I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.


Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Thanks for any advice...

Mike

(mike) writes:

I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.


Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Is this when you are playing back a tape? If so, make sure you
don't have the "All Input" finction engaged.

You might also try re-initializing the machine (if you haven't
already) to see if that helps. You can do that very easily from the
MENU functions.

(mike) writes:

I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.


Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Is this when you are playing back a tape? If so, make sure you
don't have the "All Input" finction engaged.

You might also try re-initializing the machine (if you haven't
already) to see if that helps. You can do that very easily from the
MENU functions.

In article ,
georgeh wrote:

(mike) writes:

I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.


Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Is this when you are playing back a tape? If so, make sure you
don't have the "All Input" finction engaged.


The meters wouldn't show audio in that case (unless you had signals at the
input...)

-Jay
--
x------- Jay Kadis ------- x---- Jay's Attic Studio ------x
x Lecturer, Audio Engineer x Dexter Records x
x CCRMA, Stanford University x http://www.offbeats.com/ x
x---------- http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jay/ ------------x

In article ,
georgeh wrote:

(mike) writes:

I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.


Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Is this when you are playing back a tape? If so, make sure you
don't have the "All Input" finction engaged.


The meters wouldn't show audio in that case (unless you had signals at the
input...)

-Jay
--
x------- Jay Kadis ------- x---- Jay's Attic Studio ------x
x Lecturer, Audio Engineer x Dexter Records x
x CCRMA, Stanford University x http://www.offbeats.com/ x
x---------- http://ccrma.stanford.edu/~jay/ ------------x

Jay Kadis writes:

Is this when you are playing back a tape? If so, make sure you
don't have the "All Input" finction engaged.


The meters wouldn't show audio in that case (unless you had signals at the
input...)

Of course you're correct here. My bad.

Jay Kadis writes:

Is this when you are playing back a tape? If so, make sure you
don't have the "All Input" finction engaged.


The meters wouldn't show audio in that case (unless you had signals at the
input...)

Of course you're correct here. My bad.

In article writes:

I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.


Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem?

If it was, don't you think it would have been fixed by now? Either
you're not pushing the right buttons or your DA38 is broken. I suspect
the former, but the latter is possible.

What does the seller have to say about it? (Yeah, I know: "It worked
when I used it last.")


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

In article writes:

I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.


Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem?

If it was, don't you think it would have been fixed by now? Either
you're not pushing the right buttons or your DA38 is broken. I suspect
the former, but the latter is possible.

What does the seller have to say about it? (Yeah, I know: "It worked
when I used it last.")


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

mike wrote:
I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.

Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Are you sure that the meters are displaying your audio? They aren't
displaying something inaudible do to an error?

Have you tried the digital outputs?

This probably won't solve your problem, but make sure it is set to
ID#1, word clock is internal, it is NOT in B.Err (error) mode.

Rob R.

mike wrote:
I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.

Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Are you sure that the meters are displaying your audio? They aren't
displaying something inaudible do to an error?

Have you tried the digital outputs?

This probably won't solve your problem, but make sure it is set to
ID#1, word clock is internal, it is NOT in B.Err (error) mode.

Rob R.

"If it was, don't you think it would have been fixed by now?"

yeah...i certainly should have found the 'common problem' searching
RAP by now...which is why i posted! first time i've come searching
and not found an answer in the past of this group...so thanks to all.

"Either you're not pushing the right buttons or your DA38 is broken. I
suspect
the former, but the latter is possible."

i'm glad you're optimistic, for real. i can't deal with repair $
right now. it seems like something totally simple...i've set it up
twice: 'yep - still doesn't work.' i have 3 other ones hanging around
from friends and have used em for a few years no problems...


What does the seller have to say about it? (Yeah, I know: "It worked
when I used it last.")

bought it too long ago to bother...got it- plugged it in - stuck a
tape in - made sure it played it for a while with no pb errors...never
hooked it up though. um...duh on me.

thanks for all the responses...I'll try reinitializing...i hope it's
user error...

Mike

"If it was, don't you think it would have been fixed by now?"

yeah...i certainly should have found the 'common problem' searching
RAP by now...which is why i posted! first time i've come searching
and not found an answer in the past of this group...so thanks to all.

"Either you're not pushing the right buttons or your DA38 is broken. I
suspect
the former, but the latter is possible."

i'm glad you're optimistic, for real. i can't deal with repair $
right now. it seems like something totally simple...i've set it up
twice: 'yep - still doesn't work.' i have 3 other ones hanging around
from friends and have used em for a few years no problems...


What does the seller have to say about it? (Yeah, I know: "It worked
when I used it last.")

bought it too long ago to bother...got it- plugged it in - stuck a
tape in - made sure it played it for a while with no pb errors...never
hooked it up though. um...duh on me.

thanks for all the responses...I'll try reinitializing...i hope it's
user error...

