Cheers Barrie.
Iāve had several exchanges via eBay messaging regarding the damage to the glass fascia on the AIWA AX-7600. End result is the chap has reimbursed me the cost of having a new fascia made, which Iām very happy with
I bought the cassette deck from him too, although that was described as for parts/not working which is exactly what it is.
A real shame as itās a beautiful (IMO) looking cassette deck. The joys of eBay buying!
Iām picking up the glass later today and I will post up some pics when I get it. Iāve also ordered a red, grain of wheat bulb for the tuner needle. The originals are 8v 60ma, all I could find were 6v 65ma, fingers crossed it will work. The only other option I could find were 12v 80ma, my thoughts were that may be very dim? Richard, if you read this perhaps you could advise if my choice of bulb is OK?
Barrie
What about these? Might not be red but nothing that a bit of nail varnish wouldnāt put right.
If you buy the 6V bulbs their life will be merry but brief. The 12V 80mA bulbs will be dimmer and more yellow, but will last the future life of the equipment. If you could find some 9V 50mA that would be a very good compromise.
Remember a few points about bulbs.
Power used is I x V, ie 80mA at 12V is 1Watt, and 60mA at 8V is 0.5W. This at normal working temperature.
A cold bulb has roughly about 1/3 of the resistance of a hot bulb and will take that much more current as a surge when first turned on. But when lit with any kind of glow will be near the working resistance.
Some working out for your application.
The original 8V bulbs have a working resistance of 133 Ohms at 8V, and about 45 Ohms cold
That 12V bulb will have a working resistance of 150 Ohms at 12V, and about 50 Ohms cold, and will take about 55mA at 8V, about 0.5W, so itās OK to use, similar light level just a bit yellower.
That 6V bulb will have a working resistance of 90 Ohms at 6V, and about 30 Ohms cold, and will take about 90mA at 8V, about 0.75W, so itās not OK to use, regardless of its bright brief life.
And I assume you are happy with delicate soldering by nowā¦
If you are considering using it for any length of time, then replacing the big old electrolytic caps in the power supply is a very good idea. Put in like-for-like uF values and shape/size-wise, but you can aim higher on voltage, temperature and ripple-current ratings and lower on ESR. Good quality modern low ESR replacements (eg Panasonic or Rubycon) are likely to be physically smaller even though better rated.
I REALLY wish I knew what you are talking about Richard, but unfortunately by brain isnāt wired correctly.
Mine isnāt either ! And please donāt start trying to explain transistors and diodes !
Hmmmmm?
I take on board what youāve said Richard. Iād read that folk were using the 12v bulbs but were complaining they were dim. However, dim is better than nothing, which is what I have currently. Itās only for illuminating the tuner needle so I think Iāll order the 12v ones to be safe. The bulbs is on a long lead as it moves from the power connections along the dial, so easy to solder and heat shrink to the original leads. Not sure about replacing caps and the like though
Thank you Richard, I was hoping you would come along and give advice 
Barrie
Hi Paul,your suggestion got me thinking 
I recently bought some 8v bayonet bulbs for a piece of equipment from Germany. Great service from them. Went back into my orders and found them, searching their store, found these.
Almost perfect for the job, as you said, nail varnish will give the colour I need
Many thanks to all for help,suggestions and advice.
Barrie
Think we all enjoy the chance to appear cleverer than we really are. Donāt think anyone has sussed that Iām just Googling everything. ![]()
Just popped to the glass place, 1 mile from me, to pick up the glass fascia for the AIWA AX-7600.
Top job and fits perfectly. The same tint as originally fitted, holes are perfectly aligned and exactly the same diameter, etc.
Very pleased. Just need the new grain of wheat bulbs to arrive from Germany to illuminate the tuner indicator and job done.
Barrie
Some of you may find this article interesting:
https://www.hifinews.com/content/building-vintage-system
Below is a picture of my mainly retro HiFi. Not as stunning looking as some of the other outfits on here. The NAD Tuner and Cassette deck are about 40 years old. Unfortunately the needles in the VU meters of the cassette deck are stuck but otherwise it functions extremely well. The NAD 3130 amplifier and the NAD CD player are about 35 years old. I gave my old NAD 3020 amplifier and Dual 506 turntable which are about 40 years old to my son and they are both still performing perfectly.
My turntable is a 2019 Audio Technica AT LP5 direct drive with an Audio Technica VM95 cartridge fitted with a micro-line stylus. It may not look as fabulous as some of the other systems on here but the sound it produces is superb.
Thatās a nice system, and the NAD units are more or less the same as my brother-in-laws, but he has a Rega turntable.
Very nice to see your set up! 

Funnily enough, was looking at the AT LP5 myself
alongside the AT140 is it? They seem great value when you factor in the cartridge/upgradeable stylus etc. Keep it coming guys! 

Barrie
EDIT: Wasnāt too far off
the model I referred to is the Audio-Technica - AT-LP140XP Professional Direct Drive Manual Turntable. Apologies if there was confusion!
Yep, it is a very nice turntable for the money I paid for it (Ā£250). It successfully tracks the most difficult ātracking ability test trackā on my Ortofon test record very cleanly at 2grms VTF. Some achievement really. I also have an Ortofon OM Super cartridge fitted with an OM20 nude elliptical stylus that tracks at 1.5 grms VTF in a spare headshell but the Audio-Technica stylus has a much longer life (1000 hrs) and sounds very similar.
Sorry Barrie. Not sure what your question "alongside the AT140 is it? " is asking?
Cheers.
Hi, wasnt sure if I was quoting the correct model number 
Barrie
See my earlier EDIT for this
Audio-Technica - AT-LP140XP Professional Direct Drive Manual Turntable
Hi Barrie,
Yes, the AT-LP140XP is a very nice turntable laden with features but it is a bit of a DJ turntable so the cartridge and stylus have to be more robust and not quite as HiFi. The AT LP5X is a bit more of a āPuristā table with less features but a better cartridge and stylus. The cartridge used on the AT LP5X is the VM95 which is highly upgradeable It come standard with an elliptical stylus whilst the AT-LP140XP comes with a conical stylus as standard. I have upgraded my AT LP5 with the VM95 ML (Micro-line) stylus which is an excellent stylus and a very reasonable price compared to competitors of a similar performance. The AT LP5X also has a built in switchable phono pre-amp MM or MC cartridge but you donāt have to use it. I use the pre-amp built into my NAD amplifier. Horses for courses really.
I donāt like turntables with built-in pre-amps which are not switchable - it means you HAVE to connect it to the amp via an input (normally the aux one) which you might actually want to use for something else - which in turn means that you are left with the phono input which is no good to man nor beast, because the signal level is too low for anything else.
Each his own I guess.
Hi Chris,
The phono pre-amp built into the AT LP5 does not have to be used. There is a switch that allows you to bypass the inbuilt pre-amp and connect directly via the phono connections to a separate phono pre-amp or a phono pre-amp built into your power amp (Integrated amp), which is what I have done. Never tried the turntable built in pre-amp as the NAD one has such a good reputation. All being said the reviews I have read of the AT LP5 have said that the built in phono pre-amp is not too bad and a lot better than some other turntables with built in phono pre-amps.
Cheers.
Barrie, I was recently offered one of these TV /hifi stack black glass table/shelf things, weād have had it as a side table if the glass was clear.
Belatedly I thought of your stacks, but itās probably a bit too low.






