Stevenson Interface Electronics Series 100

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brianroth
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Post by brianroth » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:09 am

Interestingly enough, Altec was *once* a presence here in Oklahoma City.

Back in the 1950's (?...I was still a Baby/Youngster), a company named University Sound ran a rather impressive operation here in OKC, making loudspeakers and mics. When I was in High Skrewl (circa 1970), I had met an University Sound design engineer who gave me the Deluxe Tour of the facility, including my FIRST time stepping into an anechoic chamber. Wowzer...that was quite impressive for a 16-year-old audio wannabe <G>.

Long story short...University got absorbed into Altec which got absorbed into Mark IV which got absorbed into...gawd..I forget now. Ah..Telex, which is now owned by Bosch.

Until the late 1990's, Altec and Electrovoice analog electronics (power amps, mixers, etc) were manufactured in that "formerly University" factory here in OKC. It's now a Dark Building (along with the former Seagate disk drive factory, the Bell/Western Electric/Lucent factory, the General Motors plant, and others) IOW, many good manufacturing jobs disappeared here in my city, as the conglomerates bought up everything, then shipped all manufacturing to the slave camps in China.

(Sidebar. As I was re-tweaking the alignment on a client's MCI JH-110C 1/2" 2 track mixdown machine tonight...switching from RMG 900 to 911 at his request...my client's wife dropped in and was "eyeballing" my aging Tek 2215 scope. Kara commented that "that is an oldie", and I replied I spent around $2000 to buy it new in 1981! <g> I further made remarks about the CRAP that it is sold these days on the electronics "front", and elicited a chorus of "amens" from several of the other guys who were working on the mix project in the control room. I also admitted to having *three* dead DVD players sitting in a pile in my garage, since I just toss them into the heap and buy a new "Chinete junker" when the one in my den decides to expire. "No User Servicable Parts Inside"...indeed!!!)

Ahem....back to reality. I am pleased to have the opportunity to work with REAL gear (vs, Banjo Mart junk), and Louis Stephenson made a valliant attempt down there in Houston, TX.

Supulpa, Oklahoma, eh? Well there are more than a few ex-University, ex-Altec guys still left around here!

Bri
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barbera media
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Post by barbera media » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:38 pm

This is "shadubular" the guy who stupidly killed my IE mixer. I still have it and would love to know if anyone could point me in the direction of a schematic for this thing. It does seem to have some mods done to it, but nothing major. I think this is my last hope for this, as i have searched for the last couple years all over the internet and couldn't find anything about this little gem. ANY help will be appreciated. Thanks!
-j

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digitaldrummer
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Post by digitaldrummer » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:58 am

other than the manual that littlesongs posted in the first post of this thread (there are some hand drawn schematics of some of the models there), I have never been able to find any schematics either. I racked a few of these units and had to just follow the traces until I understood the circuit well enough to hack into it. a lot of trial and error...

Mike
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Post by littlesongs » Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:55 pm

I have been making good use of my little SIE, but I have not tracked down any further documentation. As always, I promise to share anything I may find out about these orphans with my fellow TOMB members. These suitcase mixers were primarily used for location recording and I really wish someone in film production would come out of the woodwork.

Mike -- digitaldrummer -- has made some really nice microphone preamplifiers out of the channel strips.

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Michael_Joly
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Post by Michael_Joly » Sun Jan 04, 2009 5:20 pm

littlesongs wrote: Expressing wonderful thoughts from tangentland back on December 13.
WOW. My Google-bot just found this thread, and in particular Littlesongs terrific ruminations on the visible and audible manifestations of people and place in the Things (sacred) they work on. Right on brother!

I think Andy DeLapp and I have found some other soul brothers. You know - I love mics, but I love metaphysics even more. You cats on this thread are just about the greatest, old-school, engineering-as-alchemical-art cats I've come across.

best, M

shaggy8685
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Another console

Post by shaggy8685 » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:01 pm

I have recently been asked by a friend of mine to see what I could do with an old 24x4 mixer. I couldn't find anything until I stumbled on this board. Thanks to all that have posted there information. The schematics are very helpful.

I have a few questions to those that really know what they are doing. I sometimes think I know what I am doing but I really don't have a clue.

1.) Would it be worth while to at least replace the original power supply with something a little better? A modern regulated and filtered power supply has to help out.

I have access to industrial grade DC power supplies of various voltages. The power supply schematic in the manual that littlesongs generously posted is the exact same as the one in the console I am working on. I did take notice to the fact that there is a 22VAC feed for the meters lights and 36Vdc feed to the rest of the console. I was think of just leaving the 22Vac section alone as that is just for lighting. The 36Vdc section I was contemplating replacing with a higher current rated supply. This would simply be for reserve. Without a good power source everything else suffers. I was also considering putting a 3 pronged plug on this thing and ground the frame of the console.

This console is broken up into multiple boards that are connected by some small solid wire. I was going to solder some heavy gauge ground and power wires to the bus to help out with current demand. I was hoping that by adding some extra grounding potential that it could bring down the noise floor a little bit.

2.) After I have get the power sorted out I was going to go through each channel and check them out. There are a few channels that the faders are just shot. What would you suggest for a replacement? I know it's a 100mm 10k fader. I was thinking of an Alps single unit RS6011SY6008. I know it's not nearly as beefy as the originals, but I would like to keep costs to a minimum. This is not going to be for a pro application. I plan on carefully cleaning the originals that are not destroyed. I really don't want to replace things just to replace them.

