My Soundtream Nightmare

andy600rr · Post by **andy600rr** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:48 pm

Great work

Glad to see with a bit of patience and elbow grease you got it back working like it should be.

marko · Post by **marko** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:59 pm

what was wrong with it in the end? why didn't it work?

you need to invest in a new soldering iron lol!

thedeal7235 · Post by **thedeal7235** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:14 pm

very nice- I understand the patience it takes dealing with the ribbon cable conductor( as I call it) , it snapped off on my zx350 where it connects the xover board to the main board, i replaced it perfectly with
20-22 gauge wire, then didnt sleeve it , so i desoldered mine, and took the plate hole vias off- well alexk at pg fixed it, so always be very careful , cause on the pg amps those connector pads are MICRO-I think it already looks 1000X better-go have some beers and marvel at it some more-ENJOY!!!( btw were ur eyes like this when u started

, then after all day finishing up like this

shaheen · Post by **shaheen** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:33 am

Thanks guys. What was wrong with it , well lots of little things , a few resistors were not attached properly , some pins were bent, the loose connectors were for the power supply for the cold cathodes. some of the joints needed a good seeing to , and it needed to be cleaned up.

Looks like the board has had some work done to it to upgrade from Rev A/B to Rev C, this is what I can make out from the schematics.
With the lights, the switch on the control board is just that a switch , it needed an input and output, so I managed to scavange 12V from the main board, this will now go to the LED's.

Marko , thanks for the offer, but with the Da Vin, becuase the cold Caths are on the top , they have a tendancy to break when u open the amp up. thats why I decided to go for the LED's they are easier to work with and do not require a power supply , just plain simple 12v.

It has a funky feature too which I found, if you overdrive the input stage it pulses the fans on and off to maintain the temp of the heatsink. (unless thats cause they wanted the lights to pulse) which I cannot see if they were cold caths.

I think amp technology has come a long way , but you know what it's cause of amps like this that we mortals can still play , it it was all SMT I would have been in deep doo doo.

My soldering iron is new, bought it from Maplins, temp controled and the works. I think just the tip is rubbish.

shaheen · Post by **shaheen** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:55 pm

Hey guys

So yeah , after many many moons hunting down the right bits and bobs I managed to finish the Da Vinchi codes, the only bit still left is the top cover to be re-furbed, but since I am not working that will have to take a backseat. I sent the previous owner the bill but serioulsy doubt he will pay. Marko , I may call on your assitance with that.

Any who , if you know me I do not leave things standard and decided to mod the amp a bit, sorry no internal pics this time , I put the top cover on them remembered I took no pics, but all cabling nice and sleeved there is also a toggle switch on the top which u cannot see the slide is in one of the gaps on the top of the amp, you have to look really closely to see it , it is mounted on the underside of the top cover, it switches the color, Since blue is the new in thing and red is the original color.

Here are the pics

Post by **stipud** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:00 pm

Wow that looks great!

Especially those taped up wires... nerrrr

shaheen · Post by **shaheen** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:27 pm

wires taped to hold em in place when I move the about.

tHanks man , will let he go topless tomorrow and take some nice pics.

Post by **Wakeup** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:55 pm

Nice! Good work! Good luck trying to get some money!

Post by **kg1961** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:01 pm

Omg that looks great so happy you were able to fix it!!!!!!
want to sell it?...lol but if you do pm me....

oldskoolmseriesfan · Post by **oldskoolmseriesfan** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 6:33 pm

Great job shaheen, looks brand new. Good to hear you got er fixed, would've been a shame if you couldnt. Classic Soundstream mang

shaheen · Post by **shaheen** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:49 am

Some more pics

Switch

Post by **stipud** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 8:44 am

Very cool idea for the switch! Easily accessible without marring the case.

shaheen · Post by **shaheen** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:54 am

OK boys I promise this is the last set of pics, the amp cover came back and well I will let the pics speak for themselves.

