Nagra T troubleshooting

audio anthology · Sep 30, 2012

I recently acclaimed Nagra T that I'm having problem with
there are 2 output channel on the back of the machine and channel 1 does not have any signal also vu meter for channel 1 not working
channel 2 working okay as it should
does any one know what might have gone wrong with this machine?
so far the only expert on nagra machine in NY area asking me to pay $4000 for complete restoration plus $$ parts if there is any needed
but my machine is in excellent condition and I do not need complete restoration (I'm assuming this will be simple fix for experts) so if there is anyone who can tell me anything about this please help me out
thank you
kevin

Bruce B · Sep 30, 2012

Did you buy an extra one for parts?

tony ky ma · Sep 30, 2012

audio anthology said:
I recently acclaimed Nagra T that I'm having problem with
there are 2 output channel on the back of the machine and channel 1 does not have any signal also vu meter for channel 1 not working
channel 2 working okay as it should
does any one know what might have gone wrong with this machine?
so far the only expert on nagra machine in NY area asking me to pay $4000 for complete restoration plus $$ parts if there is any needed
but my machine is in excellent condition and I do not need complete restoration (I'm assuming this will be simple fix for experts) so if there is anyone who can tell me anything about this please help me out
thank you
kevin

Hi Kevin
I guest problem in ch1 repro amp so the vu meter show nothing, can you reverse the head cable ch2 to ch1 amp to check any signal in there, if yes then problem on head or cable, otherwise fix or replace ch1 repro amp will be OK
tony ma

audio anthology · Sep 30, 2012

no this machine suppose to be in perfect working condition

rockitman · Sep 30, 2012

I bought a Studer A810 in perfect working order. 20 minutes into tape one, playing perfectly a loud pop and billowing smoke suddenly appears. One of the old caps exploded. I was able to replace the cap myself. Moral of the story...these machines are old and expect, the unexpected. If your tech is truly reputable, it may be worth the money to have a recap done on the machine if your really into your tapes.

audio anthology · Oct 1, 2012

today my good friend radio-star of NYC and his tech actually fixed up the machine
it took him 5hours to find out the problem
there was no defect parts but there was bad connection on circuit board
he had it cleaned and re attached loose parts and now it is in good working condition at very reasonable price
thank you everyone for your help and support
many thanks to Mr ki Choi, Tony Ma and Charles king God bless you all
now I have to figure out how to connect this tape machine with my cello p603
thank you
Kevin

Bruce B · Oct 2, 2012

Glad you got it working!

MylesBAstor · Oct 2, 2012

audio anthology said:
today my good friend radio-star of NYC and his tech actually fixed up the machine
it took him 5hours to find out the problem
there was no defect parts but there was bad connection on circuit board
he had it cleaned and re attached loose parts and now it is in good working condition at very reasonable price
thank you everyone for your help and support
many thanks to Mr ki Choi, Tony Ma and Charles king God bless you all
now I have to figure out how to connect this tape machine with my cello p603
thank you
Kevin

Ought to be sweet with the Cello 603. That's what the preamp that I use is based on. Do you have the rest of the Suite too?

flez007 · Oct 2, 2012

Welcome to the club audio anthology

mine has three months sitting on my tech´s bench (tape tension issue). hope you got it fixed sooner than I (still waiting).

I contacted Mr. Bartres at Nagra Switzerland for parts, costly but has still some inventory.PM me if you want his contact info as a reminder.

audio anthology · Oct 2, 2012

yes I have audio suite with 603 and 301
that is the reason why I bought nagra because I wanted to match them together
and now it is p603 that has issue
it has lots of distortion and does not have quality sound as I expected when plugged in together
audio suite is from Korea and tech in Korea told me that because it has equalizer built in it has to be mated with tape head otherwise bypass it to preamp directly to use it with cd or other source (he also told me that is reason why it has very low gain and lots of distortion) I guess he was wrong
so I'm assuming it is internal (board) that has issue and now looking for someone who has experience with Cello audio suite with p603 module
I hear that several audio suite with p603 sold to individuals when studios in NYC closed down so hopefully there is someone out there who can help me out
thank you
kevin

MylesBAstor · Oct 2, 2012

audio anthology said:
yes I have audio suite with 603 and 301
that is the reason why I bought nagra because I wanted to match them together
and now it is p603 that has issue
it has lots of distortion and does not have quality sound as I expected when plugged in together
audio suite is from Korea and tech in Korea told me that because it has equalizer built in it has to be mated with tape head otherwise bypass it to preamp directly to use it with cd or other source (he also told me that is reason why it has very low gain and lots of distortion) I guess he was wrong
so I'm assuming it is internal (board) that has issue and now looking for someone who has experience with Cello audio suite with p603 module
I hear that several audio suite with p603 sold to individuals when studios in NYC closed down so hopefully there is someone out there who can help me out
thank you
kevin

Charlie's by far the expert on Cello gear but from what I understand the 603 was the tape equivalent of the Cello phono stage except with a different EQ curve. So I think your tech is right and the distortion is because you're overloading the tape section.

If you're going to use the Nagra into the 603, you must go directly from the heads to the 603; otherwise as your tech said, you should connect the Nagra to your preamp.

stellavox · Oct 3, 2012

Myles,

I believe you've correctly described the situation. It is NOT "plug and play"

Kevin, see if you can find a tech in NYC that can wire out the head and put the correct "Cello" connectors on the other end to connect to the Cello Suite. Or bring it up to me and I'll do it.

Charles

Bill Hart · Oct 3, 2012

Glad to see that the poster got into the right hands.
Charlie, could you send me a private message if you are around, and i'll tell you what is up on another front?
Thanks.
(Hi, myles).

flez007 · Oct 4, 2012

I modified mine with the help of Ki, Bruce and others around here, the mods were performed locally and bypassed all the electronics running the head output directly to an external tape preamp.

audio anthology · Oct 7, 2012

thank you for all of your help and concerns
the tech in NYC was able to wire out the nagra directly from the head and connect it to Cello p603 by using fischer connectors but there was no sound out of cello
I believe he wire out the cables correctly but can not figure out what is the problem here
good thing that I have all schematic book for nagra t and he is looking over the schematic over the weekend
hopefully he can figure it all out sometime next week
can anyone tell me what is wrong with my machine?

audio anthology · Oct 18, 2012

stock electronic was completely isolated from tape head by Charles King and now it is all working
now I have new problem
when I'm recording on Nagra T it does record but with very low sound
vu meter shows that there is enough gain on input of nagra but when I play whats recorded it just dont have enough sound
does anyone try to record with nagra t?
please let me know
thank you

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