Altec 9473A Dual Limiter

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Rodgre
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Altec 9473A Dual Limiter

Post by Rodgre » Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:24 am

Happy New Year all!

I got an old green Altec 9473A Dual Band Limiter several years ago. It's a very cool piece, probably meant for broadcast audio, where it splits the signal at 250Hz and limits each split separately (if you choose). It has settings for different release times for each range and selectable ratios. I used it a lot on vocals, bass guitar and drum room mics. I haven't used it in a while and it's been in storage. I took it out this weekend to clean it up and use it again and while the meters light up and I've cleaned the edge connectors on the circuit boards and reseated them, I get no audio through it at all. No meter deflection either. I'll put it through the paces on the workbench this week, but I wanted to see if anyone else had any experience with these. I see them for sale from time to time but there isn't much info about them online.

Image
photo from https://danalexanderaudio.com/project/a ... 3-limiter/

Roger

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: Altec 9473A Dual Limiter

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:04 am

I’ve got no advice on this but wanted to jump in and say that this thing looks bad ass! I love the old green face altec stuff.
Does this on take the octal plug in transformers? I’m assuming you’ve checked connections if it’s got terminal strips and pig tails.

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Rodgre
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Re: Altec 9473A Dual Limiter

Post by Rodgre » Tue Jan 05, 2021 6:29 am

Yes, it has the Peerless transformer. I checked the terminal strips for continuity and those connections seem to be okay. I am recalling now that it wasn't passing audio the last time I used it when it was racked up in my last studio around 10 years ago. It was just suddenly dead, without being moved or having it's pigtails jostled so I'm going to assume there is something that failed in the input circuit or the power supply, if the meter lamps are fed by something other than what's feeding the circuit.

Since there isn't much info about these online, I will probably share my work on this for future generations!

Roger

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digitaldrummer
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Re: Altec 9473A Dual Limiter

Post by digitaldrummer » Tue Jan 05, 2021 7:39 am

in something that old I would always suspect electrolytic caps first. When they fail they either open or short. If they open, then that typically results in noise or pops. if they short, well, they blow fuses or let the magic smoke out. or maybe part of a circuit stops working. But I don't know what else is in that unit (never seen one before). But bad caps are probably as likely as anything else and a cheap fix if it is the culprit.
Mike
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