[SOLVED] REC LEVEL dials on Marantz PMD561 (also maybe PMD661MKII)

[Elmer23]

This question applies to the Marantz PMD561...I've set the recorder on a manual preset and started adjusting the REC LEVEL dial (it's a post-in-ring, or knob-in-ring, configuration, just like on the PMD661MKII)...Both the outer ring (left channel) and inner knob (right channel) don't turn together as described in the manual, which states the ring and knob are supposed to turn together unless one is being held down. (Incidentally, the PMD661MKII manual describes word-for-word the exact same action, so this might well apply to both models.) The reality of my unit is that both ring and knob turn independently of each other no matter what I do. I can set them both at the same time by clumsily grasping them at once, but they definitely aren't interlocked as suggested by the manual's wording, and the procedure I have to use seems crude.
If anyone with experience using a PMD561 can confirm how it's really supposed to behave, that could finally set my mind at ease! I know manuals sometimes aren't clear or might even have misprints. Even a PMD661MKII user owner there might help me get to the answer.

 

[ecc83]

Generally such concentric controls have a felt 'clutch' washer between the knobs. Maybe some one has had the knobs off and lost it? An email to the company should clear that up and IF they are anyway decent they should send you a couple FOC.

But, is it a bother? I mean rec' levels tend to be 'set and forget' for any particular task.

Dave.

 

[Elmer23]

I'll update this thread for anyone experiencing the same. I just got off the phone with a very helpful guy at Marantz, who also happened to have access to a PMD561. He checked the REC LEVEL dials on his copy with the same result as I got: The ring and knob are set independently of each other, and he couldn't get one to turn along with the other—at least not without grasping them both at the same time. He agreed the manual's wording isn't indicative of how the level dials actually work on the PMD-561. Good to know this isn't a physical defect after all. I'll just have to accept this somewhat awkward (but intended) way of doing it.

P.S. ecc83: You're right about set-and-forget. The discrepancy between the manual and the how it really functions bothered me, since I paid new.