• Sound Technology 1700B meter pegs when measuring distortion <1%

    From David Farber@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jul 7 10:16:38 2023
    I had two Sound Technology 1700B analyzers. One worked fine. The other,
    which I gave away to a fellow tech friend, had a problem only when you
    were trying to make a distortion measurement that was less than 1% (e.g.
    0.3%, o.1% etc.). When you enter those smaller ranges, the analog meter
    pegs. I searched for a service manual online and fortunately was able to
    find it though now I have to troubleshoot from long distance. You can
    download it from here:
    https://app.box.com/s/1l0s5z4zlah43krmfmeonhn1srva1fha (pages 43-44
    contain the schematic of the distortion analyzer section)

    When trying to analyze what circuitry changes occur when shifting from
    the 1% distortion scale to any level below, I am stumped by the
    schematic diagram of the Ratio/dB switch. In one area on page 44,
    labeled "ATTENUATOR," it is self-explanatory that the wiper on one of
    the wafers steps through a voltage divider network that changes the
    level by +/- 10dB for each turn of the switch. I was thinking that maybe
    one of the resistors in the voltage divider opened up to upset the
    balance of the divider network however any resistor (R219-R233) that
    opens up in that network would effect the higher range as well as the
    lower range. So far, everything in the schematic makes sense to me.

    Next if you scroll down and to the left you will come across the, "PHASE
    NULL CONTROL" and the AMPLITUDE NULL CONTROL." Again the RATIO switch is
    tied into these circuits. Here is where I cannot understand how the
    circuit changes as the switch is moving the contacts from one position
    to the next. Let's start with the PHASE NULL CONTROL circuit. On the
    left side of the diagram, you see S2AF and underneath it is a vertical,
    solid black line. In the middle of the black line there is a terminal
    labeled, "6." which appears to be connected to the .1 contact of the
    Ratio switch. If that vertical, solid black line means that those top 5
    nodes are all in common, then the positive ends of C314 and C315 should
    be tied together. Using my working machine, a quick check with my
    multimeter verifies those capacitors ore now wired in parallel however
    if I move the switch two clicks to the 1% range, then according to the schematic, those capacitors should not be in wired in parallel. My
    multimeter says they are still wired in parallel. Now either the
    schematic drawing is incorrect or I am misinterpreting how the RATIO
    switch is shifting its connections as it steps through the different
    ranges. The same situation arises in the very similar AMPLITUDE RANGE
    CONTROL CIRCUIT. Capacitors C325 and C326 are wired in parallel no
    matter where the function switch is turned.

    In summary, I think something is throwing off the DC input voltage to
    one of the op amps and I was suspecting a leaky or shorted cap however
    since I now have doubts about the circuit wiring in the schematic as
    compared to what I see inside the analyzer, I am not so sure.

    Thanks for your replies.

    --
    David Farber
    Los Osos, CA

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