RECAP YOUR Q8 DECK FOR BETTER SOUND!

[quadanasaziland]

Most of us are getting big stacks of DTS cd's converted by the guyz but has any one but me had the caps done on thier Q8 decks? WOW what a difference it made. Bob did my Technics and was blown away by the results! He had Gerardo listen to it before sending it to me Gerardo was floored! They called me raving about it and literally went on for an hour about not needing NR after the recap. I have to say WOW too! The dynamics are restored to near lp levels for good carts and I used to blame the carts!

Dave

 

[AllAroundSurround]

Very interesting info-any specs of this would be great if you get the time to check it out. I use my Tascam 388-Studio-8 pro 8track r2r for this reason. good highs and lows -setup for q8- same idea as Tab's Fostex 8 but different approach -same results wider frq range and lower wow/ fluter. etc plus a12 channel mixer-and 8 {dbx-1} in-out n/r.i in a console

 

[quadanasaziland]

No stats Rob (I come at quad from the music side, I'm a radiology tech by trade) but Bob's SNR started lighting the 15k lamp and the low end lamp (forget what level for the lows maybe 50 or 60 hz) after the recap. Now I just run my companders and the sound now is very lively compared to my old Q8 deck.

 

[AllAroundSurround]

Thats stats that are good enough to see a difference from.
I wasn't expecting a "WHITE SHEET" or anything!--You mean you couldn't run it under the or thruogh The M.R.I. Tunnel and see what shows up! Just kidding :rollin: If you had an old wave file and C.E.P and a new one of the same . You could do a compar. of the 2 and check it out - just an idea- a thought - O.k. A challanges prove it -- Only Kidding!!!
I'm In a wacky mood tonight and no not from the smokin kind either! I didn't inhale either!
0]

8o





:evil:

woooops! looks like I copied to many this time- Well I' leave'm

 

[quadanasaziland]

I have been very busy lately so I am just now getting around to feeding this thing [ it was back from Bob over a month ago] and I too am blown away! Just fed it AC M of L & TYA WOW!!! My SE-9's are lighting up like an lp. The eq's are zero-ed for the room and I run a very flat responce. On the low end the analyzers are showing max for 80 hz and 0 db peaks above 10 k, big difference!! I will feed it a crappy cart now like a Moody Blues........... I think, I think I am.... in Q8 heaven! Where's the hiss? Only slightly detectable on quiet passages. Where's the muted audio Q8 sound?
Hey I just had to back off of the bass and I set the treble always to +10db on my QRX-777 and if I back off to +8db I lose highs. I must be dreaming! I'm ready to listen to my 1812 cart just to here the cannons, ok this is gettin weird!

 

[QUADradial]

All the equipment that I do the conversions with have been recapped. It's usually the first thing I do before I put it into service. I usually don't bother with the receivers though. They're just a monitor. I even did my own Tate. Talk about sweaty palms...

 

[RetroRhino]

Sounds like underwater soldering 101 from the local community college would be a possibility on the enrollment list. Kidding, of course... couldn't help myself.

 

[AllAroundSurround]

Under water soldering ? Is that an Electric-tive course!
Oh! that was Bad!

 

[brthdan]

Jon,

Yeah..... I had Bob do the whole restoration process deal on my 9001 and the only caps the got recapped were SOME of the caps on the 2087 and 2088 boards. No other caps were replaced throughout the receiver (unlike what he advertises). That includes the ones leaking in plain frontal veiw if you were to take the top off the unit. This doesn't include hooking my rear channels up backwards, hooking my right front speaker out of phase (probably at the custom pre amp, main amps connections he made, which is probably why this channel sounds weak), performing god awful practices on my decoder boards because my front channels are now right front and right rear...take a guess where my rear channels are (I confirmed this by swapping out these boards with an extra pair I had...yup, fixed the problem), my selector switch (fm, am, phono ect) does not function, it's now stuck elctrically on Fm (yes the dolby is in the Off position). I can keep going, but I'll stop here. Don't get me wrong, he's a very nice guy, and very knowlegable, but his work takes forever and its shoty at that. I'm just a poor college student that can't get enough variomatrix quad and keep getting taken advantage on repairing older equiptment that I don't have time to fix myself. I waited almost a year, drove 16 hours there and back to to his place to pick it up, plug it in..... and this is my reward. I've emailed him several times, wrote letters ( very nice one's, not nasty)....no reply's. Looks like it's up to me to fix this thing. Good thing my hobby is repairing electonics when I have time....unfortunatley, that's rare. Hope you have better luck Jon!!


Dan

 

[dr8track]

Does anyone have any other resources they would suggest for quality repairs of this type? I would really like to get my Akai CR-80 SS quad recorder repaired. It has the "crackling audio" playback problem that is very common with these units. Apparently, some people have been lucky enough to get one without this problem, but mine plays about 95% of all Q8's with crackling static in all four channels. It plays the Akai demo tape that came with it perfectly. The odd thing is that it records just fine. I've been told that this is caused because the track switching electronics are in the playback head? I was told you could eliminate the playback problem by cutting the wires to the track switching mechanism. Of course, then to fix one problem you've created another. Didn't seem like a logical solution to me.
Right now it's collecting dust on a shelf because it's pretty useless to me in its present condition. I wouldn't mind spending some money to get it repaired properly, but I want it done correctly and I don't want to wait a year to get it done.
Any other suggestions for repair resources would be appreciated.

 

[AllAroundSurround]

I have the same type of noise in mine. I found pushing the record button once kills the noise and then it plays back fine after that! ? But then I dont use it very often mainly to get the tape to the begining then over to the Tascam 388 Studio -8 for play back / recording to computer.

 

[The Quadfather]

Mine does that too. I can switch between play and record several times and it quits and plays OK. When I could get parts for these units, I would fix it by changing the record/play switch. I have also seen units with bad heads do this, but I think the switches are at fault on the Akais. It might be the chips, that would make sense, since the chips are the same ones used in the reel to reel units, and they have been known to break down in a staticky fashion. The spikes created during switching would tend to clear up the noise, spiking the chips into operation. Hmmm, that gives me an idea...

The Quadfather

 

[Marcsten]

I had never seen or heard of anyone with an Akai CR-80 SS other than mine before. I had the crackling problem and always cured it by pushing the record button - big pop, then worked fine. When I noticed that the track change did not work on higher bias tape, such as maxell UD, but did work on lower bias tape like maxell ln, I wrote to maxell. They told me there was a retrofit to one of the boards to cure this problem, and they even sent me a head cleaner set for my trouble. This was back in 1979 or so. I had to get the retrofit electronic parts from Akai, and manged to get them installed. The deck generally changes correctly now, AND the problem withthe crackling has never come back. Anyone elso gone through the retrofit or have a similar problem? At least it might give you an idea where to start to cure your crackling. I do not have any instructions or schematics for this deck anymore, and I assume the factory is hopeless. Might try a good electronics repair facility in a major city and call or go by to see what they can do.
Anyone who wants is certainly welcome to disect mine if you are in the Seattle are for comparison purposes. It aalways amazed me the maxell was actually aware of all of this. Since they are still in existence, might try them?
Marc

 

[Marcsten]

Further to my last post, I managed to dig up the manual for the deck, although there's no schematic. Anyone who wants can let me know and I'll scan it.
Marc