Black Beauty

[livingnote]

Alright, here's the Neumann Porn you guys asked for:

The old Berlin Kreuzberg Drawbar organ :wink:

This Neumann was built for the Hessischer Rundfunk at the beginning of the 80's and was in operation there till around 2004-In one of the fader casings I found a snippet from a radio show they did in '01, and it's been nicely serviced by thesse guys. Naturally, it does have it's little and big problems and decrepities, but luckily these consoles are the kind that have easy access to everything.

Plasma PPM meter, NTP 277-400. Zoom mode, peak memory, nice orange. The meters in the middle are in effect GR meters for the broadcast limiters installed down below.

Yum. The Works.

LEMO patchbay, pre and post fader inserts etc.

Monitor anything. The orange round buttons are talkback buttons, where you can send the signal from the little console mic to two external outs, the buses (including out on air), and aux 1-4.

What exactly these nice little switches do I don't know, I also am still at a loss for the meaning ANG which pops up all the time in German broadcast equipment...if anyone knows...

NTP Broadcast limiters of the day. These things cost about 5000DM back then, I am still not yet decided on how to abuse them properly, though...since I don't happen to have a transmitter to protect

Back panel XLR I/O. Man was I glad it wasn't Tuchel.

Hand-soldered precision goodness all the way through. The mere idea that the majority of people rip these beauties up to maximise profit is just unbelievable.

Anyway, that's it, my absolute dream come true, and for classical music, it's peaches and cream.

I can't wait to hear how it sounds recapped... :green:

 

[jensenmann]

This makes me jaleous. I´ve been at the storage to check the desk before the auction ended. It´s such a beauty. If you ever take it apart and sell it I will come down to Berlin and beat you up. :grin:

Seriously, whenever you decide to sell it please contact me.

:thumb:

 

[livingnote]

You know, just before me in the auction was this guy coolericberlin. I don't know who exactly he is but suddenly he turned up with a host of neumann parts with this: "der (part) stammt aus einem laufenden Mischpult und war bis zuletzt in betrieb", everytime I read that I get sad.

Maybe some group flogging is in order.

In the meantime I have acquired an extra W495STB and two PE a stereo's, the blank EQ spaces are pre-wired and have a bridge connector so you can drop EQs right in. Now it's got fully EQ'd channels. BTW do you have any idea what might be the cause for the LED not lighting up on a 495 and audio not passing? I assume it's a power issue...

But yeah, I'm not considering selling it but if I ever ever do, I know who's getting mail.

Oh and congrats on the Nachwuchs!

 

[[silent:arts]]

will have to post some pics of our Neumann Desk we have at work :grin:
will do after my hollidays.

Nice Desk you have there, looks like it is in a good condition from the pictures.
if you ever need some help with service let me know.

the limiters, put the Pre.Emph. to OFF without a transmitter :wink:

btw, German broadcast language is not easy:
ANG normally means Telefonanschaltgerät :green:
(it is just an old analogue Telefonhybrid)

 

[[silent:arts]]

[quote author="livingnote"]... this guy coolericberlin. I don't know who exactly he is ...[/quote]
I know him. in person he is a very nice guy, member of a successful berlin band with big beats ...
didn't know he sells now, only know him as a Neumann buyer.
still have to get back one of my GSSLs from him :shock:

 

[livingnote]

At least I think that's what I remember seeing on the bay, could be mistaken...anyway if you're working at a Neumann of course my most interesting concern is recapping the thing, I don't want to get in that circuit without sound advice. I'll be seeing you in Fhain anyway when the poorman stuff arrives. :grin:

Can you post some pictures of you guy's desk?

 

[[silent:arts]]

[quote author="livingnote"]Can you post some pictures of you guy's desk? [/quote]
it is not my desk, it is still "öffentlich rechtlich", but I will post some pics in 3 weeks (we still have two big ones - one in an broadcast van), and several small ones.

for recapping you don't need that much advice:
replace those red plastic Roederstains with whatever fits
you may find enough with lifted tops.
replace any Tantals in the PSU sections with Electrolytics
these are the main failures ...
nothing more to do :green:

 

[sodderboy]

That XLR panel is wired with twisted pair-

Is the whole console wired that way, or is there also some shielded pair in there?

Someone told me that BBC consoles were all wired with un-shielded twisted pair because the CMRR into each stage was so tight.

interesting pics!
Mike

 

[livingnote]

Yeah it's twisted pair all over the place. Here's a basic question: What is CMRR? I have seen a lot of the twisted pair vs. shielded pair discussion but I still don't quite understand it...

 

[hejsan]

Common Mode Rejection Ratio, equal noise in two phase lines is rejected (cancels out) in the next debalancing stage.
Congrats on a great console :guinness: hic

 

[sonicmook56]

Photos are broken here!

 

[hitchhiker]

Lovely console!

re the 495 eq's ,I repaired both of my W495STB 's by finding bad caps in the output amps . I have a 47p and a 4.7uF circled in the scheme but sadly no I made no notes. I think the units were reading with a light but not passing audio. These are very tightly packed so go slow and easy when you take them apart. Very doable though so don't be worry.

cheers
Lance