TS Tandberg

Tandberg 3015A CD player find. Any opinions on it?
TOTL Tandberg CD Player. 1986 built. New price $1,500, current $300-500 (in home market). Some were 16 bit (4x oversampling), most were 14 bit. Purportedly, units with serial number above 2000 were 16 bit. Info should also be available under the CD-drawer. Optional equipment was rosewood side panels, remote control and rack handles.

Being anywhere near any Tandberg 3000 series component is much too rich for me or my circles :ntwrthy: and I have therefore never seen, let alone heard this CDP: So I can't give any "opinions" on it beyond that the entire 3000 series was Tandberg's all out, no-holds barred attempt at breaking into the audiophile separates market: A full rack of Tandberg 3000 components when new at full retail could easily set you back as much as $15,000 or more (not including TT and speakers!).

See pages 12 and 13 here for brochure info.
 
Hi,

My wife has several Tandberg players. She could get them back then for less than dealer cost as she worked for Tandberg of Oslo. She has manuals, alas all in Norwegian! She has 3015A units. We also have spare laser units and other spares. These CDP's are among the finest I have heard.
 
Hi Njord,

Her most famous contribution to Tandberg was the Viking drawings in the instruction manuals. Ingrid drew many of these sketches as a youngster and her parents took them to work. The corporate higher ups loved them and hired her to illustrate their manuals. She did many of them through the late 1960's and 1970's. She worked at Tandberg from 1974-1983 in various positions. Ingrid spent most of her time there in final testing before shipment. Her parents spent over 45 years at Tandberg of Oslo. From there, she was employed by the NRK (Norway Broadcasting System).
 
Wow!

Wow, Kent that is an amazing story! The story of Tandberg can be encapsuled in two words, incidentally the same as the title biography about the founder, "Triumph and Tragedy". Both parents for 45 years - wow! The "cradle to grave" approach to corporate leadership so deeply embedded in Nordic companies to this day was, in many ways, spearheaded by Tandberg: This included full-blown company cafeterias, generous allocations for time off (for mother and father!) after child-birth, generous vacation time and pay, and company-built homes for their employees to live in. Ironically, it was when the new corporate leadership took his company residence away, at 74 years of age, that pushed Vebjørn over the edge.

I am member of a forum similar to AK back in the old country, which has numerous Tandberg enthusiasts as members. If you ever get the time, I would love it if you could have a look at the Tandberg database (it contains 100's of catalogs and manuals) to see if you can identify any of Ingrid's drawings in it: This would be a great tidbit of info for the local enthusiasts back home, I can tell you. If you wouldn't mind PM'ing me her maiden name, as well, so that I have the full name of the artist, that would be great, too. Thanks for considering it!

Sigurd


Hi Njord,

Her most famous contribution to Tandberg was the Viking drawings in the instruction manuals. Ingrid drew many of these sketches as a youngster and her parents took them to work. The corporate higher ups loved them and hired her to illustrate their manuals. She did many of them through the late 1960's and 1970's. She worked at Tandberg from 1974-1983 in various positions. Ingrid spent most of her time there in final testing before shipment. Her parents spent over 45 years at Tandberg of Oslo. From there, she was employed by the NRK (Norway Broadcasting System).
 
Her most famous contribution to Tandberg was the Viking drawings in the instruction manuals. Ingrid drew many of these sketches as a youngster and her parents took them to work. The corporate higher ups loved them and hired her to illustrate their manuals. She did many of them through the late 1960's and 1970's. She worked at Tandberg from 1974-1983 in various positions. Ingrid spent most of her time there in final testing before shipment. Her parents spent over 45 years at Tandberg of Oslo. From there, she was employed by the NRK (Norway Broadcasting System).
KentTeffeteller PM'd me some more information about his wife and parents-in-laws' (for 45 years!) time at Tandberg Radiofabrikk, which he kindly allowed me to post. Note the part where the company 1) builds a house for them, then 2) remodels it for them when they fall ill, and then 3) ultimately transfers ownership of the property to them. How about that as an example of corporate social responsibility? Wish we had a little bit more of that in our Wal-Mart world.

KentTeffeteller said:
Tandberg has been superb to their workers. Ingrid and her twin brother Lars were born prematurely with spina bifida and her parents found out they had spina bifida too. Tandberg was very generous with leave so this family could deal with the twins' issues. The company also put them in a larger house modified to be wheelchair friendly and gave them ownership of the house. They still own it. Vebjorn was a superb man. You may post this message if you wish. Ingjerd is a keeper.
 