Also the previous owner (from another forum, who's name I did not mention) was very pissed off that I made this post and said it was derogeroty and paints him in a bad light. So he refused to pay me anything towards the repairs or for the screws or lights as he promised.
Dude, I am sorry I did not mean it in a bad light , I posted what I got. Again did not mean it to seem like I was ripped off none of the posts did I say I was ripped off, I said I made a mistake in buying the amp and that I should have asked for pics, I should have also shipped it straight back but chances are it would have been a case of "All sales are Final". I will not get into a mudslinging match as I am not around to make enemies.

again did not mean this in a bad way , it was a build for the work I did , it showed the state of the amp and that it was restored. For me it's a personal goal.

So boys , the final chapter in the Da Vinci Codes is done , it's a stunning amp , and I think it deserves a place in my collection.

So hard to shoot gold , but lets say there are no faded areas , no more scratches on it and well it's now got 2 microns of pure 24Kt Gold

marko · Post by **marko** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:17 am

looks sweet, how much is gold plating on such an amp?

marko · Post by **marko** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:18 am

looks sweet, how much is gold plating on such an amp?

shaheen · Post by **shaheen** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 11:31 am

Hey Marko

the plating alone set me back 120 pounds. Gey came to my house inspected the item took it away and 5 days later dropped it off again. The plating done by the factory is not that good, the substrate started to lift, it is a steel base thats been nickle plated , then gold plated.

Too much rubbing and the gold starts coming off. It's best cleaned with white viniger or a weak detergant solution, he said not to use anything abrasive. Orderd a set of white gloves for this and my other latest purchase ,so they can be handled easily.

GlasSman · Post by **GlasSman** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:17 am

MW3 wrote:So
As for their newer stuff, I have no experience. Perhaps it has improved.

The new stuff doesn't count since it's a new company running the show...POwer Acoustik....so they're only using the image and marketing from the OG Soundstream.

naughty · Post by **naughty** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:10 am

Also the previous owner (from another forum, who's name I did not mention) was very pissed off that I made this post and said it was derogeroty and paints him in a bad light. So he refused to pay me anything towards the repairs or for the screws or lights as he promised.

well to be honest - this paints him in a worse light than anything else he could have done cause the only way he could have proved he isnt a cheat is if he made good on his promise

but right now the impression i have of him is that he is a fraud and a cheat with no redeeming graces - im sad to say

it could have painted him in a good light and he could have covered himself with glory if he proved that he had no ulterior motives when making the sale if he made good on his word - but as of now im sure his word should be treated like mud - and he would thoroughly deserve it if you revealed who he was so he can be treated with the contempt he so rightly deserves

Post by **Wakeup** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 10:42 am

naughty wrote:
Also the previous owner (from another forum, who's name I did not mention) was very pissed off that I made this post and said it was derogeroty and paints him in a bad light. So he refused to pay me anything towards the repairs or for the screws or lights as he promised.
well to be honest - this paints him in a worse light than anything else he could have done cause the only way he could have proved he isnt a cheat is if he made good on his promise

but right now the impression i have of him is that he is a fraud and a cheat with no redeeming graces - im sad to say

it could have painted him in a good light and he could have covered himself with glory if he proved that he had no ulterior motives when making the sale if he made good on his word - but as of now im sure his word should be treated like mud - and he would thoroughly deserve it if you revealed who he was so he can be treated with the contempt he so rightly deserves

I totally agree here. Also that being said it sounds like he was looking for a way out....and you gave it to him by opening new doors IE: posting pictures of the before and after shots...etc...Which is totally BS...he just didn't have any good excuse for you. So I am sorry you got jipped/ripped/and screwed by that guy. Good luck....And great job!

shaheen · Post by **shaheen** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 12:22 pm

Hey guys, it's all cool , like I said , I do not want to put names to anything , one day I will meet him and like all people I will put my hand out in friendship , because life is too short to have enemies, what has happened has happened. I am not going to bitch over a few coins.

Also he is not a member here so I doubt anyone here will deal with him besides the UK boys.

Maybe it was just my luck , maybe he is a good guy , maybe I am too soft.

naughty · Post by **naughty** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 4:51 pm

well with the attitude you are keeping over this i have to say that you are a better man than he is

yet somehow it would be nice if he could get the message that his

is now being exposed