Upgrade for Day Sequerra FM Reference Tuner
21 year old thread. hifigeezer you must be bored. Most of the posters likely gave up on FM at least a decade ago! That Sequerra upgrade for $3800 will buy a Marantz 10B, and it will sound more convincing. I'm one of those FM weirdos- 67 Mac MR 71. Arguably, 2nd place to 10B. If one REALLY wants to play with a serious tuna, the REL Precedent is my pick. It's what Saul Marantz based his creation on. The upper level Scotts are contenders. |
Here you go: https://www.daysequerra.com/fmr-features?utm_source=pocket_saves
Alas, Dick Sequerra is no longer living. |
WHAT IS MISSING FROM THE SEQUERRA MODEL 1 TUNER? A good tuner turns excellent. Jeno Takacs from Hungary explains how. The Sequerra Model 1 tuner is, no doubt, one of the most famous tuners of the world. A legend, a piece of technical history. Everyone is proud to own it. Surprising as it may be, the original Sequerra is still not an excellent tuner, explained a big fan of vintage hifi equipment and a builder of fine OTL amplifiers to me. Jeno Takacs, resident of Tatabánya, Hungary, bought his used Sequerra last year, and he was not satisfied with it at all. He kept on thinking what can be wrong with his unit, and in a couple of months he found the cause. He tweaked his unit and is a happy man now. „My Sequerra beats my Marantz 10B hands down” - he says. As Jeno Takacs does not use the Internet, he asked me to post this mail to you. I am an audiophile myself, a journalist by profession, understanding very little of electronics. I found his story stunning, however. Jeno read the tests of the Sequerra, eg. the lengthy 10 pages test in the German HI-FI EXKLUSIV magazine back in 1979. The tests were not that glorious at all, either. The biggest problem seemed to be sensitivity (measuring 55 microVolt / 75Ohm in stereo mode) and the S/N ratio (53 dB). These figures are around average. But you would not expect average from such an expensive and esteemed unit, would you? Jeno then compared his Sequerra to his Marantz 10B in a DX test. He found the Marantz to be much-much better. He also found a funny thing, which he called the dark secret of the original Sequerras. Half an hour after switching on the tuner, the level of the signal fell back by about 10dB, either in „display panoramic” or in „display tuning” mode. So the front end seemed to be wrong. Jeno then started to examine the R. F. board and saw the following: the 100KOhm resistors wee missing from the gate electrodes of the two cascade FETs on the input stage! He also found that the board did not even have the space or the holes for the resistors. They had been missing from the design already! After switching on the Sequerra the potencial of the gates was lower than that of the sources, so the tuner worked, sort of. But after the coupling condenser got charged, the potential of the gates ceased to be correct. This caused problems. So far so good, but how can one repair this? As there is no space for the two missing 100 KOhm resistors, Jeno built two 100 KOhm 1% SMD resistors between the legs and the ground. As there is a danger of electrostatic charge, one should use exclusively law voltage soldering unit. After performing this tweak, the unit lived up to the high expectations concerning performance. It beat the marantz 10B in the fields of sensitivity and S/N ratio. The sound got much better, which, says Jano Takacs, proves that the input stage worked normally this time. The serial number of Jeno’s Sequerra is 1001, but the above mentioned resistors are most probably missing from all Sequerra models belonging to the frist series, made in Woodside, NY. Andras Loke, Budapest, Hungary |
They want a thousand bucks for THAT? You have got to be kidding me. Gee, a few ceramic filters and an alignment, plus a change in the grounding path. Unless they're putting all new circuit board in it, that has to be the biggest upgrade ripoff I've heard about in a loooong time. The least they could do is sprinkle some extra pixie dust in there. |
Here is what's involved in the upgrade--ballpark figure given me was about $1,000. Need to get a return authorization number from Linda and send it after August 1 to Medford, NJ--ask Linda Reed for the details. Day Sequerra Specification Information on the FM Reference upgrade modification to FM Reference Classic: Qualified Models FM Reference Serial Numbers #1206 and greater Current Lead Time Eight (8) weeks from receipt of qualified unit Power Transformer Power test and replace as required IF Filter Sections Replace using hand selected ceramic filters Power Supply Complete grounding revision and upgrading Audio Path Perform audio ground rerouting and system configuration modes System Alignment Upgrade performance specifications with latest Classic measurements System Test Perform system quality test and performance burn-in Shipping Unit returned via air shipment |
Update: I spoke with Linda Reed (856-261-8961), who tells me that Day Sequerra is about to finish a move back to NJ and expects to be making the upgrades available again in the next few weeks. I'll be getting an e-mail from her soon with details on where to return my unit and what's involved in the upgrade, I'll report more when I get that. |
I don't think Dick Sequerra wants much to do with the D-S models. The upgrades, as I recall them from the review, seemed largely cosmetic (better back-lighting, brighter scope display, etc.), although it certainly doesn't hurt to have your tuner brought back up to spec, and Don Scott probably could easily do that. The folks who handle the D-S were moving about a year ago, they said they'd call me when they were set up (I too own a similar vintage D-S) but I haven't heard from them so I'm not sure what's going on. When I get back to the office tomorrow I'll check my old e-mails for the woman I called and let you know (as well as give her a call). |
