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Author Topic: The Spectra Sonics Thread  (Read 50306 times)

Philip Shaw Bova

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #30 on: March 17, 2009, 02:21:39 PM »

here's some info on the SS 103 summing amp cards.


index.php/fa/11697/0/
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Philip Shaw Bova

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #31 on: April 03, 2009, 05:23:01 PM »

Does anyone here have a pair of the Spectra Sonics 502 EQ's (3 band) that they'd like to sell?

Thanks

Philip
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Galil

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #32 on: April 07, 2009, 04:20:07 PM »

As I saw the Spectra Sonics card pictures posted in this thread, I instantly recognized the relationship between them and my Scully 100.  I'm certain there is a story about a designer from Spectra Sonics who worked on the Scully 100 project. So for those who would like a SS multi-track tape recorder, it was made!

Galil
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James Craft

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #33 on: April 17, 2009, 12:43:27 AM »

Just found this thread since I've been "Away" watching college basketball since Nov. I have one of the last Spectrasonics 1020 consoles built by Auditronics, it's actually branded Auditronics on the fotofoil. It's the 3-band EQ with 101 cards. The sad part is that the previous owner pretty much butchered the wiring harness and removed the 16x4 monitor section. Lots of work to do on it.

My aim has been to repackage it as a 18x2 mixer with switchable direct outs per channel. I have had some of the same issues others here said, one being ditching the long fader in favor of a rotary pot and the cue pot seems like the logical place for it. Since I'm only going to use the pot for mic gain when tracking and basically a summing box for 16 channels of PT when mixing, a log throw fader is not really necessary.

I gave Jerry Puckett, the chief design engineer at Auditronics one of my modules a year or so ago to get the pinouts for the modules, I just have not got back with him, we've talked, just not about this. I also found out that the output transformers for the console were in the outboard patchbay that was located in matching rack, it is not to be found thanks to the previous owner. Any actual documentation would be a help if possible.

We have came up with a solution that my engineering buddy had already done which is a small circuit board which mounts on a XLR panel jack. It uses OPA134 opamps which takes a balanced/unbalanced input at -10 to +4 and drives a +4 balanced 600 ohm output, gain trim built on the board. We will use these for the direct outs. The 2 mix will be something similar to a API summing solution using his custom opamps or whatever good is available off the shelf.

My biggest problem is having a place to work on this monster. My wife has been pressing me to get the frame out of the storage building and she suggested we do that this weekend. Since I will be putting it into a smaller frame/layout I might just remove all the motherboards with the amp connectors for the modules, the extrusion for building the smaller frame and chucking the rest into the weeds. This is not a project I look forward to, but It's a board I really want.

I originally owned this console when it was pulled from Sound Techniques in Dallas, TX, but we where 16 track at the time and when I went 24 track I had to get something bigger (I actually had the original Stax blue & yellow formica console which I gutted for modules to extend this thing to 24 channels and chucked the frame. It didn't work out very well. I know, don't yell at me. I've yelled at myself enough. LOL). Anyhow a year and a half back (it was my birthday I do remember) I was discussing this console with a friend on Gearslutz that was familiar with it and I stated that I wished I had it back. Later that week I got a call out of the blue that the console was going to the dump and if I wanted it I could come pick it up. The modules are all in excellent shape sans the aforementioned wiring harnesses and I also got a couple of boxes of Spectrasonics cards, a lot of them new in the bag. Later...
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“You’re paid to record, not erase!” ~ an annoyed Jim Dickinson to young engineer who took it upon himself to clean up the bleed on some tracks.

trunkline

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #34 on: May 10, 2009, 09:24:40 PM »

I recently picked up some modules that look identical to the one posted by Billy Yates on pg. 1 of this thread, but the amp cards aren't the same.  One one side is this dual amp card, & on the other is a card with a single amp (same circuit) on it.  Anyone ever seen these?
Tom

index.php/fa/12163/0/
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trunkline

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #35 on: December 28, 2009, 11:35:57 AM »

I've been working on figuring out my modules (pictured above), so I thought I'd drag this thread back up.  The amp cards, it turns out, run on +/- 24V, and the modules have been modded to deal with that.  I've managed to get audio out of a couple of the modules(yay!), and it sounds good.  However, there should be more than one out, & I only have the one--I've got eq, but no output level controls at all--the fader, cue pot, & echo pot have no impact.  
I thought I had sussed out the different outputs, but I'm getting nothing.  I'm wondering if anyone knows the module pinout, so I could check my work & see if I'm missing something.

Any help/suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks
Tom
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mjgreeneaudio

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #36 on: December 30, 2009, 12:29:57 AM »

Go straight to the source.  Call Spectra-Sonics and show them the picture.  I have been told that they have a lot of the original documentation and notebooks from the original owner. If anyone can shed some light on this it would probably be them if they have the time.  

http://www.spectrasonics610.com/Contact_Us.html

I hope they can help you out.

Michael Greene
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James Craft

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #37 on: January 08, 2010, 04:16:21 PM »

trunkline wrote on Mon, 28 December 2009 10:35

I've been working on figuring out my modules (pictured above), so I thought I'd drag this thread back up.  The amp cards, it turns out, run on +/- 24V, and the modules have been modded to deal with that.  I've managed to get audio out of a couple of the modules(yay!), and it sounds good.  However, there should be more than one out, & I only have the one--I've got eq, but no output level controls at all--the fader, cue pot, & echo pot have no impact.  
I thought I had sussed out the different outputs, but I'm getting nothing.  I'm wondering if anyone knows the module pinout, so I could check my work & see if I'm missing something.

