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Proton anyone?

Just to provide an update.

I removed the knobs, put the 940 on its back and sprayed deoxit down the shafts of the switch and volume pot. Then left it for 24 hours but also twiddled the switch and knobs a fair bit.

Then reconnected everything and turned it on. And miracles upon miracles I now have sound out of the bad channel!

It's not perfect since occasionally as I switch inputs the new input will have very low crackly sound on the errant channel but a switch away and back fixes it. So I am pretty happy about this. I have blasted more deoxit down the shafts and am leaving it again for some time to see if I can fix the problem completely but now the amp is usable.

And it's nice to hear how well it drives speakers with no distortion and the DPD light occasionally flashing (by which time the family is complaining!)
 
The Proton AI-3000 II System

weasel2htm said:
I have a Proton All-in-one unit in my basement

Not one of my better videos and it's an older video at that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7uZKQ4eGUo

The CD player and some of the buttons need a little diddling sometimes, but everything on it plays perfect!

I've been trying to find stuff on this company, it seems that they are liked, but not well known, If anybody wants some high-res pics of the unit in the video, I get off work early today, and could take it outside and get some good pics of it in good lighting.

This unit was the first I had ever seen of the Proton name, the fact that it still works after being so banged up I think says something, I would like to see more information on Proton.
Click to expand...

That is the Proton AI-3000 II shelf system, and it's an excellent piece IMO.
I just bought one of these great little systems from a local CL ad to use in my back office/den area. It's only rated at something like 20-25wpc but it drives all of the speakers I've tried with it like a 60 watt amplifier - not sure how they do that :confused:

It is very heavy and well built, although it's jam packed with boards inside (as you'd expect). The amp does have discrete outputs and I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it is as impressive as the NAD 7120 receiver (another 20 wpc receiver that sounds way more powerful than it should).

The tuner is excellent (both FM and AM) as is the cassette deck and the CD player. This is an amazing little unit and nobody seems to know about it, so if you see one grab it up! I wish I could find the remote control for mine, but they are probably one of the rarest remotes out there. Hopefully a generic remote will cover some of the functions.

Here are some pics:
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lchiu7 said:
Just to provide an update.

I removed the knobs, put the 940 on its back and sprayed deoxit down the shafts of the switch and volume pot. Then left it for 24 hours but also twiddled the switch and knobs a fair bit.

Then reconnected everything and turned it on. And miracles upon miracles I now have sound out of the bad channel!

It's not perfect since occasionally as I switch inputs the new input will have very low crackly sound on the errant channel but a switch away and back fixes it. So I am pretty happy about this. I have blasted more deoxit down the shafts and am leaving it again for some time to see if I can fix the problem completely but now the amp is usable.

And it's nice to hear how well it drives speakers with no distortion and the DPD light occasionally flashing (by which time the family is complaining!)
Click to expand...


Glad to hear you got the unit to work. They're really a great little receiver with a generous helping of genuinely useful features: Schotz tuner, bridgeable, pre-main jacks, MC capable, seperate REC/LISTEN selectors and of course the DPD circuitry. Almost unheard of at the D940's price. I could only wish my present MAC 4300 receiver had some of these goodies. :sigh:

Curious, I've never been able to get my DPD light to so much as flicker even once during the two decades I've had the thing. I had to switch the speakers off then turn the volume way up just to confirm the lamp was even working! Which of course it was.

Too bad you're halfway around the world- my D940 sits in the closet in retirement. It's super nice condition and how great it would be use both units in your system in bridged mode. I doubt you'd ever see the DPD light come on then! :D
 
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62caddy said:
Glad to hear you got the unit to work. They're really a great little receiver with a generous helping of genuinely useful features: Schotz tuner, bridgeable, pre-main jacks, MC capable, seperate REC/LISTEN selectors and of course the DPD circuitry. Almost unheard of at the D940's price. I could only wish my present MAC 4300 receiver had some of these goodies. :sigh:

Curious, I've never been able to get my DPD light to so much as flicker even once during the two decades I've had the thing. I had to switch the speakers off then turn the volume way up just to confirm the lamp was even working! Which of course it was.

Too bad you're halfway around the world- my D940 sits in the closet in retirement. It's super nice condition and how great it would be use both units in your system in bridged mode. I doubt you'd ever see the DPD light come on then! :D
Click to expand...

