My tate just betrayed me

[ArmyOfQuad]

Well, something seems to be up with my tate. I just plugged it in and decided to use it after letting it sit for a while, and for two seconds I heard sound, and then a pop and it kinda went dead. If I switched it into bypass signal will still go through, and the lights still blink so it's taking signal in, but that's as far as it gets. Any ideas how I can get this thing working again?

 

[Sondeguy]

Having worked on my Tetrasound 101 as mentioned in previous threads in the other forum incarnation, and I assume Quadbob will give you a heads up as well. Question 1. was the pop through the speakers or in the chassis. Question 2. did you open the chassis and give the smell and visual test sometimes a cap will blow when there is a power supply problem or if has not had new caps installed an old one can get leaky and blow(not a pretty sight) bypass is just that, switching thru . have you tried a mono source to see if the lights still tell you when your balanced. With luck it will be the quad op-amp output that failed(if not the power supply) or one of the caps to it, QuadBob will tell you their are better op amps out there than origionally went in the Tate Fosgate and Tetrasound the problem is the +/- dc power has to be trimmed unless you use an opamp with on board regulators like an Analog Devices 713.

 

[Scottmoose]

Well, something seems to be up with my tate. I just plugged it in and decided to use it after letting it sit for a while, and for two seconds I heard sound, and then a pop and it kinda went dead. If I switched it into bypass signal will still go through, and the lights still blink so it's taking signal in, but that's as far as it gets. Any ideas how I can get this thing working again?

Nasty. It doesn't sound terminal though -probably just a cap or the PS with luck -hope all turns out well. My Pioneer PLII amp has just died, though that has more to do with someone pouring the remnants of a glass of Lucozade over it, giving it a quick wipe over and neglecting to mention what they had done before Scott the mug here comes along and powers up. Insert your favourite obscenity here. Say it twice. Loudly. Then again, I prefer SQ synthed surround to PLII in the great majority of cases, and my decoder and stereo amps still live. (for the moment!)
Good luck
Scott

 

[QuadBob]

Quote:
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Originally Posted by ArmyOfQuad
Well, something seems to be up with my tate. I just plugged it in and decided to use it after letting it sit for a while, and for two seconds I heard sound, and then a pop and it kinda went dead. If I switched it into bypass signal will still go through, and the lights still blink so it's taking signal in, but that's as far as it gets. Any ideas how I can get this thing working again?
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Well, I guess the only "good news" that I can infer from your post is that you're not getting any sound through the decoder at all. Usually if a TATE chip fails you'll only lose one or two channels, you'd have to lose both sides of two chips to lose all four at once. So, it may very well be a power supply problem.

But, to even find out for sure, you're looking at some pretty serious troubleshooting and repair. Email me if you want to go into more specifics.

The bottom line is that your TATE just confirmed what I posted back in March:

Just hope this serves as a warning to all of you running TATE IIs and/or S&ICs.......if you're using them now...restore them ASAP!!!! Once those ICs fail.....your ultimate SQ decoder is finished.

Good luck with whatever you do, hope it can be saved!

 

[ArmyOfQuad]

Well, I don't know where to begin, I don't know the first thing about fixing stuff, well maybe the first thing, but not the second. The most I know is how to solder......badly. Picture a nice thin wire, big clump of solder, nice tiny connector....this is what the thing to connect to the cartridge of an old turntable I had looked like when I was done with it. Anyways, I don't know your email, so email me at [email protected] so you can help me figure this out. Thanks.

 

[QuadBob]

Well, I know just a little 'bit about soldering! Hand soldering IC's is about the trickiest to both do well, and not overheat the replacement IC while you're doing it! :sun

Anyway ArmyofQ........I've sent you an email, and for any others out there running "unrestored" TATE II's, Tetrasounds, or S&IC's my email is [email protected]

The normal restoration includes complete replacement of all the electrolytic capacitors, calibration and troubleshooting as necessary other than the TATE ICs themselves.

If you love it and use it............you're running on "borrowed" time!