Looking for a seemingly obscure schematic written on unobtainium parchment... Soundesign 5595

[fitz301]

Hello,
I'm really hoping somebody on this forum, who have way more expertise than I, can help me with something.

I am searching for the schematic to hopefully repair my 83 yr old mother's console stereo system, it's a 1979 Soundesign 5595 w/ turntable, AM/FM stereo receiver, cassette and 8-track tape, everything works but there's a loud bass hum when using the cassette player and the FM radio needs to be turned up to full volume to hear it, every other part seems to work like it should with the exception of burnt out dial lights and needing new belts.

I've been scouring the internet for anything I can find, but so far haven't turned up anything except for the old Kmart ad for the sale when she purchased it. It's as if they made 1 and then removed all traces of it from history, I found all kinds of schematics for other Soundesign products, all except this one it seems.

I'm hoping somebody would know where else I could look, or know where there's a copy of them, or a service manual, or even possibly a users manual?

Btw, the chassis number on the receiver sticker is 91546, made in Japan, if that's any help.

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

[stj]

install spectroid on your phone and see what the frequency of the hum is.
if it's 60/120Hz then it's a bad smoothing capacitor in the AC>DC power circuits.

[stj]

this probably is very similar inside
https://www.manualslib.com/download/...sign-5988.html

[fitz301]

install spectroid on your phone and see what the frequency of the hum is.
if it's 60/120Hz then it's a bad smoothing capacitor in the AC>DC power circuits.

It only seems to hum when using tapes, everything else plays fine, except for the FM radio problem I mentioned.

Thanks for the response, I will definitely try what you recommended.

[R_J]

When you say it only hums when using tapes, which tape deck, 8 track or cassette? or both? As for the FM, what are you using for an external antenna? try touching the FM ANT screw and see if that helps, you may need to connect a length of wire to act as an antenna

[CapLeaker]

Look for capacitors in the audio chain that are in series with the flow of audio serving as a DC block. Very typical cause for low volume.

[fitz301]

When you say it only hums when using tapes, which tape deck, 8 track or cassette? or both? As for the FM, what are you using for an external antenna? try touching the FM ANT screw and see if that helps, you may need to connect a length of wire to act as an antenna

As soon as you select TAPE on the function selector there's a humming noise that won't disappear, even when playing a tape, it's loud enough to hear over the audio. Switch to any other function it goes away.

As for the FM, I'm using the original wire antenna, I check for breaks in the wire, but none were found.

[fitz301]

Look for capacitors in the audio chain that are in series with the flow of audio serving as a DC block. Very typical cause for low volume.

I will do that, thanks for the advice.

[fitz301]

This is the ad for the exact stereo I'm working on, if anyone has a owners manual or service manual, or know where one could found I would appreciate it.

[fitz301]

this probably is very similar inside
https://www.manualslib.com/download/...sign-5988.html

Just curious how you chose this particular manual as a substitute for the model I'm working on?

Was it because they have the same components with the exception of the digital clock, was because they look roughly similar and all stereos or built the same, or was it just plain experience?

I'm not questioning your advice, but I am a semi beginner, meaning I understand the basic concepts but am still grappling with putting them into practice.

[stj]

i picked it because the features closely matched
specially the combination of compact tape AND 8-track.
looking at the internal pictures in the start of that manual they look modular, so your unit probably uses atleast some of the same boards.