[BC] Console suggestions

[Gregory Muir]

I don't get warm fuzzies from Arrakis consoles unless they have changed 
their ways.  We have two Arrakis - a 1200 and a 12,000 on the air and both 
are fraught with problems mostly from the random intermittent standpoint. 
One jock keeps a tube of ICs behind the 1200 console to periodically replace 
a missing channel he finds when he arrives in the morning.  Other times his 
console breaks out in strange noises for a brief interval.  The 12,000 
sometimes puts a fader on the air with no help from the jock.  The ITT 
Schadow "eyeball" switch buttons periodically disintegrate from use.  They 
are no longer manufactured.

I looked at the fader on-air switching and was surprised to find that 
Arrakis used op-amps in a bistable configuration for the off-on logic 
function instead of simple digital logic in these consoles.  Obviously a 
design by an analog engineer.

Hopefully Arrakis has learned their lesson and the ARC series is of a more 
suitable design.  I did notice that they are now using the JB series 
pushbutton switches made by NKK. These are the same switches used by 
Audioarts and give fairly reliable service.  The little metal domes in these 
switches begin to fatigue and switching becomes intermittent after a period 
of around 10 years but replacement is easy and cheap (if you buy the 
switches from a parts distributor and not from the console manufacturer).

Greg


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <tpt at literock93r.com>
To: <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 08, 2008 4:43 PM
Subject: [BC] Console suggestions


>
> High school station (small class A facility~900 watts at 200') looking to 
> build a studio for production, training, etc... Presently have a six 
> channel Auditronics 2500 in their one and only studio. May be able to  get 
> a grant for another console, but maximum $$ from the grant looks  to be 
> $3,000.
>
> I thought I had a possible console for them in an old IC-10 Autogram, 
> but, while looked good cosmetically, there's too much wrong with it.
>
> Any suggestions on new equipment now on the market in this price  range? 
> PA-style stuff with too many knobs (e.g.--Mackie, etc.) is out.  Anything 
> Arrakis I've seen looks like something that should be left  out in the 
> desert for the sand worms.
> AEQ? the BC312 is listed at $2700, but I've never seen one.
>
> Any other prospects?
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