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Tandberg 9200xd VU meter

amirnir

amirnir

New Member
Hello folks!
Recently I've got a Tandberg 9200xd in pretty good shape. I had to clean the dry grease around the pinch roller pivot/ lever and now it seems to work correctly, (the pinch roller engages the capstan when I hit 'play').
The only problem is the Right channel VU meter. The audio is working on both channels, but only the right channel meter is not moving. I thought it might be stuck mechanically, but when I removed the transparent cover of the meter, the needle seems to be completely free to move as it should, so I guess there is an electronic problem that prevents the meter to work.
Any suggestions?
(I didn't try to measure any electronic parameter yet)
Thanks :)
 
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I just acquired a Tandberg 10XD with a gummed up pinch roll arm. While removing the arm to clean the old gunk out of the bushing I wacked the left meter. It works but will not return to zero. Stays a little above 0dB where the red line starts and moves up/down from there, but doesn't return all the way to the left.
 
OP, use the low impedance mode of a multimeter to check that meter (which is really a peak reading meter, Tandberg favored those over VU). Disconnect the meter from the deck, touch a probe to either terminal (needle should move higher if you get the polarity of the leads correct, if it moves downwards reverse the leads). Just tap them for a second, don't leave on there for a long time.

JamVal, that's a typical gummy pivot issue (usually) or maybe the needle is dragging against the meter face. For the former, you can try loosening the pivot adjust screw very slightly but better fix requires microsurgery to clean off the old gunk and add a tiny drop of fresh oil to the pivot w/o screwing up the adjustment.

John
 
jdurbin1 said:
OP, use the low impedance mode of a multimeter to check that meter (which is really a peak reading meter, Tandberg favored those over VU). Disconnect the meter from the deck, touch a probe to either terminal (needle should move higher if you get the polarity of the leads correct, if it moves downwards reverse the leads). Just tap them for a second, don't leave on there for a long time.

JamVal, that's a typical gummy pivot issue (usually) or maybe the needle is dragging against the meter face. For the former, you can try loosening the pivot adjust screw very slightly but better fix requires microsurgery to clean off the old gunk and add a tiny drop of fresh oil to the pivot w/o screwing up the adjustment.

John
Click to expand...

Hello John,
First let me thank you for your previous reply about this unit. I just figured now that I already posted a post about this unit just when I've got it in the end of July - and you replied there too :) I really appreciate it.
[Now I see that I'm replying to the original post from July...]
So regarding the Right channel meter, I disconnected it and tested with the Ohm meter - the meter is dead (I tried to test that way the Left channel meter and it worked as expected). I cleaned and checked all the other contact spots. The Left channel still drops the output signal almost completely after few minutes of playing, but I discovered another issue that I suspect is the cause for the problem on the Left channel - when I hit the rewind or wind buttons, the unit doesn't mute the output signal, and then when the tape passing near the playback head while rewinding or winding - the decoder/ playback amplifier gets very strong playback signal - I assume this type of thing is not healthy for the circuits and anyway, I don't need to hear the fast forward/ rewind noise :) So it is a switching problem. This unit is controlled by logic circuit/ relays etc and I'm not the most knowledgeable about these, I found the service manual for this model but I couldn't find where this function, of muting the signal while winding is located exactly - would be very happy to hear your thoughts :)

Amir
 
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Fast wind muting doesn't exist as far as I recall. The tape is meant to be far enough away from the heads during fast wind that it doesn't pick up any signal. Possibly a tape lifter is missing from the pinch roller arm?

The only good news on the dead meter is that they used the same meters on the 3300X/3400X/3500X, 9000X, 9100X, and 10X models so there are a lot of used spare parts out there - and a few NOS :-)

John

amirnir said:
Hello John,
First let me thank you for your previous reply about this unit. I just figured now that I already posted a post about this unit just when I've got it in the end of July - and you replied there too :) I really appreciate it.
[Now I see that I'm replying to the original post from July...]
So regarding the Right channel meter, I disconnected it and tested with the Ohm meter - the meter is dead (I tried to test that way the Left channel meter and it worked as expected). I cleaned and checked all the other contact spots. The Left channel still drops the output signal almost completely after few minutes of playing, but I discovered another issue that I suspect is the cause for the problem on the Left channel - when I hit the rewind or wind buttons, the unit doesn't mute the output signal, and then when the tape passing near the playback head while rewinding or winding - the decoder/ playback amplifier gets very strong playback signal - I assume this type of thing is not healthy for the circuits and anyway, I don't need to hear the fast forward/ rewind noise :) So it is a switching problem. This unit is controlled by logic circuit/ relays etc and I'm not the most knowledgeable about these, I found the service manual for this model but I couldn't find where this function, of muting the signal while winding is located exactly - would be very happy to hear your thoughts :)

Amir
Click to expand...
 
jdurbin1 said:
Fast wind muting doesn't exist as far as I recall. The tape is meant to be far enough away from the heads during fast wind that it doesn't pick up any signal. Possibly a tape lifter is missing from the pinch roller arm?

The only good news on the dead meter is that they used the same meters on the 3300X/3400X/3500X, 9000X, 9100X, and 10X models so there are a lot of used spare parts out there - and a few NOS :)

John
Click to expand...
Terrific! Good to know it's not related to mute switching. The lifter you mentioned is intact and moves the tape from the heads while not in Play/Rec mode, but probably it doesn't far enough. When I cleaned the pinch-roller assembly, I cleaned this lifter's pivot too from old gooey grease, and it moves completely free - I'll need to check if there's a way to adjust the distance - how far it could pull the tape from the heads.
I'll definitely try to hunt after a replacement for the meter. Do you have any suggestion other than eBay?
 
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