Log in or Sign up

ADVERTISEMENT

Home Forums Media Members

Search Forums Recent Posts

ADVERTISEMENT

Home Forums Audiokarma DIY DIY

David, aka Grumpy, needs our help.Great news. David is home! It was quite the ordeal to get
him home and into the house, but it is done. Thank you to everyone for their support. Now a
long road ahead to get him back on his feet and functioning normally.

I have started a GoFundMe to help with the medical bills. Please help, if you can.
https://gofund.me/6711cbd4

STK integrated circuits: simple guide for checking and replacing

ADVERTISEMENT

Hi everyone,

First of all, I’m fairly new to this, so please take my advice with a grain of salt. I did a few STK
replacements and thought I’d share my experience with you. STKs offer surprisingly good sound
quality, but are known to break easily. This is how I diagnose and replace them, based on various
info I gathered on the Internet.

Pomegranate Tools you’ll need:

Member · For checking: a multimeter

Messages: 79 · For replacing: a new STK (same model as the old one), a rectangle of solid plastic, thermal
Location: Romania paste, soldering station, solder, desoldering wick and resin (a desoldering gun is also good)

What to consider:

· Never connect a good set of speakers to a device that may have a bad STK, because you risk
destroying them. If you really must, use a cheap pair that you don’t mind breaking.

· As a rule of thumb, if a device turns on but you have no sound and it has a STK inside, this
circuit is most likely faulty.

· STKs are integrated amplifier circuits made by Sanyo. They are found in low-end and mid-to-
low-end audio equipment. Before attempting a repair, consider if it is worth it.

· Looking at the plastic front of the STK, pins are numbered from left to right.

· STKs come in two flavours: two-channel (amplify both channels using one component; more
than 15 pins) and one-channel (one STK for each channel, less than 15 pins).

· My multimeter has an auto-adjusting range. If yours doesn’t, make sure to select the correct
range.

· These instructions are only for STK power amplifiers. There are other types of STKs, like
voltage amplifiers, but I don’t know how to check those.

This is a set of steps for diagnosing a bad STK in an amplifier or receiver.

1) You should start by opening the top cover and vacuuming the dust inside, if there is any. Make
sure the device is unplugged.

2) Next you will need the circuit schematics to find the pin layout. Sites like alldatasheet.com are
extremely useful. On this document you have to find the +Vcc pin and the output pin(s). These
are always the pins that connect directly to the +Vcc and to the output, with at most a very small
resistor. On this diagram of a STK 465 I circled what you should look for:

3) Look inside for the relay. If there is one, plug in the device and turn it on. Listen for the relay
clicking. If it doesn’t, it most likely means there is a big voltage going to the speakers because the
STK has shorted. If there is no relay, don’t connect any speakers and be careful with the speaker
terminals.

4) With the device unplugged, access the pins on the underside of the PCB. If you are lucky,
the bottom can be unscrewed and taken off entirely (Fisher CA-120). If you are not, you’ll have to
remove the entire board and turn it over (Onkyo TX-7620). Take the multimeter and set it on
ohms. Check the resistivity between +Vcc and the output pins. This should be very big, about half
of a megaohm. If it is several hundred ohms or even less, there is a short.

5) Plug in the device. Be careful here! Turn on the device and set the volume knob to 0. Set the
multimeter to volts. One probe goes on the metal chassis (or somewhere where is it grounded,
like on the ground pin of the STK) and the other probe on the output pins of each channel. The
voltage should be very low, several millivolts. If you see numbers greater than 20 V (either
negative or positive), the STK is shorted. Make sure you don’t accidentally short pins with
your probe!

6) Lastly, check the voltage on the speaker terminals, with the device on, the multimeter set to
volts and the speaker output turned on. Make sure you have contact on the probes, the black one
goes to the black terminal and the red probe to the red terminal. If the relay is not clicking, you
should have a very small voltage, because the device is in protection mode. If the relay has
clicked or there is none and the STK is faulty, you should see a very high voltage, greater than 20
V usually.

7) If there are two STKs inside it is also a good idea to check the channel fuses, if there are any.
If a fuse is blown on a channel, this usually indicates which STK is faulty.

Now, that you made sure you have a faulty STK, this is how you replace it:

1) Before installing the new STK, you should check the resistances on it like you did with the old
one. This can save you a lot of effort if the new STK is also faulty.

2) Turn off the device. Unscrew the STK from the heat sink.
3) Desolder the pins from the PCB, using the solder wick and resin (or the desoldering gun). Tip:
it is best to practice first on another PCB if you are new to soldering and desoldering, because
STKs have pins really close to one another.

4) Take a square of toilet paper and wipe off the thermal paste from the heat sink. You can do the
same with the old STK if you plan to keep it. The paste can’t be cleaned with water, so if you get
it on your fingers it is best to wipe it off with TP.

5) Apply a small amount of thermal paste on the new STK and spread it in a thin, even layer on
the metal back, covering it completely. Use a solid piece of plastic with a straight edge to do this.
Old credit cards work well. I’m using a rectangle of transparent plastic I cut from a lid of a Muller
Cremoso yogurt.

 6) Place the new STK in the device. Make sure all the pins are in their holes. I find it useful to
screw it slightly, so it stays in place when soldering.

7) Solder back the pins. Be careful not to short any.

