Akai 1710w Help Needed

billkrz

New member
Hello to all. I have an AKAI 1710w that has sat for over a decade and I decided to try to see if it would still work. Based upon what I've read on this forum (and youtube), I took it out of the case and cleaned and lubricated the transport.
I then powered it up (in the horizontal position) and it worked and sounded great (except for a very slow fast forward) for about 2 hours. Then, I smelt something and heard a 'puff'. The outside (wooden) case was very warm on the bottom. I let things cool off then took the transport out of the case.
What I found was a waxy substance that seemed to center around the output transformer (LCS-806 in the service manual).
I next decided to power it back up to see what would happen. The unit still ran and played but at about 1/2 of the volume it had before. Also, the large green resistor near the motor (LCS-401r called a wire wound fixed Power Resistor in the manual) got extremely hot (too hot to touch) and began to smell (same smell that I smelt previously). So, I shut it down.
Now, what to do.
Are these issues related or two separate problems?
I could replace the transformer with ones sold on eBay but what caused it to fail?
What does the green power resister do and why does it get so hot?
I'm open to any suggestions and explanations.
It may be that I need to take it somewhere and if so, are there any recommendations for service in Virginia? (I live in central Va. near Charlottesville).
I like this unit because it allows both mono and stereo playback via the 1-4, 2-3, and stereo switch so I can play the mono tapes I made on an old Wards Airline (Sharp) reel-to-reel back in the 1960's.
Thank you for any suggestions.
Bill
 
Normally, overheating of the resistor may be caused by a malfunction of the device. In this case it is necessary to identify the cause of the device malfunction.
 
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