[smbrown]

I just picked up a second FM3. First of all, thanks to Bill Thomas and his excellent write-ups for inspiring me to try this outstanding tuner. My first one with restoration went very well and plays music almost daily. But I decided to snag another one, provided the indicator tube worked, and provided it was a good price overall, figuring it would be a parts doner if needed. The one I got is in excellent condition and seems to work pretty well without having done any changes yet. It does need the PEC module update at a minimum, and one channel is a bit weaker than the other (12AX7?). But I'm wondering how to tell if this is factory wired. There is a date stamp inside the chassis, which I seem to remember indicates it is (7/30/68 by the way). It also has a black metal cover instead of brown, like my other unit. The seller included an original manual which is in pristine condition, and none of the steps are checked off, again indicating it may be a factory unit. Thanks!

[dB Cooper]

It's usually pretty easy to tell unless the builder was a real expert. And the date stamp probably pegs it as factory built; my kitbuilt unit doesn't have that. Apart from the general neatness of the wiring (compare to the photos in the manual), one typical giveaway is the solder joints, particularly where connections are soldered to the chassis. These are almost always "lumpy" looking on kit builds. Can you post some pics?

Oh, and absolutely get "Keeping the Dyna FM3 Working" from the Audio by Van Alstine website. Invaluable info there.

[Bill Thomas]

The one absolute way is simple.  Look at the back of the unit.  If the Antenna terminal strip uses screws to mount it, it is *probably* kit-built.  If it is riveted to the chassis, it is DEFINITELY factory-wired.  Look for other rivets as well.

Hope this helps.

Bill

[smbrown]

Well, no rivets, so maybe not factory wired. Also some kind of chunky solder joints between the circuit board foils and chassis. A quick voltage check shows all the quad cap voltages are spot on, and there is no hum, so maybe the cap can stay. I'm tempted to unbuild and rebuild it from ground up, not sure I want to take on that much work. Pretty sure I can source all the parts. I'm lucky enough to have a very old parts distributer here in town and I've never looked for something they didn't end up having. Excellent assortment of silver micas, for example. The boards themselves look kind of dirty but I'm not seeing any fractures or other mechanical issues

[baldrick]

Wondering if there are any updates to your FM-3...Have you decided to rebuild / restore it?
Did you solve the channel imbalance?

[smbrown]

Sorry, I should have posted an update a long time ago! I went through it and replaced the quad cap, checked all tubes, replaced the output 12ax7, replaced the PEC modules, redid some sloppy wiring, new RCAs, cleaned the volume pot, replaced the recomended caps (like the output caps) with new ones. The thing now ROCKS! I listen to it probably every day at least for a bit. Pulls in stations beautifully, locks on. I really only listen to our local classical station but never once have I had to "retune" it, it has stayed solid on the station from hot to cold and back to hot. Fantastic tuner!

[Dawkus]

Hi SMBrown,somewhere down the pike I read that factory wired Dynas used only 2 colored wires like red and black,or red and green,while homebuilt kits used more different colored wires.This does not pertain to the transformer wires which are all sorts of different colors.I might be wrong,but I did read it somewhere....Mark Korda(mark.korda@myfairpoint.net)

[gerald porzio]

Open it & look. A botch job on a kit is easy to spot, even for a novice.