8) Now take the multimeter and set it on connection check. Verify the connection between each
pin and the next component it connects to on the PCB. You want to hear a beep everytime. Now
check the connection between the pins of the STK, making sure they are not shorted. Some of
them should beep, like the output pins on some models that are connected together. Refer to the
electrical diagram for your STK.

And this should be it. Check again the new STK like you did with the old one, making sure
nothing is shorted. Also listen for the relay clicking and check the speaker terminals. I
recommend listening with a pair of cheap headphones and then with a pair of cheap speakers
before connecting your actual expensive speakers, to make sure the new STK works well.

You can also replace a STK with a different model, but you have to make some adjustments to
the circuit. You have to research further if this is the case.

A big problem is sourcing new quality STKs, because Sanyo doesn’t make them anymore.
Aliexpress is a big hit or miss. I ordered one from there, waited almost two months for it and after
installing it I discovered it was also faulty. There are also eBay sellers, but you should be wary of
them, too. I find it best to order from a reputable online store that also has a physical address and
offers warranty. If you are from Romania, I got three STKs from electronicservice.ro. They must
also be Chinese, but look very well made and all of them worked. The store is also very
professional.

If you want to read more on this subject, here are a few links with very useful information:

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-test-stk-ics.717075/

https://www.petervis.com/electronics/stk465/stk465.html (this entire site is very good)

That’s all I have. Don’t take my exact word for it, because I’m not very experienced and some of
the info may be wrong. Maybe the more knowledgeable users can point out the wrong parts and
offer their own advice.
Pomegranate,
Feb 21, 2021 #1

roger2 likes this.

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Please register to disable this ad.

good to be informed of these things !

inductor,
Feb 21, 2021 #2
inductor
Pomegranate likes this.
Super Member

Messages: 2,135
Location: uk

The other way I've seen STK chips fail is to have one of the output sections go open. Won't upset
the protect relay (if it has one) or put a bunch of DC on the output but on the scope you'll see a
very obvious half-sine. Audibly its pretty obvious when it half-dies, the output is really badly
distorted.

I have a couple of old Ford factory amplifiers that run STK units. Shorts and opens are common,
gadget73 anymore I don't even connect it to a dummy load before doing a voltage test on the output wires.
junk junkie Those specific ones have no protect circuit, so if the STK shorts you get full rail voltage at the
Subscriber
output. Into a dummy load it just draws enough to pop the fuse. Into a speaker, it usually roasts
Messages: 55,821 the voice coil.
Location: Southern NJ

A one-time problem I had that caused me to misdiagnose a bad STK. The input on that particular
amp comes off a small signal transistor. That transistor had shorted, sending rail voltage to the
input. The output was basically rail voltage, minus maybe 1.2v for junction losses. I didn't notice
the voltage difference and replaced the chip. Same problem afterward. Thats when I poked at the
input pins and found it had a bunch of DC on it. Now I always confirm the inputs are not being
sent voltage before assuming the STK is bad. Only seen it once, but its an easy enough thing to
confirm. A close check of the rail voltage vs the voltage seen at the output terminals would also
be a clue. A shorted output device will be the same, a short upstream of the output will be less
about 0.6 volts per-junction.
gadget73,
Feb 22, 2021 #3

Pomegranate likes this.

Problem is that genuine STKs have been out of production for years (decades?), so any
replacement you can buy will either be NOS (very rare), used and in an unknown condition, or
(most likely) a third party poor quality replacement. We discussed this in a recent thread.

swechsler,
Feb 22, 2021 #4
swechsler
Frog Whisperer

Messages: 13,871
Location:
High in the Custerdome

Were Sanyo's STK modules what everyone used before more modern amp ICs like the LM3886,
TDA7293, etc and other chip amps became a thing? I haven't seen STK modules in any modern
budget receivers either.

ouimetnick,
Feb 23, 2021 #5
ouimetnick  
Hafler Fan!
Messages: 1,066

ADVERTISEMENT

Please register to disable this ad.

Not sure when those other chips came out but very likely those are what replaced the Sanyo
modules. Those STK modules seemed to mostly be a thing of the 1980s and early 90s.

gadget73,
Feb 23, 2021 #6
gadget73
junk junkie Pomegranate likes this.
Subscriber

Messages: 55,821
Location: Southern NJ

swechsler said:
↑

Problem is that genuine STKs have been out of production for years (decades?), so any replacement you can buy
will either be NOS (very rare), used and in an unknown condition, or (most likely) a third party poor quality
replacement. We discussed this in a recent thread.

Yes, it's really sad that it became so hard to repair these older amps and receivers. They're often
Pomegranate good sounding and some of the designs are really nice. I was wondering, would it be possible to
Member
build the equivalent circuit on a bigger PCB? Like finding the equivalent circuit and building the
Messages: 79 module with bigger transistors and diodes.

Location: Romania

ouimetnick said:
↑

Were Sanyo's STK modules what everyone used before more modern amp ICs like the LM3886, TDA7293, etc
and other chip amps became a thing? I haven't seen STK modules in any modern budget receivers either.

They were used mostly in the 80s, though I think some Yamaha receivers from the mid 90s also
had them. Really just penny-pinching on the manufacturer's side.
Pomegranate,
Feb 24, 2021 #7

ouimetnick likes this.

Pomegranate said:
↑

would it be possible to build the equivalent circuit on a bigger PCB? Like finding the equivalent circuit and building
the module with bigger transistors and diodes.

Its been done, there is a post somewhere on here doing this exact thing

gadget73 gadget73,
Feb 24, 2021 #8
junk junkie
Subscriber