Altec 9440A - sometimes channel 2 doesn't do what it should

[Indy49]

I've got an Altec 9440A that I've had for a little over a year and it's been great. Lately, randomly, when turned on, it might not output to channel 2. Turning it off and on a few times, more often than not, solves the problem. I get the amp is old and it's probably amazing it still works at all. I like the amp. I'd like to keep it alive. I see that there are some rebuild kits of parts available for it on eBay, which I suppose is good, but, doing that kind of thing is beyond me. I'm in Indiana. Is there a place that anyone knows that can keep my old amp alive? A trusted repair shop you can suggest? Someone that would do the job right?



As for what I have, I have the Mitsubishi DA-P20 preamp, a Carver DTL-200 disc player, a Kyocera PL-701 turntable, the Altec 9440A, and a backup amp in play (since the Altec was getting temperamental) which is a Nikko Alpha 450. The speakers are Martin Logan Aerius and a 10-inch JBL powered sub. That's my old budget audiophile franken-stack. Let me know if you are aware of a place that can bestow some love on the Altec 9440A. I sure would like to keep it alive. I dig it.

[Earl K]

I always liked those amps.

I remember them populating many a Cdn disco space back in the mid to late 70's.

I can understand your desire to get it fixed.

Hopefully someone knows of a place local to you ( heavy amps are expensive to ship ).

Best of Luck !




PS1; I know you were given the schematic over at Hostboard ( & that it's more or less "Greek-2-U" ).

I glanced at it and couldn't find the first suspect that I would look at and attend to ( which is the replacement of any protection -relays > if present )

PS2; You'll need patience, but amps of this generation are usually fixable ( if not hot-rod-able )

[jblwolf]

I had one in the early 80s, biggest problem with it is getting replacement parts which are non-existent . One of the first things I had to do was bypass the power switch.Altec sent me the service /parts manual with writing saying it was their last copy of a copy, from Mr Winslow's file.

[RMC]

Indy,

A lead for you.

When Altec folded Bill at greatplainsaudio.com took over their speaker business. There's a good chance that he might know who are the repair shops working on those older Altec amps. I'd be surprised that he has no clue about this. I'd expect him to say yeah i took the speaker repair business and XYZ took the electronics repair side of it...

Worth trying email or call Bill and work it from there.

[jblwolf]

Indy, have you attempted to clean the controls on the front panel with some deoxit? It's pretty easy to do,four screws that hold the front panel on, remove the top panel screws everything is modular plug-type. Hope that helps, I really did like that amp, very powerful and clean soundings. I really hope you can find somebody to save this gem.

[Earl K]

More Info to read ( with links) from an older thread

( Picked up by scanning/reading the bottom of this very page where the page has a category showing "Similar Threads" ( a very handy feature of this software ) .