Mike

(mike) writes:
bought it too long ago to bother...got it- plugged it in - stuck a
tape in - made sure it played it for a while with no pb errors...never
hooked it up though. um...duh on me.

thanks for all the responses...I'll try reinitializing...i hope it's
user error...

One other thing, IIRC, using the unbalanced connectors will cause the
balanced connectors to be bypassed on a DA38. I recall hearing that
someone developed a problem where the wear&tear on the unbalanced
connectors caused the BALANCED to be shorted out all the time.
I'm a bit fuzzy about this - I've never used the unbalanced connectors
on my DA38. Maybe someone else recalls this scenario.

I didn't mention this before since I would think that you'd still
get a signal on the unbalanced (which you didn't), so it didn't
sound like your problem.

(mike) writes:
bought it too long ago to bother...got it- plugged it in - stuck a
tape in - made sure it played it for a while with no pb errors...never
hooked it up though. um...duh on me.

thanks for all the responses...I'll try reinitializing...i hope it's
user error...

One other thing, IIRC, using the unbalanced connectors will cause the
balanced connectors to be bypassed on a DA38. I recall hearing that
someone developed a problem where the wear&tear on the unbalanced
connectors caused the BALANCED to be shorted out all the time.
I'm a bit fuzzy about this - I've never used the unbalanced connectors
on my DA38. Maybe someone else recalls this scenario.

I didn't mention this before since I would think that you'd still
get a signal on the unbalanced (which you didn't), so it didn't
sound like your problem.

georgeh wrote:
(mike) writes:
bought it too long ago to bother...got it- plugged it in - stuck a
tape in - made sure it played it for a while with no pb errors...never
hooked it up though. um...duh on me.

thanks for all the responses...I'll try reinitializing...i hope it's
user error...

One other thing, IIRC, using the unbalanced connectors will cause the
balanced connectors to be bypassed on a DA38. I recall hearing that
someone developed a problem where the wear&tear on the unbalanced
connectors caused the BALANCED to be shorted out all the time.
I'm a bit fuzzy about this - I've never used the unbalanced connectors
on my DA38. Maybe someone else recalls this scenario.

Yes, the mechanical switches on the RCA jacks wear out. But the original
poster said he checked the RCA jacks.

I didn't mention this before since I would think that you'd still
get a signal on the unbalanced (which you didn't), so it didn't
sound like your problem.

Right. I would bet that it's either something broken or a configuration
problem. If it's a configuration problem (and you can _really_ screw the
configuration on these machines up), the manual has a simple procedure to
reset the machine to ground state. If the battery is bad, this may need to
done often.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

georgeh wrote:
(mike) writes:
bought it too long ago to bother...got it- plugged it in - stuck a
tape in - made sure it played it for a while with no pb errors...never
hooked it up though. um...duh on me.

thanks for all the responses...I'll try reinitializing...i hope it's
user error...

One other thing, IIRC, using the unbalanced connectors will cause the
balanced connectors to be bypassed on a DA38. I recall hearing that
someone developed a problem where the wear&tear on the unbalanced
connectors caused the BALANCED to be shorted out all the time.
I'm a bit fuzzy about this - I've never used the unbalanced connectors
on my DA38. Maybe someone else recalls this scenario.

Yes, the mechanical switches on the RCA jacks wear out. But the original
poster said he checked the RCA jacks.

I didn't mention this before since I would think that you'd still
get a signal on the unbalanced (which you didn't), so it didn't
sound like your problem.

Right. I would bet that it's either something broken or a configuration
problem. If it's a configuration problem (and you can _really_ screw the
configuration on these machines up), the manual has a simple procedure to
reset the machine to ground state. If the battery is bad, this may need to
done often.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

(Scott Dorsey) writes:

Right. I would bet that it's either something broken or a configuration
problem. If it's a configuration problem (and you can _really_ screw the
configuration on these machines up), the manual has a simple procedure to
reset the machine to ground state. If the battery is bad, this may need to
done often.

Note that unlike the DA88 and DA78, the DA38 has no battery.

(Scott Dorsey) writes:

Right. I would bet that it's either something broken or a configuration
problem. If it's a configuration problem (and you can _really_ screw the
configuration on these machines up), the manual has a simple procedure to
reset the machine to ground state. If the battery is bad, this may need to
done often.

Note that unlike the DA88 and DA78, the DA38 has no battery.

In article ,
georgeh wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) writes:

Right. I would bet that it's either something broken or a configuration
problem. If it's a configuration problem (and you can _really_ screw the
configuration on these machines up), the manual has a simple procedure to
reset the machine to ground state. If the battery is bad, this may need to
done often.

Note that unlike the DA88 and DA78, the DA38 has no battery.

So there is some NOVRAM in there to store the configuration? That's good
news and probably helps the reliability a lot.

