A few weeks ago I badmouthed this poor Conion, and that was exactly how I felt about it. Conion cluttered my desk for months, and until the very last moment I was not sure if it was fixable. Happy ending first: This patient had a whole list of minor aches and major problems. Cassette block was opened first. Controller for the blinking LEDs for cassette door fell apart, reset button broken, pinchroller dented from being left in "Play" position, belt missing. All are pretty standard problems and fixes. Tuner/Amplifier block had a bigger problem: it worked of external 12V DC power supply, but refused to operate when connected to 115V ac. Problem was easy to find: previous restoration attempt substituted original transformer for this 7V ac monster pictured below, it was attached directly to the main-board. 7V was too low for normal operation, under the weight of this transformer, main-board cracked in half: New 12V ac transformer was purchased and attached directly to the bottom plate; broken piece of the board was simply cut off, lost traces were substituted by wiring: Minor problem: Conion still refused to get powered of 120V ac... In the absence of a Service Manual, lost power had to be traced. Then a few parts desoldered and individually tested with transistor/diode tester. Voltage regulator had its zener diode busted (probably when the original transformer got burned?). With a new ZD (soldered to the opposite side of the board) Conion came alive! And now I lost a whole of a Left Channel!!! Those who actually know electronics, mention sometimes a thing called "signal tracer". Being unable to find such a thing on eBay, I made one from Ray Samuels headphone amp and a piece of TV-coax wire. Line-In gets some music from an iPod, homemade probe traces the signal... Left Channel was lost at the board crack. When fixing the broken board, I used copper threads (circled green) for the DC traces but only solder for the signal traces: 15 min of laziness resulted in extra hours of fun!!! Time to fix the broken switch: Sliders for frequency equalizer got disassembled, cleaned and DeoxIt-ed: Another hour of fun polishing cassette door window: and Conion goes to its rightful owner
That's a great looking box, thanks for the write-up, it's amazing how some of these boxes work great for 40+ years and some need major work on everything.
So True! This one had it real bad: based on the Huge amount of dust it must have spent years in total neglect, and then an extensive but failed restoration attempt made my job a bit more difficult. I was so eager to get rid of this Conion that gave it back to the owner even before receiving a new antenna (what it has now is bent and not the original), it arrived only a few days later.
This is the story of this boombox: http://www.stereo2go.com/forums/threads/please-rate-this-boombox.1041/ when i received the boombox it was wrapped in bubble wrap and appeared that packaging was really good since there was no apparent damage to the unit or even box externally. But the unit didn't work. I thought by opening the unit i can just change the fuse or do something to make it work. Once I opened the main unit there was a big crack on main board due to the heavy power supply. There were other issues as @Jorge mentioned above. anyway by looking at inside the unit I thought it is impossible to see this one in working condition , So i decided to just place it as a display unit. Several weeks ago I showed to @Jorge who kindly agreed to check it out and he performed amazing restoration of this unit. I always admire his knowledge , creativity and expertise. Thanks to @Jorge this boombox is working with no issues at all .
@thid Thank You!!!! I get inspired by "Fixing a Legend" thread at boomboxery.com, but so far had not been able to find totally-irrevocably thrashed unit. Usually its an easy fix, esp. compared to Discmans @Boodokhan ... WOW!!! This Conion has a long story behind it!!! I am sooo glad to become a part of it, and I LOVE Happy Endings!!!
@Jorge I have one of these with a blown transformer, could you let me know where you got the replacement transformer please? Was it easy to wire in to the old wiring? Thanks!
I used 117V-to-12V ac transformer rated at 2amp. I also bought 4amp rated transformer but its installation proved a bit too difficult https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B88632C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 installation is as easy as soldering four wires to the board. You will have to choose 220V-to-12V transformer, or if you decide to keep the original form of 120V-240V then get a transformer with dual primary winding. If you ever get to it, PLEASE post some photos of the original transformer. It is a Great Mystery to me how they managed to attach transformer to the bottom plate!!! There is a mainboard in between which, evidently, cannot be used to hold transformer. I "solved" the problem by cutting a piece of mainboard off
Outstanding job Jorge, your unit is wonderful even as an aka. I know as I own the Radiotone Tarragona version. Just bliss
