Restoration Commences on 1947 RCA Victor 721TCS

[Yamamaya42]

Originally Posted by Penthode

Entropic degradation? I am curious what this is.

I am amused bt your comment "when it is shown over and over again". There is a lot of stuff on the internet by many self proclaimed experts. You have not attempted to test the process and I see you are not willing to accept the evidence I has provided. The set has been on now continuously for over six hours reaching a total of 50 hours and the electrolytic capacitors remain fine.

I am not disputing anyone who chooses to replace the electrolytics. However I am disconcerted by reading here that all capacitors including electrolytic, paper and mica should be blindly replaced.

It is amusing to see defensive reaction to my hobby specific activities. I do not disagree with you if yo prefer to replace the capacitors. I have refilled many electrolytic cans myself, most recently my HP DC power supply. I am only posting this information here to demonstrate to all how the capacitors can survive more than seven decades and still work.

I am going to look inside a reformed good capacitor to see what degradation has occurred. I would also suggest you try reforming an old capacitor properly and then testing it for yourself.

I abhor the practise of applying power or even use of a Variac on a set that has not been thoroughly vetted and corrected. It is fraught with danger and because these electronic devices rely upon oscillators to generated grid bias, will lead to other component failures.

Note in this case, I reformed the capacitors and made all the required component replacements after detailed analysis of the circuit before applying full power. This set came up immediately and worked without issues.

Entropy, a product of the second law of thermodynamics, was the slow, irreversible process of breakdown and decay whereby a complex, organized system inevitably degraded into more chaotic ones.