CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[LAHerbert]

Hello folks,
I’m an appreciative follower with a first-timer’s question about receiver amps. Hopefully the knowledgeable on this site can advise.

I have a Marantz SR5500 Receiver Amp. I use it for AVI fun in my 2 car garage that serves as pseudo gym/work area/night club/home theatre, and of course garage. The amp is 12 years old but has justified itself all these years and continues to do so.
The volume knob is one of those smooth turning ones with non-ratcheting or physical min/max stops. It still rotates as silkily as ever, but the digital representation of the actual volume settings does not respond cleanly, either skipping numbers, reversing numbers or not moving at all to then quickly try to correspond to the knob turn.

My layman’s understanding is that the knob’s contacts maybe dirty causing the slips. I asked a “knowledgeable” person a while ago and they said to continuously spin the knob for about 5 minutes straight and that should dislodge and gunk between the contacts. Replacing the knob would be too much work. And not worth the cost. Well, the suggestion didn’t work and I’ve learned to live with it considering the remote controls the volume perfectly.

In any event I’ve come to highly respect the wise opinions in this forum and decided to seek your input and advise as to what else I could do if anything.

Thanks in advance.

[kal]

Most likely dirty contacts or if it's optical, gunk or dust stuck in there. I would open it up to see and either clean the contacts or blow out ant gunk/dust. Good luck!

Kal

[kal]

Most likely dirty contacts or if it's optical, gunk or dust stuck in there. I would open it up to see and either clean the contacts or blow out ant gunk/dust. Good luck!

Kal

[Curt Palme]

I've repaired lots of those. It's a switch contact, not a potentiometer, but if you can solder, take the control out, open it up via the 4 bent tabs that hold it together. Put a drop of contact cleaner ( I use Caig DeOxIt) on a Q tip, wipe it around the contacts, and reassemble. You're good to go for the next 12 years.

[Curt Palme]

I've repaired lots of those. It's a switch contact, not a potentiometer, but if you can solder, take the control out, open it up via the 4 bent tabs that hold it together. Put a drop of contact cleaner ( I use Caig DeOxIt) on a Q tip, wipe it around the contacts, and reassemble. You're good to go for the next 12 years.

[LAHerbert]

Outstanding. I can solder, so bold enough to try it. Worst case scenario I ruin it but have found the working amp on Ebay for really decent prices as a replacement unit or just for the parts.

Thank you both for the responses. Looking forward to other responses on other topics.