TRITON - ANYTHING I SHOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR?

[belolab]

Just taking a look at a triton. Anything in particular I should be paying attention to? It needs new opamps (which the seller will install for me before delivery), but seems fine apart from that.
Is there anything odd about the PSU or any other part of the desk that I need to check out that Triton users would know about?
Thanks in advance,

Louis

[belolab]

Just been reading up on opamps......the seller told me that the opamps can become crackly over the years if not used, but apparently that is not right which means there might be something further wrong with the desk. Anyone got any views on this? If I bought it with new opamps, i dont want to find they all go bad in 6 months because there are other issues with the desk.

Thanks,

Louis
ps you are a quiet bunch!

[ludo]

Opamps have no sell-by date. They should just last forever unless they fail completely for some reason. Pots and switches and connectors however, do become crackly, the more so when not used for a long time. Electrolytic capacitors also go bad in time, depending on temperature, use and quality.

Scratchy carbon track pots/faders and switches can usually be cleaned with Servisol or a similar product, unless they are worn/tarnished to the point of needing replacement.

There is a manual and schematics at http://www.d-r.nl/dnrsite/Service%20Par ... 0parts.htm When buying an old console these are essential. I do not see any schematics for the power supply, but it should be similar enough to many others so a tech should be able to figure it out if there are problems.

Not a lot of response here probably means there aren't many members that own one of these. They are a very knowledgeable lot though, and would likely be able to advise if you run into problems. Old consoles or old cars = problems, but when the problems are sorted out it's usually worth it. If you don't like trouble, don't buy an old console. But then don't buy a new one either

[belolab]

Thanks for the reply. they dont seem to be that common. This is the last piece of the puzzle for me, as everything else in my studio has been upgraded in the last 2 years to pro level (eg auroras, barefoot, api, bricasti....), so needs to work well but I do have some mates here who can fix stuff like this....and I also like the idea of having a desk where a channel goes down, so you just take it out to be fixed and carry on with the rest of the desk! I have a soundtracs at the moment (with a thin sound on the mids, hence the upgrade) which is more robust, but maintenance wise is similar.

I think the guy maybe asking too much, especially if there is an issue that is affecting the opamps...but that is just negotiation and I really like the inline format for tracking.

Cheers,

Louis

[belolab]

Hmm....seems there are a few other issues with the triton I am looking at
1. there is some issue with some diodes on one channel that causes ghosting on an LED
2. one of the floating bus' doesnt work
3. crackling Preamps.
are any of these major? should I be worried? doing a summing test tomorrow, and hopefully trying 1-2 of the working preamps.
any thoughts would be great.
cheers,

Louis

[Jim Williams]

The preamp chips are the discontinued SSM2017. You can improve and replace those with the SSM2019, the BurrBrown INA217 or the that 1510. You can also fit in one of these:
http://www.audioupgrades.com/products/products_pip.htm

[belolab]

Yeh, was looking at your site just now. Great solution. If I get the the desk, might get one to try out. Cheers

[belolab]

OK, did some mixing through the Triton, and sounds very clean and transparent. Preamps are the same, but can be pushed a wee bit into the red. Noise floor was a bit higher than I expected, but there seemed to be some ground loop going on....what are other Triton or Orion owners experiences with the noise from 24 channels of faders up (and they were up over 0db on the fader!...which probably explains it, right?).
There are a few LED issues: ghosting on a couple of channels when no signal going thru, but works fine when there is audio running through the channel. Is it the LED thats shot?
Also on the master out LED left and right, the right hand one took a while to show proper level even though the audio sounded fine. Is that the same issue as on the channel LED?

Also, is there a big difference between the SSM2017 and the 2019? And is it worth rechipping all the TL072s or upgrading them to something better?
Any comments on these things or anything else would be greatly appreciated.

[Jim Williams]

The 2019 is much clearer than the 2017 and it and the that 1510 are also a bit less noise. AD and BB parts you can order from
www.digikey.com
the that parts you can get from
www.mouser.com
If you have led's going out on switches with ghost signals that's a dirty switch. I inject a bit of non-residue contact cleaner into the small slot on top, exersize it and then blow it out with compressed air. If that doesn't fix it, it needs replacement. Bad caps can affect metering, replace them.
On the master there are SSM2142 output driver IC's. Replace them with BurrBrown DRV134's. There are direct connections from the sense and output pins, cut that trace and insert a 22 uf bipolar cap, that will stop some instabilities.

IC replacement should be done by a qualified tech with a good test bench. It will need some psu bypass caps added/changed and some feedback comp caps. The EQ can be nicely cleaned up with polyprop film caps and low noise opamps. The system noise can be made very low if those noisy parts are replaced.

[belolab]

Jim,

Thanks for all the tips...you are a star. Am still in 2 minds about it, but it meets all my requirements for tracking and mixing. this other desk I am looking at, the Tamura 48 channel, intrigues me, and I now have the manual ( in Japanese). Will upload some bits that look like they might be interesting. I have discovered the Tamura has proper DBX chips in the dynamics part of each channel....which must sound ok at the very least.

cheers,

Louis