Newbie- RC-1070 circuit Board

[Sid and coke]

Hello Folks,
Just stumbled across your excellent forum whilst doing my regular www search for Rotel Michi, and thought i'd register.
I have a Rotel RC-1070 and RB-1070 amp in my current Stereo Hi-Fi rig, along with a RDP-980 DAC. ( I've also previously owned an RQ970BX phono amp). I took the lid off the RC-1070 the other day for a peek inside.

I noticed in the rear right hand corner next to the Phono & CD input connectors there is a small 'plug-in' circuit card. Mine was slightly loose so i took it out, gave the edge connectors a clean with some contact cleaner and firmly re-seated it. I had been having some minor problems with either my CD or I think my Phono input cables ( I can't remember which now ) and wondered if this small loose card could have casued the problem ? Does anybody know what this card is ? Is it something to do with the MM Phono input and if so is there a MC version available. Just curious really.

BTW, Nice site and systems you folks have here I'm sure I'll be dropping in more often now - what a brand eh :T

http://imageevent.com/sidandcoke

[DJDREW]

The card is your phono stage. There is no MC version of this card. If this card was loose you could have had some problems but more importantly what problems were you witnessing so we (Rotel forum) can look out for it, if we have the same equipment?

[Sid and coke]

The card is your phono stage. There is no MC version of this card. If this card was loose you could have had some problems but more importantly what problems were you witnessing so we (Rotel forum) can look out for it, if we have the same equipment?

Hi Thanks for replying.
Basically the problem was that the sound would often 'drop out' just like the symptoms one would encounter with a 'dodgy' speaker cable or Interconnect lead. It didn't happen all of the time and was just an intermittent one, however waiting and expecting a problem to happen does ruin ones listening pleasure somewhat. I would give the IC leads a bit of a wiggle and the problem seemed to go away but it put a doubt in the back of my mind. I bought my amp s/h via e-bay and it also didn't have its original box. Maybe the Phono card was dislodged during transit ?
I even went to the expense of buying a seperate Phono stage and used my Aux input for my Turntable for a while. However i actually liked the sound of the Rotel Phono stage and so liked to use it.

The other night I thought i would have a really good look into the potential problem, by checking all of the Phono connector sockets , circuit board, wires , plugs, etc. I wanted to ensure that none of the Phono sockets where damaged and that inserting and removing cables wasn't flexing the sockets on the board, obviously you can only see this with the lid off. It soon became appartent that the small phono board was actually slightly dislodged and loose although superficially from a quick glance it looked fine. I removed the card completly, cleaned the edge connectors with some Caig Pro-Gold contact treatment and a clean cotton bud and then firmly inserted back into the main board.

The Amplifier works just fine now and because i actually found a real (but minor) problem and fixed it my listening pleasure has been greatly increased as i know that the sound isn't going to cut out at a critical moment of my favorite record :T .

I note that the RC-1090 has an MC capable Phono input, does this also use a 'plug in' Circuit card. If so I wonder if the card is interchangeable between the two amps ?

[DJDREW]

Unfortunatley the RC1090 does not use a card circuitry. The phone stage is actually part of the main PC board. I have a RC 1090 and love it, matched up with a RB 991(RB1080, RB990).

[Kevin97225]

Lets see the peek inside

Sid, take a picture of the inside and post it here so when can see what it looks like inside. Thanks, Kevin.