Broken A16 Ultra?

dragonfly · Post by **dragonfly** » Wed May 02, 2007 7:35 am

Hi!

Almost two years ago I bought my A16 Ultra. I connected it up to a PC but didn't have time to use it as we were dismantling our studio to rebuild. Well, the rebuilding went into overtime and didn't get finished until recently. Now I've connected the A16u again, and it's acting strange.

Inputs are apparently not working at all, and outputs sound distorted. This happens on all channels on the A as well as the B section, whether I'm using Z-Link or ADAT.

I've tried fiddling with the sync settings and poking the dip switches on the back to no avail. I'm considering sending it to SonicCore for service but I have no clue how long it would take or if they'd even look at it.

The A16u was going to be the backbone of my studio so I'm quite helpless without it. Any help and/or suggestions are very welcome!

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Wed May 02, 2007 8:03 am

I have similar problems with my unit (bought it used). not all of my inputs are broken, but 1 to 9. the others work fine. I didn't check the outputs, but I will surely do now. I discovered that just monday when I was checking if the unit will work as adat to z-link converter unit (see other thread). unfortunately my unit is already out of warranty...

today I sent an email to sc support, and ralf already answered. they would repair the unit, and since they strongly encouraged me not to put my hands on (or into) it myself (as soldering would be necessary in most cases) I intend to send mine in for repair. they will have to generate an rma number for that, so if you decide to do the same, contact sc before.

it seems not to be a general error with those units as they are known to be built robust, and behaviour as described would rarely occur (that's what ralf said

).

-greetings, markus-

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:51 am

if Ralf says it, obedience applies - otherwise I'd called you a coward

kidding, Tom

seriously, that's a much appreciated approach from SC tech support, respect

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Wed May 02, 2007 11:14 am

astroman wrote:if Ralf says it, obedience applies - otherwise I'd called you a coward

I already expected you to call me that, not kidding

but unless I know exactly what I do (and with printed schematics, of course) I' d rather be called a coward than an idiot

to be honest, my last soldering attempts were merely pathetic, so I leave that to people who can do...

-greetings, markus-

dragonfly · Post by **dragonfly** » Wed May 02, 2007 1:28 pm

Thanks for the reply! I will definately email SC about it and post in this thread once I have something interesting to report.

Kylie, if you like please also post when your unit gets fixed or if something else happens as I'd love to know how long I might expect to be waiting and how much it might cost me...

On an offtopic note, as a long-time Scope (Luna/Pulsar actually) user I've been visiting these forums regularly through the years but didn't bother to register until now. Expect to be seeing more of me in the future!

Cheers!

kylie · Post by **kylie** » Wed May 02, 2007 10:35 pm

dragonfly wrote: Kylie, if you like please also post when your unit gets fixed or if something else happens as I'd love to know how long I might expect to be waiting and how much it might cost me...

I will try to check the outputs this evening and then bother ralf for a rma number. so with the start of the new week I expect the unit to be brought to the post office and then, let`s see what happens...

-greetings, markus-

ScofieldKid · Post by **ScofieldKid** » Sat May 05, 2007 8:08 pm

Make very sure you have the right POWER SUPPLY connected. If you have the wrong one, you can see very odd behavior. I forget the values, but we can check if you are not sure you have the right one there.

scary808 · Post by **scary808** » Tue May 08, 2007 7:12 pm

Mine is like that too. I think it may be because I used unbalanced 1/4" instead of balanced. I hope it doesn't cost too much to get repaired.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Thu May 10, 2007 11:19 pm

Does that mean I won't be able to connect unbalanced equipment to it?

I'm not really "up" on the balanced/unbalanced thing. Could someone enlighten me?

(I think balanced has something to do with two signals with opposite phases that then are put into phase and mixed together to cancel out noise, right? But I'm not sure about compatibility between it and unbalanced.)

Thanks,

Snayne

Post by **garyb** » Fri May 11, 2007 1:35 am

balanced has a positive, negative and shield(ground). it's three conductor.
unbalanced has a positive and the negative and shield are connected together(two conductor like a guitar cable or rca connector).

the A16 ultra has no problem accepting an unbalanced signal, unlike the earlier A16(no ultra), which can be damaged by an unbalanced connection.

Shayne White · Post by **Shayne White** » Fri May 11, 2007 8:31 am

Thank you. It looks like the A16 Ultra is much better made than the original (no heat issues, unbalanced signals...)

I got confused because this an Ultra thread.

Shayne