I am still irritated that some of the configuration parameters, like dither,
are not persistant and need to be reset every time the machine is powered up.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

In article ,
georgeh wrote:
(Scott Dorsey) writes:

Right. I would bet that it's either something broken or a configuration
problem. If it's a configuration problem (and you can _really_ screw the
configuration on these machines up), the manual has a simple procedure to
reset the machine to ground state. If the battery is bad, this may need to
done often.

Note that unlike the DA88 and DA78, the DA38 has no battery.

So there is some NOVRAM in there to store the configuration? That's good
news and probably helps the reliability a lot.

I am still irritated that some of the configuration parameters, like dither,
are not persistant and need to be reset every time the machine is powered up.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

georgeh wrote:

One other thing, IIRC, using the unbalanced connectors will cause the
balanced connectors to be bypassed on a DA38. I recall hearing that
someone developed a problem where the wear&tear on the unbalanced
connectors caused the BALANCED to be shorted out all the time.
I'm a bit fuzzy about this - I've never used the unbalanced connectors
on my DA38. Maybe someone else recalls this scenario.

No, I think you speak of the DA88. The DA88 has switches on the RCA inputs
that when connected, bypass the balanced inputs which prevents you
from pushing two signals against each other into the same machine. The
problem is that if you use cables with slightly fat RCA plugs on them
you can permanently latch the input to only accept signal from the
unbalanced RCAs. But this has nothing to do with the outputs which,
very conveniently, always supply a signal on both the balanced and
unbalanced outs. The outputs are the same on the DA38, I think.

In the case of the DA38, the RCA inputs do not have the switches and
thus one must always be careful to not connect to both at the same
time. One of a number of cost-cutting features of this machine.
Another being that while the DA88 has a motherboard/daughterboard
electronic configuration, thus being easier to service in such cases
as the DACs failing, which may be the OP's problem, the DA38 has
everything reduced to just a few circuit boards.

I suspect that the DA88, DA98 and DA98HR all have the switching RCAs,
while the DA78HR would be similar to the DA38 in that it does not have
the switching RCA inputs.

Seeing as the OP has several other DAx8s, he should really connect
this machine to another and see if he can output digitally. Then,
he has an electronic problem. If not, then
he can connect them in reverse and see if he feeds signal digitally
and it comes out of the analog outputs, he probably has a transport
problem.

Rob R.

georgeh wrote:

One other thing, IIRC, using the unbalanced connectors will cause the
balanced connectors to be bypassed on a DA38. I recall hearing that
someone developed a problem where the wear&tear on the unbalanced
connectors caused the BALANCED to be shorted out all the time.
I'm a bit fuzzy about this - I've never used the unbalanced connectors
on my DA38. Maybe someone else recalls this scenario.

No, I think you speak of the DA88. The DA88 has switches on the RCA inputs
that when connected, bypass the balanced inputs which prevents you
from pushing two signals against each other into the same machine. The
problem is that if you use cables with slightly fat RCA plugs on them
you can permanently latch the input to only accept signal from the
unbalanced RCAs. But this has nothing to do with the outputs which,
very conveniently, always supply a signal on both the balanced and
unbalanced outs. The outputs are the same on the DA38, I think.

In the case of the DA38, the RCA inputs do not have the switches and
thus one must always be careful to not connect to both at the same
time. One of a number of cost-cutting features of this machine.
Another being that while the DA88 has a motherboard/daughterboard
electronic configuration, thus being easier to service in such cases
as the DACs failing, which may be the OP's problem, the DA38 has
everything reduced to just a few circuit boards.

I suspect that the DA88, DA98 and DA98HR all have the switching RCAs,
while the DA78HR would be similar to the DA38 in that it does not have
the switching RCA inputs.

Seeing as the OP has several other DAx8s, he should really connect
this machine to another and see if he can output digitally. Then,
he has an electronic problem. If not, then
he can connect them in reverse and see if he feeds signal digitally
and it comes out of the analog outputs, he probably has a transport
problem.

Rob R.

Thanks for all the help, all. There sure is a lot about the da38 i
don't know about...i always push rec/play/whatever and it usually
works...

I'll try all this out this weekend. Thank the lord the two i was
using last night worked fine. I had the jitters.

Mike

Rob Reedijk wrote in message ...
mike wrote:
I purchased a used da38...and the outputs (both balanced and
unbalanced) do not work despite the meters showing audio. I did not
check the inputs.

Has anyone had this problem before/ is this a common problem? I
popped it open to look to see if the connections were secure - they
seemed to be, but they weren't as accessible as i had hoped they would
be (underneath a circuit board...) so i stopped before doing any
(more) damage.

Are you sure that the meters are displaying your audio? They aren't
displaying something inaudible do to an error?

Have you tried the digital outputs?

This probably won't solve your problem, but make sure it is set to
ID#1, word clock is internal, it is NOT in B.Err (error) mode.

Rob R.