hello all-
our station bought 7 PMD670 decks under a grant from the CPB to
accomplish regional recordings of community people and events. the
PMD670 suits our needs well but i have uncovered a defect.

on all of our 7 units, the rechargeable nicad battery (RB1100) runs
down overnite when the unit is unplugged from the AC charger. Marantz
tech support was able to duplicate this problem and is working with
the engineers in Japan to find a solution. if the problem is in the
software, the customer can update this themself but if they find the
problem resides in the firmware, the units will have to be sent into
Marantz for a firmware update.

according to Marantz, they watched the battery discharge pattern on
the oscilloscope for 5 hours straight and they confirmed that the unit
does not enter "sleep mode" after the AC charging plug is removed.
they have discovered that if the unit is unplugged, then powered up,
then shut down the decks will enter sleep mode and the battery will
not be discharged. the battery can also be removed from the
compartment to retain the charge.

i am pleased to report Marantz took my report of this problem very
seriously and has every indication of resolving this issue within a
short time period. the service techs at Marantz have been personable
to me, actually talk to each other within the department and know me
when i call. it is easy within their service department to get
directly connected with the engineers who have worked on the design of
these decks and they will answer questions with enthusiasm. pretty
darn impressive for a company nowadays.

they have promised to email me as soon as the solution is found and if
it turns out to be a software issue, will send me the program
directly. they sent a confirmation email to ensure they had my email
address correct.

-dan