[QuadList] Restoring an Ampex AVR-1
C. Park Seward
park at videopark.com
Wed Oct 22 23:49:40 CDT 2008
I agree with my friend Don.
While that is the best quad ever made IMHO, it also has an appetite
for a lot of time and money. I just got two audio head stacks lapped
by John French and it was over $2,000.
A 1200 would be easier to resuscitate and maintain. It also runs on
120VAC.
Best,
Park
C. Park Seward
On Oct 22, 2008, at 8:24 AM, Don Norwood wrote:
> Hi John:
>
> It will be interesting to see what the collective wisdom of this
> group has to offer to your situation. I suspect that the likelihood
> of finding an AVR-1 available for donation would be an extremely
> long shot. But beyond that, I would encourage you or the group you
> are working with to very carefully and realistically examine both
> your goals and abilities in relationship to this project. Any quad
> machine, and most particularly an AVR-1, requires specialized
> knowledge along with both technical and financial resources to
> maintain it in an operating environment.
>
> If your goal is to have a machine that operates reliably, the only
> way to achieve that level of performance is to properly refurbish
> the machine. Simply substituting boards from another "donor"
> machine is not a good idea for several reasons. First, if the donor
> machine has not been properly maintained, it too will likely
> experience failure, and then what? You must properly repair it or
> find yet another donor which is just not a practical approach.
> Second, depending on what boards are swapped, there may be alignment
> and set-up issues that if not properly performed, will either
> degrade the performance of the machine or render it unusable, even
> though the board is perfectly good.
>
> Having worked with non-profits, I am sympathetic to the common
> problem of budget restraints. Unfortunately, the reality of the
> costs, both in dollars and knowledge, may be more than the
> organization can bear. I certainly wish you success, and strongly
> support the preservation of this technology, but I also urge you to
> carefully evaluate your expectations and resources to determine if
> this is a feasible undertaking for the organization. There may be
> other alternatives which are more practical.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Don
>
> Don Norwood
> Digitrak Communications, Inc.
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