Old stereo receiver gets really hot

[Shocked]

Greetings folks. I'm new here and I want to start by saying I cant believed someone didnt already have my user name in use!!

I trash picked a beautiful Hitachi SR-604 stereo receiver. Its the type of receiver I always wanted but was too cheap to buy. It works well except that the tuner dial doesnt move the needle (probably a string popped off the pulley) some of the buttons dont like to stay depressed and it gets hot enough to cook on!!

Its a 195 Watt unit. After about 15 minutes the room starts to stink like hot electronics. Other than trying to blow the dust out of it, is there something I can do? Is this normal heat? Is this an indication of a problem? Will it burst into flames if left unattended?

I could get one of those lap top fan trays to sit it on but would that solve the odor, by keeping it cooler?

Any help you could offer would be appreciated.

Bob

 

[Sceadwian]

I wouldn't leave it unatended that's for sure, a good cleaning is in order, especially it being an older uni it getting hot doesn't seem too bad, but if you're not driving speakers and it's still getting hot I'd say something's wrong, a fan is a good idea but you need to explain when the heating is occuring, is this during it's idle period when it's just sitting there, or when it's at volume level 9 driving high impedance speakers? =)

 

[Birdman Adam]

About two years ago when I was picking out a receiver at the local big box store and every one I tested I thought I could fry eggs on. I think most of them just run that way!

 

[Sceadwian]

The smells is probably from the dust, I would HIGHLY recommend clearing all of it out with dry compressed air and a vacuum before you do too much more.

I've seen two computer power supplies go up in smoke, one of which took out the motherboard that it was connected to because a dust bunny got damp enough to become conductive. These supplies had hair on them you could nit a sweater with though.

 

[audioguru]

A class-AB amplifier gets hot only when it is blown up or when it is continuously blasting a lot of power.
Music and speech have an average power of 1/10th to 1/20th of the max power so then an amplifier will be a little warm.

 

[HiTech]

That thing is pre-1980's vintage, status quo Japanese electronics for back then. Nothing about it makes it any better than the Pioneer, Technics, Sansui, etc. stuff. It's likely got electrolytic caps that are on the verge of failure. Personally, I think it belongs back in the trash unless you have some sentimental reasons for resurrecting it. If it was a Nakamichi, Rotel, or Luxman product name, then I'd say to go ahead and refurb it.