B&K Parts?

jakelm

I emailed B&K about an issue with a potentiometer on the #2 channel of my AV5000. They responded saying that they cannot sell parts and I would have to send the amp in.

The pot knob, has to be pulled out slightly to work. When the turning knob springs back in a milimeter , the channel quits working. So I'm guessing it will have to be replaced. But no where can I find a spec sheet on the pot value. parts express sell about a billion of them with all different values.

Help would be appreciated.

Other than this, I absolutly love the amp. I just hope I can find part values, to replace this peice and maybe do a refresh on the amp.

Jake

AndyGwis

I had the same situation. One of my older B&K amps had it's power switch go out. The amp worked perfectly, just the light wouldn't come on anymore. I asked B&K if they could sell/send me a replacement switch to try out, and they said to ship it in.

Yeah, I really want to ship a 30 lb, 25 year old amp back and forth AND pay your diagnostic fee. Instead, I went to Altex, found one that fit well and a non-led switch, and problem solved for $3.

jakelm

AndyGwis wrote: »

I had the same situation. One of my older B&K amps had it's power switch go out. The amp worked perfectly, just the light wouldn't come on anymore. I asked B&K if they could sell/send me a replacement switch to try out, and they said to ship it in.

Yeah, I really want to ship a 30 lb, 25 year old amp back and forth AND pay your diagnostic fee. Instead, I went to Altex, found one that fit well and a non-led switch, and problem solved for $3.

Exactly, 40+ lbs, especially when I can fix it myself.

jakelm

I wonder if there is a way to test a pot to determin the value. Wether its, 25kohms, 100kohms. etc....

heiney9

Isn't it B&K that has like a 20 year warranty? Or am I thinking of Bryston? Most of the larger electronics manufacturer's won't sell parts to an individual. Try contacting a repair center and see if they can sell the parts to you.

AndyGwis

I think you're thinking of Bryston.

zingo

I bump heiney9s idea, try going through someone else, or ebay, on an online source.

jakelm

All I need is the value. Partsexpress has the pot, and many of them, so I was hoping to get a spec/parts sheet, like I have for my Hafler amp.

heiney9

Try posting/searching here

www.diyaudio.com

jakelm

heiney9 wrote: »

Try posting/searching here

www.diyaudio.com

Thanks H9, I didnt think of that, I will try.

WilliamM2

Why not just open it up, and bypass the pots? One less thing in the signal path.

jakelm

WilliamM2 wrote: »

Why not just open it up, and bypass the pots? One less thing in the signal path.

Hmmmmm, what a good idea?

The pot is set at max anyways. Is the auttenuation with the pot at max?

WilliamM2

The pot is set at max anyways. Is the auttenuation with the pot at max?

That was my thinking, any amp I have had with level controls, was always set to max. And if one pot has failed, the others will probably follow. There is no attenuation at max setting.

jakelm

There are 3 prongs for the pots. If I remeber correctly, the middle and the left are the 2 to connect? Thats if I am looking at the volume knobs on the front. Correct? But first I will try contact cleaner.

I have never ran accross a pot that, I needed to pull out to make work, it either worked after spraying and turning, or did not work at all. Anyways.. A pic of the 2 leads to connect.

But if I had the value, I could keep it original. Partsexpress has these.

C3 Audio

Hi,

The down side of this is your going to have to pull the pot out to get its value. If you leave it in place and ohm it out, you'll get an false value due to other components in line or parallel to this pot. Pull it out and measure accross the two outermost connections. This will give you the value you need when replacing it. The center connection is the wiper and if you hook to it and one of the other sides, your reading will fluctuate when the pot is turned. Get the value and replace it with an equal size, value and tolerance from a supplier. Shouldn't be too bad if your familiar with soldering and an ohm meter.

Best of luck,

C3:)

jakelm

C3 Audio wrote: »

Hi,

The down side of this is your going to have to pull the pot out to get its value. If you leave it in place and ohm it out, you'll get an false value due to other components in line or parallel to this pot. Pull it out and measure accross the two outermost connections. This will give you the value you need when replacing it. The center connection is the wiper and if you hook to it and one of the other sides, your reading will flutuate when the pot is turned. Get the value and replace it with an equal size, value and tollerance from a supplier. Shouldn't be too bad if your familiar with soldering and an ohm meter.

Best of luck,

C3:)

Measure the 2 outer, and if bypassed, bypass with 2 outer. Thanks C3PO

C3 Audio

jakelm wrote: »

Measure the 2 outer, and if bypassed, bypass with 2 outer. Thanks C3PO

jakelm,
Chances are, they are only using two of the three connections. One side and the center connection to attenuate the signal. If this thing is always at zero attenutaion, you could, as someone already suggested, short out the two connections being used until you can get a replacement pot. Just to be safe, I wouldn't use the shorting idea if all three conection are being used. They are being used if all three have been soldered in, typically.

Yeah. Measure between the two outermost posts to get the value of the pot.

Good luck,

C3:)

bikerboy

Why not leave it in place and just bypass it? If you need it in the future measure it and get what you need then. You will probably want to replace all of them so you will have the matching values or rate of change. Also if one hs gone bad when will the others?

jakelm

I will check tonight to see how many of the 3 leads are soldered to the board. If all 3 are soldered, I wont touch anything and just measure and replace. If only 2, I will bypass, being I run it all the way anyways...

Systems

It should have the value written on the body.Most use the blue pots made by BOURNS and these are easy to source if that is the case.If it happens to be a Bourns and you can get the value and the series number(ie.series91)I should be able to get one for you.Oh and it will be cheap.;)

jakelm

GV#27 wrote: »

It should have the value written on the body.Most use the blue pots made by BOURNS and these are easy to source if that is the case.If it happens to be a Bourns and you can get the value and the series number(ie.series91)I should be able to get one for you.Oh and it will be cheap.;)

Thanks GV, I tried over the weeked to bypass the pot, but was unsuccessful. All 3 leads are soldered to the board. I tried direct 1 and 3, 1 and 2 and 2 and 3, nothing yeilded a bypass mode.

I also attempted to pull the pots off the board, but my patience ran out, trying to unsolder 3 leads quick enough to pull it off. I gave up for abit. I was able to get the pots working, but cannot be touched or bumped. Otherwise the channel kicks off.

The pots are brown with no numbers on them. 2 of the 5 pots seem to have the brown plastic broken inside the pot, allowing it to be bent and twisted. Not good. But with alittle hot glue I was able to stableize it enought to put it in a fixed "max" position.