Realignment of STUDER A810 after battery replacement

eugen_syd

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2010
44
0
351
Hi everyone

Hi people,

After reading a series of postings on STUDER yahoo group I checked the battery on my MP board. Battery was down to 0.6V and ready to "pop" (very green around). Also I was getting EEE01 error message. I replaced it with one from e-bay.
Does anyone have a clear procedure for realignment of the machine after replacement of the battery? Where can I find decent calibration tapes for STUDER A810? Can settings be taken from another machine via tape and read in?
I am pretty new to STUDER A810, I have a service manual in original but when I read the alignment procedure sounded pretty complicated. I don't think you have to realign the heads just because you replaced the battery!
Your help is much appreciated.

Best regards from down under,

EUGEN
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
7,006
512
1,740
Snohomish, WA
www.pugetsoundstudios.com
If you have not removed the heads or anything, physical alignment isn't necessary. if you are only going to use this for playback, calibration is easy. When you first boot up, does the screen flash a date with no errors? If it does, all you need is an MRL tape for calibration.
You will need to go to MRL Tapes and buy a tape that will suit your needs. What speed will you be playing back tapes at? 3 3/4ips or 7.5ips or 15ips or whatever. Next you will need to determine if you'll be playing IEC/CCIR or NAB tapes and lastly, if you will be recording, what bias or reference fluxivity of the tape you will be using (ie: 250 n/Wb/m, 330 or ??) to record?
Place the tape on the machine, change the dip switches acording to the manual (I'm not at the studio so I don't remember which way it goes). and then when the test tones are played, press the buttons to raise/lower the gain so that the vu meters read 0dBvu.
 

tony ky ma

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2010
630
5
930
Whitby Ontario Canada
Hi Eugen
I told you to check the battery when you got it, at that time you said battery was OK, how much you paid for the right one for A810 ? I replaced mine with same voltage but for cellar phone use, much cheaper but bigger, so I use wire for connection, You better to have a test tape, good for future use too, heads get old need adjust, You can have only one MRL tape (7.5 or 15) is good enough because it come with a conversion table to work out of other speed or NAB/CCIR, of cause if you don't mind to pay more to have all of them for more convenience, clean and demagnetize machine first before test tape on , for recording adjust you need a audio signal generator too, but the repro has to do first and bias adjust and recording adjust last.
with fun tony ma
 

eugen_syd

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2010
44
0
351
Hi Bruce,

Thank you for your explanation. Now I have to buy some calibration tapes. I did not put back the board yet and did not turn on. I'll do it today. I am nto using much this machine but also I do not want to get damaged.

Hi Tony,
Yes, you did told me but I did not know where the battery is located. I read some postings on the STUDER yahoo group and I had to do it, as the board could get damaged, we had few very hot days here so it was time to investigate. I bought the battery in e-bay it was US$ 15.00 with postage included from Hong Kong. Here I attach 2 picture of them side by side, originaly in the machine the light blue one (you can see it started to leak).
Thank you very much for your help, I will let you know how I am going with this!
Regards,

Eugen
 

Attachments

  • BatteryA810-2..jpg
    BatteryA810-2..jpg
    75.9 KB · Views: 1,979
  • BatteryA810-1..jpg
    BatteryA810-1..jpg
    78.2 KB · Views: 1,932

eugen_syd

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2010
44
0
351
I put the MP board back in and error message disapeared. Another quick question Tony, after power on number displayd before 000000 counter is the number of hours on the machine? Mine displays 188. Does that mean this machine has only 188 hours of work?
Woooow, these calibration tapes are not cheap. As you guys might know this is for me just a hobby, I think I'll stick to the defaults until I really need to use the machine... :(

Eugen
 
Last edited:

tony ky ma

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2010
630
5
930
Whitby Ontario Canada
I put the MP board back in and error message disapeared. Another quick question Tony, after power on number displayd before 000000 counter is the number of hours on the machine? Mine displays 188. Does that mean this machine has only 188 hours of work?
Woooow, these calibration tapes are not cheap. As you guys might know this is for me just a hobby, I think I'll stick to the defaults until I really need to use the machine... :(

Hi Eugen
I don't know that 188 mean too, it is not telling the time of use, if you have friend near you also have a machine in working condition and can ask him record a tape for you in frequency if he has a signal generator, ( potable signal generator for audio use is very small and cheap only cost around $60), in this way your machine will match to his machine too.
tony ma
 

Bruce B

WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
Apr 25, 2010
7,006
512
1,740
Snohomish, WA
www.pugetsoundstudios.com
Mine displays 188. Does that mean this machine has only 188 hours of work?
Woooow, these calibration tapes are not cheap. As you guys might know this is for me just a hobby, I think I'll stick to the defaults until I really need to use the machine... :(
Eugen

The numbers after power-up are what firmware version your machine has. "188" mean the firmware is January 1988
 

Ki Choi

Member Sponsor
May 13, 2010
764
29
1,590
Seattle WA area
Hi Eugen and Tony:

The first set of numbers that appear just after power up on A810 is whatever the tape counter data was stored and not important. In few seconds after the initial power up, you will see a four digit number. In Eugen’s case - it is 0188. 01/88 is the firmware version that is in the A810. There are three firmware chips used in A810 MPU card. Normally, I would recommend A810 users to upgrade their firm ware to 25/91 that is the latest version but 01/88 is very reliable and good version.

As you replace the battery, take extra time to inspect any corrosion residues are not on the circuit traces. If left on, it will eat into the copper trace and cause problems. The new battery looks odd to me. I found the dark blue color Varta battery in much older machines. Look closely for any sign of battery gas leak before you go through trouble of soldering it into the MPU card. The newest Varta batteries I get from Europe are in green color.

Bruce had covered well on what to do in calibration. For the rest of the folks who want to replace the battery in A810 MPU card, the trick is to manually write down all the calibration settings on a piece paper prior to disconnecting the battery. Then you can re-enter the data afer installing new battery without having to recalibrate... although periodic calibration is good thing.
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing