Calrec DL1656 weirdness

[Manitou]

Hi Folks,

I've recently bought 2 Calrec DL1656 units & found a pinout details listed on this forum detailed as:


1: L1 (stereo link 1 )
2: L2
4: remote meter
5: remote meter
7, 8: audio input ground
9: audio input positive
10: audio input negative
15: -17.5V
16: +17.5V
17: PSU common
18: 9Vneg (LED power supply)
20: 9Vpos
29: audio output positive
30: audio output negative
32: audio output ground

...all seems pretty straight forward & I've checked and rechecked connections & PSU which is delivering 9v exactly for the LED supply, +/-15 for the audio circuits. Problem is the gain reduction meters are lit up all the way as soon as I power the units up. They are both passing signal and are compressing / limiting to a degree. Gain reduction seems to meter with LEDS going out ... anyone know what I'm missing here?  :-[

 

[desol]

I have a racked calrec. The gain reduction meter comes on when it's powered but goes down with the release timing.

ie: power it up with long release time...bar lights up all the way for a bit then goes down. Fast release...the opposite...goes down fast. Unique sounding unit thanks to the blue thingy inside. Way different than my other comps.

Calrecs are quite transparent. Not everyone's cup of tea.

 

[Manitou]

Thanks for the reply desol. What you're describing is kind of what I was expecting it to do at power up but the meters stay on 30 all the time. When I bring down the threshold and raise the ratio I can hear the effect kicking in on the input audio and the top 3 or 4 leds start to correspond with what is happening to the input signal. Effectively the meter seems to be operating in reverse. Can anybody shed any light on what might be the problem? ???

 

[desol]

Hmm. Mine's a CL1508(blue face)...with the same setup. After power up...the  gain led's should light up completely then fall. Then, gain reduction as applied, should start from the bottom to the top. ie: 10 to 30. Both units are doing the same thing right? So it doesn't appear that anything is actually broken, maybe wired incorrectly? I'd start by triple checking all my polarities going into the edge connector/powersupply/transformer.

 

[Manitou]

Managed to figure out what the problem was finally...

I made the PSU up from 2 encapsulated supplies. I linked the 0v on both supplies & we're in business. Working beautifully and just as you described desol. 

One other thing I've been wondering about is how to wire the stereo link? Is it just a case of linking L1 pins on both units and engaging the L1 button on both panels to link them?

 

[Gareth Connor]

One other thing I've been wondering about is how to wire the stereo link? Is it just a case of linking L1 pins on both units and engaging the L1 button on both panels to link them?


Yes.

 

[desol]

Managed to figure out what the problem was finally...

I made the PSU up from 2 encapsulated supplies. I linked the 0v on both supplies & we're in business. Working beautifully and just as you described desol. 

One other thing I've been wondering about is how to wire the stereo link? Is it just a case of linking L1 pins on both units and engaging the L1 button on both panels to link them?

Glad to hear you got it sorted out!

 

[Manitou]

Great! Thanks for the support guys