Swapping fan in Tascam MS16

[James K]

Hi,
Like probably most people here, I have my recorder in the same room as the instruments. My Tascam MS16 has a very loud fan in it and it's getting onto some of my recordings. I can't move the recorder out of the room so I was wondering if I could swap the fan for a newer, quieter one. I imagine it;s a standard computer fan so perhaps a quiet equivalent could be found.

Thanks
James

 

[sweetbeats]

Standard PC fans are 92mm x 92mm and 120mm x 120mm. Those dims are mounting hole to mounting hole so if you can access the fasteners that mount the fan you can see if it one of those sizes and then you can source a fan. If it is a standard size then you should have lots of options but the trick will be the voltage. My hunch is that it is either 12 or 24vdc powered but I don't have the ms16 service manual in front of me so have a look. If it is 12vdc and one of the sizes above then its open season because that is standard PC fare. Go to someplace like newegg.com or tiger direct and you should be able to narrow a search for whatever size and then compare cfm's and noise level. See if you can get a p/n off the current fan and do a google search to see if you can get the cfm spec and find a new part that matches or betters the current cfm and go for the lowest noise level. Rpm is another spec to watch. High rpm low noise level will still cause trouble over a low rpm low noise level just because of the pitch of the fan, but of course rpm drives cfm performance.

Good luck. Hope that helps.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

When I had my MS16, I remember the fan being noisy too. But all that did was force me to use a second room for doing vocals and acoustic guitars in. This was doable because I usually worked with another person at the time, so we could change engineering hats when one of us needed to be the performer in the second room.

From memory, the fan never seemed to be ejecting hot or even warm air so I suspect it might have been possible to just wire in a simple SPST switch to shut the fan off while tracking and then turn it back on for mixing or during breaks. But I never bothered to try that. I suspect with some added diligence to mind the switch, that might also be a reasonable safe solution as any replacement fan is bound to make a pretty similar racket.

Cheers!