Brr! Is it just me or is it getting colder?! I had to make my first warm milk of the season to make it through this post. I have, of course, been busy at the studio since my last post. I have made a lot of progress on the console and it has got me really pumped up. Unfortunately for you guys, you won't get to see the pictures/video for a week or two, but it is worth the wait.
Let's get this meterbridge over with, shall we?
Last week, I showed you the restoration of the VU meters in the meterbridge. Other modules in the meterbridge (from left to right in my console) include:
- Test Generator (1.913.150)
- PFL Amplifier (1.913.200)
- Sign/Indication Unit (1.913.140)
- Talkback Microphone
Test Generator - 1.913.150
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| Doesn't look too bad other than some dirt... |
- Oscillator (Frequencies [Hz]: 30, 40, 100, 300, 1k, 3k, 10k, 15k, 18k)
- Ident (Basically just an oscillator which only has one frequency)
- White Noise (Random signal which has equal energy in all frequencies)
- Pink Noise (Random signal which has equal energy in all octaves)
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| ... and not many capacitors to replace! Score! |
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| These things are pretty easy to take apart; just a couple of screws. |
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| Blech! Dirt! |
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| And what's this? The front panel is coming off. |
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| Nothing some good ole' Colle Contact can't fix! Why didn't I take a picture of the English side? Oh well. |
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| All back together! |
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| With its shiny new caps in place. |
PFL Amplifier (1.913.200)
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| This module was quite different from others... mostly because of the speaker. |
Essentially, it's a 3W amplifier/speaker. I suppose it's supposed to play the PFL bus signal but I haven't figured out how to contr... wait... shoot. I think I just figured it out. I remember there is a PFL volume knob on one of the monitor-section modules. I'm going to have to try this out when I'm at the studio on Monday night. I'll update this section if I figure this out. I would get internet at the studio (I write these at home), but then I don't think I would get anything done there.
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| A couple of non-standard capacitors in this console. I had to add them to my next order from Digikey. |
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| The connections to the speaker were on these handy little wire-to-board connectors. Studer uses these everywhere on the modules of the console so that they are easy to remove. |
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| All apart! And now, through the magic of the internet... |
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| Done! All clean and recapped. I wish I had taken a picture of the pcb with the new capacitors, but you can trust me... I replaced them. The Studer logo also came off as I was cleaning it, so I glued it with some Colle Contact. |
Sign/Indication Unit (1.913.140)
The Sign/Indication module has 4 buttons on it and all of them are pretty straight-forward as far as I can see.
PFL Reset: Resets all P. Solo (Solo buttons) on the console channels.
Call: Can control a yellow light (call signal) external to the console.
Ready: Can control a green light (preparation signal) external to the console.
On: This section is a little bit mysterious. From what I can see, schematically, this button can control a Red light (recording signal) if/when at least 1 channel has the mic input is selected and (according to the manual...) one master channel has been connected through.
This module is not quite clear in my head. It's especially difficult as this is the first technical post that I have made without the console or my manual in front of me. What I can say for sure is that pressing this button pulls a relay which flips the ground signal from S-Studio ON r to S-Studio ON a. The relay also provides a set of dry contacts and turns on the Studio ON LED. I'll be blunt - I don't know what these relay contacts do but I WILL FIND OUT! This is the second time I have been stuck on a function of the console. I may have to dedicate a post to 'Unsolved Mysteries: Solved'.
..........
I did it! I figured it out! No wonder it was confusing... it related to the Eurocard Signalling section (ugh... see 1) 1.915.603.00 - 9 Relay Sign. A in http://vintagetechbench.blogspot.com/2011/10/eurocards-part-2-signalling-and.html). In the following PDF, you can see the signalling section on the bottom left:
Studer 900 Series Console - Remote Control Signalization for Reproduction Equipment Flow Chart
The relay on the signalling module sends its dry contacts out to a connector called SIGN (see the back of the console here: http://vintagetechbench.blogspot.com/2011/11/studer-903a-frame.html). The red, green and yellow (On, Ready and Call) signals come out on this connector as well. The relay can only be pulled if the Mic Sign Bus is activated. The parameters that define whether the Mic Sign Bus is active are viewable in the block diagram in the above PDF or available in a list for the lazy, here:
Studer 900 Series Console - Remote Control Signalization for Reproduction Equipment
Isn't this fun!? It's so neat when all of this stuff comes together. Anyway, to the pictures:
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| Aw man... 1 whole capacitor? What a pain! |
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| This relay wasn't in great shape. I had to add some electrical tape to keep the cover on. It didn't seem to be working until I gave it a good smack with a screwdriver. Sometimes relays need a little love to get them un-stuck. Works perfectly now! |
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| Cleaned and laboriously re-capped. |
Talkback Microphone
After I bought this console I found, among many things, that the microphone wasn't working. When I tried to inspect it by unscrewing it from its gooseneck, it came apart in my hands. The wires had come un-done from the connector. No wonder it didn't work!
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| I soldered wires onto the existing ones as they were quite short. No complaints about me using two red wires! I don't want to hear it! The only other option I had was an uninsulated wire. |
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| Here is the connector that the microphone is supposed to be attached to. |
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| The panel with the gooseneck. No capacitors to replace here, but it still needed a clean! |
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| Wires soldered and microphone back together. |
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| What a pretty little microphone. |
I am happy to report that the microphone seems to work perfectly!
Whew! Lots of stuff in today's blog. I thought it would be pretty short. I need sleep! I will leave you with a poorly taken picture.
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