Well I could not really wait to get this back into my office so I can give it a thorough test and listen. I fully intend to sell this one after I am satisfied that everything is working and I am happy with it. I think it will be a great piece for someone to enjoy for a VERY long time. I really enjoyed working on this beast and I just remain amazed that people actually used to build equipment like this. When people say these things are built like a tank it is not an exaggeration. I don’t think Amazon would offer free shipping on this beast at 50 pounds.
Here are all of the components that I replaced in this receiver. Over 65 electrolytic capacitors were replaced and 10 transistors were replaced. As you can also see, the main filters and all of the lights were also replaced. All of the electrolytic caps were replaced with Nichicon or Nichicon Ultra Fine Gold if they were in the signal path. All lights were replaced with “warm” white LED and it has a nice factory glow.
I thought it might be entertaining to post a picture of the many wiring diagrams hanging in my workshop that were tied to this project. As I progressed I would always capture pin voltages and notes and write them on the diagrams. I will most likely add these to my files so I have numbers for comparison should I take on another SX-850. I will however include a 13 x 19 full wiring diagram for this receiver when I sell. It is very useful for service and honestly – it looks cool. I will add another post once I test this for a few days to let you know if I find any issues. I also plan to post a full parts list that I developed during this project as well as a quick review of the Hakko soldering tools that I used.