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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment.

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Old 31st Mar 2023, 1:08 pm   #1
waxon-flaxon
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Default Leak TL10 + Varislope II - Need help/advice

Hi!, I've been gifted a TL10 with the Varislope II (mono champagne one). This is my first time with a valve amp and have spent a couple days researching to the best of my ability to get some basic knowledge down (mostly terminology) to make this post go smoother.

Any vintage hifi equipment I own has all just been purchased and plug and play so to speak, so there will be thing's I understand and others that I've never had to encounter that may seem very obvious to some....so bare with me there. I can google pretty well, but there's some thing's that I'm stumped with....

So...the first thing I'm trying to do is just see where the amp is at in terms of does it play sound..

- It turns on.
- light on the Varislope is on
- The valves all seem to work on the TL10, get hot and glow.
- No weird noises


however,....I can't figure out what inputs the Varislope takes to even test it ? I've seen photos of the same amp with RCA inputs..seems logical this would have them as well, but it doesn't...at least what I would recognise as an RCA input. They are just deep (ish) holes, where on the other end seems a slide over clip type connection is attached.

anyone know if there's any type of adaptor available for this? Right now just trying to get something to feed into it to see where any issues may be...before attempting or getting someone to look at it to modify.

any pointers appreciated!
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Old 31st Mar 2023, 3:15 pm   #2
cathoderay57
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Default Re: Leak TL10 + Varislope II - Need help/advice

Looking at the bottom photo on this page http://mynstrel.blogspot.com/2009/04...leak-tl10.html shows the plug. It isn't an RCA phono; it is the same as used for old-fashioned car radio aerials and I think is a DIN plug like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/AIV-Autolea..._df_B000M730VM Jerry
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Old 31st Mar 2023, 3:39 pm   #3
Radio Wrangler
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Default Re: Leak TL10 + Varislope II - Need help/advice

Quote:
Originally Posted by waxon-flaxon View Post
- It turns on.

any pointers appreciated!
First pointer... NEVER just turn on an unknown piece of valved equipment to see what lights up and if it works. Your TL10 has a couple of capacitors inside it which are known to go leaky after many years. This increases the current in your output valves and can destroy your transformers. Such damage writes off a valuable amplifier. The transformers are almost irreplaceable, the capacitors cost pennies.

So it's strongly advised to check these parts and replace if necessary before applying power.

This vulnerability can be found in almost all audio equipment.

If you want to search the forum for tales of such problems and of people doing the necessary checks, look for mentions of 'That capacitor' they cause enough damage to have acquired a name.

David
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Old 1st Apr 2023, 11:06 am   #4
Edward Huggins
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Default Re: Leak TL10 + Varislope II - Need help/advice

Just because a valve lights up does not neccessarily means it's working. All that indicates is that its heater has continuity.
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