I am pretty happy:music: Like yourself mine was in a closet and I was asked by my wife to toss out all the old gear. I ended taking to the recycler 2 LCD monitors (which were dead), an old Technics receiver, a Kenwood 990D Dolby Digital AVR with coaxial input for Laserdiscs(!), a semi broken Onkyo 503 receiver (HDMI inputs broken), a Kenwood 3 head Dolby B-C HX-Pro cassette recorder (still going fine) but I just could not bring myself to ditch the Proton.

I recall I bought the Proton originally because it had separate record/playback selectors and most importantly, because of preamp out and mains in. That is because at the same time I bought DBX Soundfield 10 speakers (which were favourably reviewed by SR) and they need active equalisation which is much more readily done by inserting the equaliser into the preamp out/mains in circuit than using the tape monitor connections.

When I moved to surround sound audio with Dolby Digital from laserdiscs(!) I bought the Kenwood 990D. But given the signal from LD is digital and so there is no way to insert the equaliser into the signal path, what I did was take the preamp out from the Kenwood, pass it through the equaliser and then into the mains on the Proton D940. That worked really well.

But once I upgraded to AVR's that do Dolby Digital True HD and DTS HD MA, only the really high end ones have preamp outs and I retired both the speakers and the Proton.

Now that it's working again, I am using it with some other spare speakers, connected to a turntable(!) and my other cassette deck. It's in my notalgia room now :D

I bought all this gear when I was living and working in California but as can see I am now a bit further away now. But my daughter is at junior college in the Bay Area so maybe she could be interested?
 
audiojones said:
That is the Proton AI-3000 II shelf system, and it's an excellent piece IMO.
I just bought one of these great little systems from a local CL ad to use in my back office/den area. It's only rated at something like 20-25wpc but it drives all of the speakers I've tried with it like a 60 watt amplifier - not sure how they do that :confused:

It is very heavy and well built, although it's jam packed with boards inside (as you'd expect). The amp does have discrete outputs and I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it is as impressive as the NAD 7120 receiver (another 20 wpc receiver that sounds way more powerful than it should).

The tuner is excellent (both FM and AM) as is the cassette deck and the CD player. This is an amazing little unit and nobody seems to know about it, so if you see one grab it up! I wish I could find the remote control for mine, but they are probably one of the rarest remotes out there. Hopefully a generic remote will cover some of the functions.

I picked one of these up from Fleabay a while back. The cassette doesn't work, and the cd tray needs help opening, but it plays good. The access door on the front is something to be careful with. It's a really cool setup that opens slow and smooth, but if you bump it too hard or get a little too ambitious closing it, it'll pop the plastic linkage off. I managed to repair mine (I'd rather not go into what I had to cobble up to make it work) but it works like new now. I use it for am/fm and I also pipe the dvd audio through it. Plenty of rumble. The retail on these things new was into the 4 digit range if I remember correctly, if you can find one nowadays, it's well worth the risk.
Click to expand...
 
Dan D. said:
I picked one of these up from Fleabay a while back. The cassette doesn't work, and the cd tray needs help opening, but it plays good. The access door on the front is something to be careful with. It's a really cool setup that opens slow and smooth, but if you bump it too hard or get a little too ambitious closing it, it'll pop the plastic linkage off. I managed to repair mine (I'd rather not go into what I had to cobble up to make it work) but it works like new now. I use it for am/fm and I also pipe the dvd audio through it. Plenty of rumble. The retail on these things new was into the 4 digit range if I remember correctly, if you can find one nowadays, it's well worth the risk.
Click to expand...

You've got yourself a very nice little system there. Since I posted that I've made some improvements to my Proton system. I took it apart and re-assigned the FM Muting button to put the FM in mono when the muting button is pushed in. That way I don't have to keep opening the door and changing the amplifier setting from mono to stereo every time I go from FM to another source.

I also rewired the pre-amp output jack to make it a line level output instead (for my reel to reel recorder that I have hooked up to it). The line level output was originally controlled by the preamp controls (volume, bass, treble etc) so if you changed it while recording you would change the levels on your recorder. I think it was originally meant to be used with an external amp or subwoofer, although it doesn't need either one of those (it's really great on it's own).

I finally did find a Proton remote that works perfectly for this unit. It's from another Proton system (although I'm not sure of the model) but it operates the tape deck, CD player, tuner, inputs and volume. Got it for chump change too - figured I had to try it since it was so cheap. I love my Proton AI-3000 II system driving a pair of Smaller Advents - it sounds AWESOME and I listen to it every day here in the den (it's playing as I type this).

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Dan D. said:
I'll trade you a Technics SA-211 for that remote :D
Click to expand...

