installation, all disassemble the chassis to have access to the location on the printed circuit. I have done this many times.
It's not something I would recommend just to see if it works or not


_____________________

Audio pot or linear pot or A pot :

When balance knob is in the middle, 250 k pot resistor see, let say, 200k on one side and 50 k on the other side of the wiper.
You can' use it as a balance control, for volume it is ok

B pot or log or logarithmic;

In the middle for a 250 k , resistor will read 125K each side of the wiper.
For balance control that is what you need

[latole]

6 days lather, no answer from CJ .......

[AnotherJohnson]

This doesn’t make it more palatable for the person who is trying to resurrect a 30+ year old unit, but …

It is a very small company. They’ve moved twice since the PV6 era. We often say that 3 moves is equivalent to a fire.

I suspect, based on these reports that indicate that CJ is not attentive, that they are doing triage on their inquiries. When I inquired about a current model that had failed, they responded immediately, and I had it back working in my system in less than two weeks. When people inquire about relays, pots, switches and casework for decades old gear, they often report “no answer.”

This is my advice - if you really want an answer, call them. Be persistent. Call at different times of day. Call several days in a row. Eventually you’ll luck out.

More practically, take “no response” as a response. They don’t have it.

There is no big staff there. JF is Chief, Cook, and Bottle Washer. His work is impeccable. But he is one man, and CJ’s intellectual property is constantly under attack and theft by bold Chinese counterfeiters who sell on eBay. CJ is a target because the designs are simple and the company is too small to mount a serious cease and desist response against eBay.

So … best of luck finding a suitable part. Maybe you could salvage one out of another unit. Or take a page from other lower level modern products and skip balance (as you have done). Or sell your unit for parts so that someone else who has a failing switch or relay or bad casework could benefit.

Even in restoration of old McIntosh people rob one broken unit to make another one whole.

[latole]

Thank you AnotherJohnson, I will put another pot than a CJ

[roberto]

Hola Latole,
Smart decision!

Happy listening!

[latole]

Thank you roberto.
For now, preamp work fine with the resistors I put.

[AnotherJohnson]

Thank you roberto.
For now, preamp work fine with the resistors I put.

[bschott]

As an owner of a pv11 I would recommend to leave the bad pot in for aesthetics and replace with the best resistors you can get. I use Takman Reys. That will hopefully improve transparancy in the sound. I really don't think that the original pots are available any more. I was able to Deoxit my pots and got a lot less scratchiness when changing settings. However I just bypassed the balance and mode switches with twisted silver wire and haven't looked back. Your unit is considerably older so the pots/switches may just be too old to resurrect.

[latole]

I received pots like these ; https://www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/Bou ... ktUg%3D%3D
Picture.

I measured the resistances on these double pots. I ordered 2 of them: $8.00 cnd.

These are 20% tolerance pots; it doesn't fit at all.
The resistances are completely unbalanced.
I will not waste my time installing it to have a disappointing result.
For now and maybe even indefinitely I'll leave my resistors fixed because everything works fine

Capture d’écran, le 2022-03-27 à 07.41.11.png (23.92 KiB) Viewed 733 times

[admin]

I agree. If you are not in need of balance adjustment then there is no reason to take the risk of sound degradation by installing this. I sometimes wonder how common it is to actually use a balance control? I've never had one set off center in any system I owned.

[bschott]

I agree. If you are not in need of balance adjustment then there is no reason to take the risk of sound degradation by installing this. I sometimes wonder how common it to actually use a balance control? I've never had one set of center in any system I owned.

+1