Dr ZEE
Anti-Pro Circles Insider
wow! beautiful 
I have plans to make something similar for my TEACs. just never have time ... 
as for 3440 vs 34b. I don't have 34b, but from what I can see comparing a-3340 and 32, my gues would be: 3440 is more venerable, while 34b is more vulnerable to things and "forces of nature" like (see picture attached
, source page for a credit: http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_massbackwards_archive.html )
I have plans to make something similar for my TEACs. just never have time ... as for 3440 vs 34b. I don't have 34b, but from what I can see comparing a-3340 and 32, my gues would be: 3440 is more venerable, while 34b is more vulnerable to things and "forces of nature" like (see picture attached
, source page for a credit: http://massbackwards.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_massbackwards_archive.html )Attachments
cjacek
Analogue Enthusiast
evm1024 said:
These look great! Good stuff!!
Having the experience with the 34B and 3440 I can say that the only significant difference is that the 3440 will be older than the 34B with probably older electronics etc .... The most significant features on the 34B were the overload indicator lights on the VU's and digital counter with zero stop. I read that the heads were made to last a bit longer on the 34B but that I could not verify. One thing that I've noticed is that the 3440 seems a more robust machine in built quality. Still, having a more recent machine, like the 34B, seems the biggest advantage.
Does anyone know what can be done to the 3440 that can make the electronics last another lifetime ?
~Daniel
SteveMac
New member
Nice work EVM
I'd love to do stuff like that. Fix up vintage gear. Are you getting hired out to do that or just doing it on your own?
I'd love to do stuff like that. Fix up vintage gear. Are you getting hired out to do that or just doing it on your own?
T
The Ghost of FM
Banned
The term, "use it or lose it", comes to mind.cjacek said:
Running the unit on a regular schedule keeps the mechanical parts lubed and stops electrolytic caps from drying out as quickly and, when switches, controls and relays are exercised, they tend not to oxidize as fast.
All that, and borrowing a bit from the computer generation by running your gear though a UPS, (Uninterruptible Power Supply), unit with voltage regulation and decent AC line noise filtering couldn't hurt either.
Cheers!
evm1024
New member
On my own
These are my decks so it is on my own. I am thinking about selling side panels for 3340 and 3440 and a M200 mixer on ebay.
I would like to fix up a few decks for fun and profit.
Regards
SteveMac said:
These are my decks so it is on my own. I am thinking about selling side panels for 3340 and 3440 and a M200 mixer on ebay.
I would like to fix up a few decks for fun and profit.
Regards
cjacek
Analogue Enthusiast
The Ghost of FM said:The term, "use it or lose it", comes to mind.
Running the unit on a regular schedule keeps the mechanical parts lubed and stops electrolytic caps from drying out as quickly and, when switches, controls and relays are exercised, they tend not to oxidize as fast.
All that, and borrowing a bit from the computer generation by running your gear though a UPS, (Uninterruptible Power Supply), unit with voltage regulation and decent AC line noise filtering couldn't hurt either.
Cheers!
Any idea how to make sure the unit gets its regular "exercise", without actually putting hrs on the heads when no recording is scheduled ? If there are long streches of no recording for one of my recorders, for example, what would you consider too long to keep it "unused" or better question would be how much time should pass between "workouts" ? Also, how does a "UPS" unit help ? Thanks as always Jeff!
~Daniel
cjacek
Analogue Enthusiast
evm1024 said:
Restored decks CAN bring good profit on eBay. That's for damn sure.
~Daniel
arjoll
New member
Just having it powered on will be ok for the caps. As for the moving parts, winding tape through will get all three motors running - it will wear the tape and guides (slighly) but not the heads.cjacek said:
As for the UPS thing - that SOS article I emailed through seemed to imply that it could do more harm than good because of the stepped approximation to a sinewave (think of it compared to mains the same as analogue recording compared to digital). I think that it is probably an overstatement, and the benefits of a UPS if your power is noisy would outweigh any miniscule chance of a problem. Again I think that article was written about equipment where the tolerances of the transformers etc were already on a 'knife edge' and Tascam should be over-engineered to a sufficient degree to not be a problem.
In terms of picking a UPS, you should look at the surge current produced by your recorder when the motors come on, and pick one capable of handling this. One of the reasons you don't run printers on a UPS (unless its huge!) is the surge current when everything bursts into life. You can also see this when turning on a CRT monitor connected to a UPS with a load indicator like one of the APC SmartUPS range - I've seen the initial burst of the degaussing coil be enough to trip out a UPS and cause a server reboot, with associated weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth!
To work out the appropriate size, try to find the maximum surge load. UPSs are often rated in VA, if you can't find a rating in watts as well you need to multiply by the power factor. Here (230V 50Hz) we use 0.7, but it might be different with 120V 60Hz. evm1024 will probably know
In terms of the actual UPS brand we tend to use APC at work for PC applications, but that doesn't mean its the best for audio work. It sounds like Ghost has a bit of experience here, so might be able to suggest a brand.
Cya
Andrew
T
The Ghost of FM
Banned
I use products from APC exclusively. It's true that when the battery power kicks in, the power does tend to get a bit wonky and closer to a square wave output but the prevention of hard power cycling via a power failure is a harsher event to put your turned on gear through.
I use a APC Back UPS XS1000 which puts out 650 watts.
Cheers!
evm1024
New member
arjoll said:SNIP!
To work out the appropriate size, try to find the maximum surge load. UPSs are often rated in VA, if you can't find a rating in watts as well you need to multiply by the power factor. Here (230V 50Hz) we use 0.7, but it might be different with 120V 60Hz. evm1024 will probably know
In terms of the actual UPS brand we tend to use APC at work for PC applications, but that doesn't mean its the best for audio work. It sounds like Ghost has a bit of experience here, so might be able to suggest a brand.
Cya
Andrew
Power factor is one of those things that causes a lot of confusion. At least till you figure it out. The load determins the power factor. It is basically the ratio of the resistance to inductance for the load. Things like motors and transformers are inductors. The power utility wants you to have a power factor of 1 so that you use 100% of the available power.
I use APC UPS here at work and at home. The power factor of their UPS are 0.77. So if you need 100 watts of power you will need a 130 VA ups. No one runs at 100% LOADING!
However when sizing a ups you should think about runtime vs size. If you just want to overcome a few cycle dropout then runtime is not important.
Anyway, like to only load my ups to 60% (well OK it ends up at 80% load) so if I have 1000 watts of load, I would get a 1.8kva ups plus or minus.
Sorry for being so long winded.
Regards