Noooo way!:D Believe it or not I found it at remotes.com, keep your eyes open and something will probably turn up. I'm pretty sure you can get a universal remote to work most of the functions too, should be the same as most NAD/Proton gear.

I'll tell you one thing, the remote makes or breaks this great little system. Without it you need a magnifying glass and a 100 watt light to see the little tiny buttons or read the gray lettering on the black background. It's so nice to be able to operate everything from my desk while I'm at the computer without having to get up and go fiddle with the controls. Another plus is that you don't have to cycle through all of the options, you can just go directly to the function that you want with the remote.
 
audiojones said:
Noooo way!:D Believe it or not I found it at remotes.com, keep your eyes open and something will probably turn up. I'm pretty sure you can get a universal remote to work most of the functions too, should be the same as most NAD/Proton gear.

I'll tell you one thing, the remote makes or breaks this great little system. Without it you need a magnifying glass and a 100 watt light to see the little tiny buttons or read the gray lettering on the black background. It's so nice to be able to operate everything from my desk while I'm at the computer without having to get up and go fiddle with the controls. Another plus is that you don't have to cycle through all of the options, you can just go directly to the function that you want with the remote.
Click to expand...

I found a couple on the E, but they were in the $60-80 range. A bit stiff for my tastes. I'll just have to do things old-school as usual as it's an excuse to get a bit of exercise. Besides, I have to turn the eq on anyways.
I plan a re-cap on the beastie possibly this winter, along with fixing the non-working stuff. This one's going into the 'permanent' category, I fell in love with it the first time I yanked the pull-start :thmbsp:
 
I purchased my 1100 pre-amp and D-1200 amp from Crutchfield around '83... lots of TT's, CD decks and speakers have come and gone but the Proton equipment has never been supplanted from my main setup. I purchased a second D-1200 a few years back and did the mono block thing...nice to look at, but really didn't need the extra power... the one amp drives my JBL L112's crazy.

I do remember having an issue with cold solder joints in the first year or so and I've had to go at the pots on the 1100 with Deoxit a few times, other than that she's been rock solid.

I replaced the fuse lamps with LED's a couple years back and it was like getting a new piece of equipment, the LED's are a huge improvement aesthetically.
 
Around 1993 Proton made a really interesting small Integrated, the AM-455.

Dual mono construction, selected resistors and most Wima caps, good quality volume pot, large toroid, short signal paths and other things.

Unfortunately that now rare model did not sell well...

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InSaNeBoY said:
Loved the Proton 300 table radio my dad had. I have it now that its dead... the second speaker still works great though.
Click to expand...

If it's the tuner/preamp module that's dead, pull the RCA plug which connects it to the amp/speaker module - then you should be able to use it just like the 301 speaker, and you will have a pair of powered speakers. I've done it with my live 300, and used the pair as very effective computer speakers.
 
Hi,

I've owned a PROTON 300 table radio for years, paid $100.00 for it on e-bay. By accident i stumbled across something that was a nice surprise. You see that radio
has pre amp outputs on the back. I put a twin rca cable on the radio feeding into
a powered subwoofer- (a NHT SOO sub). Presto full range system, the radio sits on
my desk, the sub is tucked underneath, my co workers and myself are amazed.
 
The pre output was for their powered speakers. A 2-way with internal biamps. I have 3 needing tlc. I long ago lost the radio and was thinking of using them with a pre in system.
 
Peter Walker said:
A Proton power amp is an excellent buy if you can find one in good working condition HOWEVER, be very careful about buying any of their integrateds that used relay switching. The relays frequently malfunction and cannot, as far as I've been able to discover, be replaced.
Click to expand...

I came across a D-940 not too long ago with a bad relay. The design has a relay controlling the power output to the speaker binding posts, and if the relay doesn't close you get no output. I did some searching on eBay and found what I needed from a seller in Estonia. Where there's a will there's a way.

I quite like the D-940 now, and I use it to drive a pair of AR-5 speakers I got for free on Craigslist a couple of years ago. Vintage gear on a budget -- two things I love.
 
I can't believe it's been over 4 years since I began this thread. I now have a rather large collection of my long-lusted-after black boxes. As usual, most are wounded or comatose, but I can't wait to get the repairable items kicking again.
The latest addition is a tabletop AI-3200...I have never seen this model before, but it sounds good enough to consider it for my main system in the livingroom. If I ever decide to rotate out the AI-3000, that is. Very cool little box, this one.
 
Looks like an "updated" version of the AI-3000II system. Buttons and switches seem a little easier to read and access, hopefully it sounds as great as the 3000. Nice find!
 
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