I would be open to any other suggestions. I have given a listen to each channel and for an old console it sounds pretty good. So far there was one bad Op-amp. I replaced that and it was working just fine. This beast has definitely been around the block a few times. I love this old hand made stuff. Nothing like it. I think this would be fun to at least get all channels working up to snuff again and put it back into use.
Last edited by shaggy8685 on Wed Oct 14, 2009 6:15 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Audio and Tech Geek wannabe. I am always trying and always striving to get better. That way one day I won't completely suck at this. I hope.

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digitaldrummer
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Post by digitaldrummer » Wed Apr 29, 2009 7:55 pm

cool pics - I haven't seen too many intact. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen many period!
Mike
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shaggy8685
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Got as far as I could go

Post by shaggy8685 » Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:12 am

I worked on this beast for a couple weeks and got as far as I could go with the funds provided. There are two channels that need to have the faders replaced. The owner isn't to worried about that. Unfortunately I could not get the one headphone output to work on the master output. The chip that was driving it it was bad so I replaced that. Now the audio comes through when it is cranked, but only slightly and distorted. There are two components inline that feed the input that, for the life of me can't find any information on. I believe they are reed switch relays of some kind. They are made by Elec-Trol. Since I don't have a scope I can't trace the signal to well.

I did however find some bad solder joints at the main power and ground traces. I fixed these up and ran new power wire to all of the main boards and that helped out allot. Two of the meters could stand to be replaced. I tried taking them apart and fixing them but there is still something wrong.

At least is still works and can be used. It will be going into a local club as a sub mixer. It works well enough for live sound.
Audio and Tech Geek wannabe. I am always trying and always striving to get better. That way one day I won't completely suck at this. I hope.

littlesongs
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Post by littlesongs » Fri Jun 04, 2010 6:42 pm

I am always on the lookout for more technical information, but there is precious little to be found on the interwebs. If anybody has a connection at a film school or in the sound department of a movie studio, there is an outside chance that some documentation might be in their files. It is a long shot, but worth mentioning.

In the interest of keeping the love alive for these orphans, I have a long overdue update with pictures. As always, my thanks (or apologies) to the folks who took these photographs.

Here is a very nicely kept 200B from the late 70s or early 80s. It looks like it was retrofitted with a rack mounted power supply.

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This 200C led a hard life on location, but seems complete with parts ranging from the late 70s to the mid 80s and an original PSU.

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This monstrous 312L live console was custom built in the early 80s and is snugly nestled in a touring case.

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A big thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread.

(Thanks for such kind words Michael. I'd love to have a discussion about music, recording and metaphysics.)
"Keep singing, keep writing, keep playing, keep recording. Stay humble, follow your heart, and it'll all lead to a good place."
-- F.M. Cornog

anticpunk
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Post by anticpunk » Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:39 pm

I use my pair of 200series strips on every session. Bought a 100 series board too. 16x4/2. Loaded with 12 100Bs and 4 100Ds. Balanced the direct outs and added phantom to the first 8 channels. Mine came with a complete manual and Stevensons personal notes. Only cost $120 shipped from IL to NY.

Some day I'll put up my tribute page. I've collected tons of pics and various manual fragments over the past year or so. Just have to do the uploads.

So far I have 2 200ser, 4 104L monitors strips, 2 108K, 16 100B and 4 100D, maybe someday I'll get to setup and use them all.

If anyone wants to offload any Stevenson channels, PM me.

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digitaldrummer
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Post by digitaldrummer » Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:15 am

littlesongs wrote:In the interest of keeping the love alive for these orphans, I have a long overdue update with pictures. As always, my thanks (or apologies) to the folks who took these photographs.
wow, nice collection of pics!
Mike
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www.doubledogrecording.com

twiitala
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Re: Stevenson Interface Electronics Series 100

Post by twiitala » Wed Oct 27, 2010 10:05 pm

Here's a photo of a Stevenson Interface Electronics Series 34T8 console I just bought.

It seems pretty similar to the Series 200 in the above photos.....

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Last edited by twiitala on Tue Mar 29, 2011 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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digitaldrummer
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Post by digitaldrummer » Fri Oct 29, 2010 3:12 pm

nice! take some pictures of the guts too if you have time?
Mike
www.studiodrumtracks.com -- Drum tracks starting at $50!
www.doubledogrecording.com

twiitala
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Re: Stevenson Interface Electronics Series 100

Post by twiitala » Fri Oct 29, 2010 4:40 pm

Here's a link to more photos....

http://www.thewiitalabrothers.com/stevenson

n0ukf
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Post by n0ukf » Tue Mar 29, 2011 11:24 am

I just got a SIE 100 series model 8x4 this weekend, $40 "needs work" and found this thread via Google. I haven't had a chance yet to start checking it out (plug it in). This one has six 100A and two 100C modules in it. Does anyone have schematics for these?

I see (at least) one of the above units has feet on the phone jack end as well as the broad back (for operating position), mine has only those on the back, with not even holes for the end feet yet. I decided before even paying for it that I'd add those.
"Cogito, ergo es. I think, therefore you is." Ray D. Tutto (King of the Moon) to Baron Munschaussen

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