Tascam MSR-16 Dolby-s repair?

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w__ll

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Hi there, first post on this very useful forum. Hope this is in the right place. I have the opportunity to get hold of a tascam MSR-16, but according to the seller it has a major problem in that the dolby-s cards are faulty, resulting in a popping noise during playback. The guy mentioned a fix that he'd seen on a forum a year or so ago that involved replacing the ic's on the cards. He's trying to track it down, and i'm trying to find it as well. I've not looked the machine over yet, i'd like to know if there's a fix for this problem first. Has anyone heard of this problem and solution? And if so do they have any information on it? Maybe threads/articles and so on? I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone could shed any light on this problem.

Thanks, Will.
 
Hi and welcome! The MSR-16 is a nice deck indeed...great transport and real effective package. BUT...

IIRC those Dolby IC's on the 'S' versions are proprietary and unobtanium. If you find a fix it would be great to have here but AFAIK it is a real bugaboo with the 'S' decks and a reason to be wary of them. I've read many people that say at this point it is better to seek out the decks outfitted with dbx noise reduction.

Guys? Anybody else hear anything more about this as of late?
 
shedshrine said:
Lots of info here on Dolby S issues and preventive maintenance..

http://tascamforums.com/index.php?showtopic=17212


EDIT: Damn your fast! You have entries in this linked thread too Cory.
Click to expand...

That's brilliant, thankyou. I think the quotes in that thread refer to the thread the seller mentioned. No direct link though. Seems to suggest that replacing the capacitors could solve the issue, it's micro stuff though, and there could possibly still be problems with unobtainable IC's. Anyone have any more information on this topic?

Question, would it be possible to retrofit alternative NR cards?
 
w__ll said:
?

Question, would it be possible to retrofit alternative NR cards?
Click to expand...

Read the last post by Tascamwiz on that linked thread above:


"The interesting thing about Tascam machines in particular is that they can use either the DBX or Dolby-S cards interchangeably as long as they are in the same enable/disable bank. They use the same switching logic interface for both card versions. I had some spare DBX cards for the 238, so I outfitted that particular machine with 4 Dolby-S cards and 4 DBX cards.......worked perfectly fine and the owner was actually happier with the way that worked out. Same thing applies to the TSR/MSR series. If you have one of these machines with bad Dolby cards, you can swap them for DBX cards if you can find them."
 
The MSR decks with Dolby-S have a high failure rate of the NR. It can indeed be caps only or it can be the Dolby-S ICs. The ICs ultimately fail from a domino effect of other failed components.

The Dolby IC may survive and just need new capacitors... or the ICs could be ruined. You won’t know until you recap the bad cards. I like Dolby-S... if it works of course. Personally I would stick worth the dbx versions of these machines, unless you’re more into tinkering than actually making music.
 
That's sort of what i figured, that you don't know until you replace the caps. The seller also has a tsr-8 that he wants rid of, only really useful for parts, so thats potentially half the NR cards covered, but then having to wait until another 8 come up. Would using external NR produce acceptable results or just sound bad?
 
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w__ll said:
Anyone used a DX-4D/8D with an MSR-16? Are they compatable?
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I'll be astonished if the MSR has the control port on the back - the TSR-8 doesn't seem to. However, it is possible to mod a DX4D or two into being always-on, so that might work. I have no idea about the 8-channel version, though.
 
The DX-4D will work just fine with an MSR-16 but, yes, it would need to have the mod done to defeat the control cable requirement. This is an easy mod and is aptly detailed by evm1024 in another thread. Can link if needed I'm sure or do a search for DX-4D by evm1024.

The DX-8DS is a proprietary unit for the MS-16. Not compatible from an interface standpoint. The noise reduction is totally compatible of course but it is designed to be powered from the MS-16 PSU and all the interfacing (audio and power) is via Hirose Sumicon connector cables and jacks. Forum Member MasterControlMe modded a DX-8DS to work with his Tascam 48. A commendable feat. He doesn't have the system anymore, but the point is that it can be done but it was a fairly advanced procedure.

Slap those TSR-8 cards in there and pick yerself up a couple DX-4D's and mod 'em. Press REC and season to taste.
 
The Dolby S is supposed to be superior sounding to the dbx Type I, but I have yet to hear of anyone who has found a working Dolby S.

-MD
 
w__ll said:
Hi there, first post on this very useful forum. Hope this is in the right place. I have the opportunity to get hold of a tascam MSR-16, but according to the seller it has a major problem in that the dolby-s cards are faulty, resulting in a popping noise during playback. The guy mentioned a fix that he'd seen on a forum a year or so ago that involved replacing the ic's on the cards. He's trying to track it down, and i'm trying to find it as well. I've not looked the machine over yet, i'd like to know if there's a fix for this problem first. Has anyone heard of this problem and solution? And if so do they have any information on it? Maybe threads/articles and so on? I'd greatly appreciate it if anyone could shed any light on this problem.

Thanks, Will.
Click to expand...

Hi, Know all about it, if you go to this old 2006 thread, look for me "witzendoz" there is an explanation about newer series and older series dolby s cards, and photos showing how to repair the newer type. The older type seem to keep working.

Cheers
Alan
 
Thanks to everyone for the help and priceless information re: the DX-4D/8D stuff. The machine is cheap enough to perhaps take a chance on and repair. My enquiries to tascam/teac and Acoustic Services weren't very positive though. Their position was that the cards are "definately not interchangeable", which doesn't bode well. I'm gonna get on the tascam users forum linked earlier in the thread and see if I can dig anything more up. Does anyone on there know if Tascamwiz is still on there? Seeing as he's the source of this interchanging cards idea, might be good to speak to him in particular.
 
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