Cary Audio SLA-70B amplifier


I have no schematics for my SLA-70B and Cary Audio no longer offer technical support on this very old [27 year old] amp.  The LED light on the front panel of my SLA-70B Signature Amp does not work [does not light up]. Upon my opening the bottom panel I noticed that the positive side of the LED was “just hanging in the air.  Also a resistor 100K 5W was totally blown up so I cannot take a reading of it at all.

[I don't know why I cannot include an illustration of the issue in question]

The negative of the LED is connected. The positive (orange wire) is just floating loose.  There is a resistor 100K 5W which is connected to GRD and the other side has blown up.

I do hope someone can allow me to upload an illustration. It will definitely help in solving this issue.
Thanks, richfrank

128x128richfrank
@russ69 I think I’d be all over Cary. HEY! Provide some service or provide the info I need to fix it myself. I’d get someone on the phone to tell me I’m SOL, then I would tell them, bad mistake, you guys are going to be my hobby, and it’s going to get ugly, your call.

They don’t troubleshoot over the phone any more. Been there done that with them and seemingly got the last lead designer-tech in trouble there helping me with my V12R mods. He quit two weeks later. Felt bad. He went on to new things, now designs and builds pro audio tube microphones. If lucky, will just tell you to send it in and charge for the repair. Double-bubble and double-box if you do.

@richfrank
Probably better off sending it to a good local tech, and many can do as good or better job. Avoids shipping cost or risk of transport damage. Have them replace the coupling caps and a few resistors with better ones while it’s there. That amp can sound a lot better with a few upgrades. Some techs like to throw in a Triode/Ultralinear switch too.
Thanks for all your input and ideas. I'm sure they are all valuable. I have a few issues that may clarify some of my uncertainties. 1- I am 75 years "young" and cannot LIFT a 50 lb amplifier by myself; much less flip it over.  
2- Although I am a retired engineer, I have some difficulty following a pictorial or schematic when there are no values attached to them. It does  not help me to see a schematic drawing of the item in question if I do not have a voltage reading or description of the item in question.

3- Not having readings I cannot tell if the LED is burned out or damaged or shorted out or the voltage readings on either side of the resistors are good or not [regardless of resistor reading which seem OK].

4- Last but not least, I am retired living in Panama, Republic of Panama where the Panama Canal is and there are very few (I have not found one) "local TECH" that are EVEN WILLING to look at a wired amplifier. I am doubting that anyone under 40 years of age has EVER seen a point-to-point wiring.
As an example I asked: What size or voltage reading do I need to get the LED? Answer: Oh, don't worry about that. They're all the same. "Say What"?
So, what am I asking for? HELP. Help from someone knowledged enough to try to give me some decent advise.
My last question is: Is there a difference in the LED used? How do I check if it is shorted out?  The power fuse is blowing up so something is not going right.

If you have not already done so, maybe you could ask the folks at Sound "N" Music or GER Global Electronics Repairs there in Panama if they know of someone who can come to your place, like an old TV repair person use to do in the old days :)  Might be worth a try.  

Sound 'N' Music Electronics store in Panama City, Panama
Address: Av Central, Plaza Cinco de Mayo, Panama Phone: +507 212-1801



Hello decooney. Great info. Sorry to say that Sound & Music are a retailer of home sound equipment and have decent technicians that know how to INSTALL these equipments. They do very little repair.
They're recommending someone else, but the truth of the matter is that it is most difficult to find someone who knows about point-to-point wiring. Everyone knows about chips and circuit boards and mother boards.  I will keep on trying.
Hello imhififa. Your "link" takes me to a page that is not inexistence. Looks like it is from Italy? Don't know, but I could not get it open. Sorry my friend.