Any help/suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks
Tom


Those modules on the first page look like the ones from Ardent's "B" studio console back in the late 70's - early 80's. Those do not look like 101's in your module, some kind of mod I suppose. One things for sure, the original 101 cards were +24 volt only, not +/- 24 volts which would seriously damage the cards. The 110s are +/- 15 to 18 volts.
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compasspnt

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2010, 11:09:24 PM »

mjgreeneaudio wrote on Wed, 30 December 2009 00:29

...the original owner...



That would be William Dilly.
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NelsonL

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #39 on: January 09, 2010, 06:41:02 AM »

James Craft wrote on Fri, 08 January 2010 13:16

trunkline wrote on Mon, 28 December 2009 10:35

I've been working on figuring out my modules (pictured above), so I thought I'd drag this thread back up.  The amp cards, it turns out, run on +/- 24V, and the modules have been modded to deal with that.  I've managed to get audio out of a couple of the modules(yay!), and it sounds good.  However, there should be more than one out, & I only have the one--I've got eq, but no output level controls at all--the fader, cue pot, & echo pot have no impact.  
I thought I had sussed out the different outputs, but I'm getting nothing.  I'm wondering if anyone knows the module pinout, so I could check my work & see if I'm missing something.

Any help/suggestions would be most welcome.

Thanks
Tom


Those modules on the first page look like the ones from Ardent's "B" studio console back in the late 70's - early 80's. Those do not look like 101's in your module, some kind of mod I suppose. One things for sure, the original 101 cards were +24 volt only, not +/- 24 volts which would seriously damage the cards. The 110s are +/- 15 to 18 volts.


My quartet of 110s are running on +/- 24v, the pinout diagram we have is marked as such--- this is the first reference I've seen to +/- 15 to 18v.
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Philip Shaw Bova

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #40 on: January 09, 2010, 10:15:49 AM »

I think that the later SS channel strips ran off of 15 or 18 volts to accommodate the ICs, so basically the 110's aren't running at their full potential. I have a couple strips of this type, but can't wait to rip those 5534s out and replace them with something class A that can run at +/- 24.
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mjgreeneaudio

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #41 on: January 10, 2010, 12:42:24 PM »

compasspnt wrote on Fri, 08 January 2010 21:09

mjgreeneaudio wrote on Wed, 30 December 2009 00:29

...the original owner...



That would be William Dilly.



Thanks Terry.  For the life of me I couldn't remember his name when I was typing that reply.  And I have to say he was a wonderful person.  I called the number for Spectra-Sonics that I found in my old owners manual in about 1992.  I thought they had gone out of business years before.  William answered the phone and proceeded to chat me up about my 610's and his company for over an hour.  Very nice guy.  

Michael Greene
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trunkline

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #42 on: January 10, 2010, 11:35:10 PM »

I hadn't checked back on this thread in a while--nice to see a spurt of activity after my post.  I spent some more time staring at the connector board that the amps plug into, & I figured out where I was going wrong.  What I thought was the main out is actually a pre-fader output.  Looping that back in to the next pin over (the fader input--how convenient!) gave me signal in all the right places.  I still haven't sussed out all the connections for the Pre-Listen switch--more staring & headscratching, I suppose.

This modded unit is running nicely on +/- 24v (just on the test rig so far.)  Re the extra amp circuit on the card in the photo--for some reason there's a separate amp circuit for the line in, & the line input also bypasses the input transformer.  I'm not quite sure why they saw fit to do that.

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Philip Shaw Bova

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #43 on: January 11, 2010, 11:42:04 AM »

 Since Billy and I started this thread last year, I've had two channels racked up from a later Spectra Sonics console that had the 502 3 band inductor EQ. I'm not sure how the earlier SS channels ran with two 101 or 110 cards... but with these later channels I believe that both the mic pre and EQ run off a single 110a card and a separate motherboard with IC's is used as makeup gain. My channels have the mod to take 5534s in place of the original IC's (unknown to me) that were installed at the factory.

It took much trial and error to get these channels stable and free of oscillation especially without the schematics for the entire channel... in the end it was worth it. The SS stuff sounds great and the EQ is very musical, though I'm sure many here already know that. The preamps sound quick and tight in the mids and highs yet the low end is a little rounder and slow.

One thing that I found surprising is that the two switches that engage the 10K and 50 hz shelving do nothing in line in mode. They only function in mic pre mode, and the funny thing is that they don't work in boosting those two frequencies, only in cutting them. The guy I got my channels from has the SS documentation to back this up... originally I thought that something was wrong with the shelving functions. I wonder how many engineers using 502 EQs over the years actually thought that they were shelving up 10k when they turned that switch on.

Philip
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steampal

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Re: The Spectra Sonics Thread
« Reply #44 on: February 26, 2011, 07:15:17 PM »

I'm new to forums, etc.

I have a Spectra Sonics 1020-16 mixer and an Ampex MM-1000 2" 16 track machine and the patchbay.  The mixer is still complete, and I've had it in my own private use for 20 years.

It is from CBS records in Hollywood.

Beyond discussions, are there enough SS users to forma a users' group or some such thing?

Thanks
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