I have one & like it!
It works well abeit old skool funkitionallity!

It lives on the East coast of Tasmania in Aust & rarely gets used but always reliable!

Looks hot too!
 
Wow, thank you for posting that wonderful story! I have family ties in Norway and makes me feel good to see how wonderful a people they are.

Takk,
Dennis
 
is there someone who can help me with a copy of the servicemanual. I need one as mine cd player is a bit damaged.
thanks for the help
Thijs
 
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First, welcome to AK - nice to have another Tandberg owner visit.

Second, there's a specific forum to post manual requests: Digital Docs.

Third, don't bother - I don't know of anyone that has a copy of that 3015A service manual, if one ever existed. I've been looking for one for years myself, as have many other Tandberg enthusiasts.

The 3015A is basically a Philips CD150 in terms of the optical pickup and digital board. The power supply has been beefed up, and the opamp analog output of the Philips is replaced by an entire analog audio board that occupies the right hand side of the player. It has an all-discrete class A circuit design not to mention a dedicated headphone amp, and is therefore quite a bit better sounding than the stock Philips design.

In terms of service, you can use the CD150 service manual for reference on all things associated with the digital part of the design.

I have some rough copies of the schematic for the analog audio board. You can PM me for copies of those, and of the Philips manual. I think I also have some PCB layout diagrams for the digital section.

We have at least one expert vintage CD tech here on AK that knows this player (and Philips-based players in general) very well, so I would suggest you may want to post some details of the issues you're experiencing.

John
 
I realize this thread is quite old, however I thought I'd add a little info,

1. During all the time I worked for Ortofon, Inc (USA-we imported Tandberg after we bought the U.S. company) I never saw a service manual for the 3015. Our techs used the Philips manual referenced above. If there was a problem with the discrete board, it was just replaced. These were extremely reliable players and when there was a problem, it was usually with the Philips transport.

2. Four times oversampling did NOT mean it was a 16 bit machine. 14 bit oversampled just meant that it met the Redbook 16 bit standard. Machines that were manufactured as 16 bit had the words "True 16 Bit" just before the oversampling phrase.

To add to the confusion, we sent a ton of 14 bit dealer stock players back to Norway to be updated to 16 bit. The original 14 bit front panel remained unchanged. A red/white 16 bit sticker was placed on the outer box. No rhyme or reason to the serial numbers and I don't recall if there was a way to determine 16 bit by looking inside the player.

I loved the 3000 series components and still have them today, including the 3015.
 
Thanks for posting that historical detail, always nice to learn a bit from folks that were involved back when this gear was new.

You can easily determine the 14 or 16-bit type by looking at the D/A converters on the digital board next to the transport. Two TDA1540P = 14-bit, one TDA1541 = 16-bit. They're large IC's and easily spotted. The filter IC will be different as well but easier to key on the Philips DAC.

However, this is the first time I've heard that they shipped 16-bit conversions that had the 14-bit faceplate left in place. That's good to know!

John
 
P.S. found some images on the web that help show the DAC locations & markings.

This one is actually the digital board from the Philips CD150, which is the 14-bit player Tandberg installed into their own chassis. You can see the two TDA1540P D/A converters towards the bottom:

P0319913_1.jpg


Here's the Philips CD160 showing the digital board for the 16-bit version. The TDA1541 DAC is the large IC to the right:

cd160_main_plate.jpg


Here's the same 16-bit board installed in the 3015A:

1317584904145122233.JPG



John
 
Great info John and thanks for posting the photos !

Edit: as it turns out, I had a couple of the "stickers" in my file :
-Frank
 

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Yes, the Philips CD-150 manual was the only service manual issued on this CD player. Which was the innards with some minor modifications.
 
Or the CD160, for the 16-bit version.

There are actually factory service documents though, covering the analog board w/class A circuitry that Tandberg designed to go with the Philips digital board & transport. That board, a beefier power supply, and all-metal cabinet were their differentiators vs. the basic plastic box CD150/CD160. Not a bad approach; it sounds better and looks better and has stood the test of time better from what I can see. Came with an IR remote too, which I'm not sure was the case with the CD150/CD160 though I have seen Philips remotes that worked with the 3015A that might have been supplied with those two models.


John
 
Yes, also the CD 160 manual applies for 16 bit versions. The factory Tandberg documents covering their analog board and power supply seem non extant.
 
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