Audionics Space & Image Composer / Tate Audio

[LB-V]

You willing?

Hello MikeWiz...unfortunately Mr. Kennedy has not frequented QQ since 2005. I do believe he's been contacted by others independent of this forum within the last several years. But not on here.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Hello MikeWiz...unfortunately Mr. Kennedy has not frequented QQ since 2005. I do believe he's been contacted by others independent of this forum within the last several years. But not on here.

True, that. I might suggest to @MikeWiz send a PM to steve Kennedy as that is usually copied to e mail & might get his attention.

 

[Zacabeb]

Well I gave in to my curiosity, found a 150D card from another CP55 parts unit and the answer is...... NO:
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View attachment 59262
I had read online that the "D" was still using Tate chips but I dont see any here, which would mean that the Exar chips might be on "B" or "C" card(which are much harder to find than the "A" and "D" cards, unfortunately). I do see Motorola, Texas, National, Philips ICs, I keep reading about Dolby switching from Tate to Sanyo ICs in the cat. 150 card but I don't see Sanyo chip, anyone know which chips are actually doing the Dolby decoding?

I know I'm replying to an almost 4 year old post, but as I came upon this thread I felt I had to.

Fist of all I want to thank you for uploading a photo of the Cat150D with the boards separated, it's something I've been waiting to see for ages!

Second I think I can shed some light on what's going on with that board and what does the decoding; pretty much all of it is involved! It's the discrete version of Dolby Pro Logic used before ICs from Sanyo and PMI/Analog Devices became available (even before it was introduced to the consumer market.)

My knowledge of electronics is limited, but I think that the components along the left edge are the log-difference amplifiers that detect dominance, the ones around the middle part of the board the time integration of the control signals, the two ICs on the right are the VCAs, and the rows of resistors and the opamps in the top right corner are the combining matrix. In the bottom right corner is the bandpass filter and B-type NR for the surround channel on either end of the connection to the delay board. Quite a neat design.

This is where the mystery deepens though. I saw a 150B in an eBay listing and found that aside from some small alterations between the boards, it was unmistakably also a Dolby Pro Logic board (with a 146B decoder section.)

That means unless it was the delay line from a Cat 150B with a decoder section from a later board, 150B through F are all Dolby Pro Logic, and only the 150 and 150A use the Tate DES. I'd assume the Exar chips would be found on the 150A though I could be wrong.

Edit: Fixed a typo.

 

[furui_suterioo]

I know I'm replying to an almost 4 year old post, but as I came upon this thread I felt I had to.

Fist of all I want to thank you for uploading a photo of the Cat150D with the boards separated, it's something I've been waiting to see for ages!

Second I think I can shed some light on what's going on with that board and what does the decoding; pretty much all of it is involved! It's the discrete version of Dolby Pro Logic used before ICs from Sanyo and PMY/Analog Devices became available (even before it was introduced to the consumer market.)

My knowledge of electronics is limited, but I think that the components along the left edge are the log-difference amplifiers that detect dominance, the ones around the middle part of the board the time integration of the control signals, the two ICs on the right are the VCAs, and the rows of resistors and the opamps in the top right corner are the combining matrix. In the bottom right corner is the bandpass filter and B-type NR for the surround channel on either end of the connection to the delay board. Quite a neat design.

This is where the mystery deepens though. I saw a 150B in an eBay listing and found that aside from some small alterations between the boards, it was unmistakably also a Dolby Pro Logic board (with a 146B decoder section.)

That means unless it was the delay line from a Cat 150B with a decoder section from a later board, 150B through F are all Dolby Pro Logic, and only the 150 and 150A use the Tate DES. I'd assume the Exar chips would be found on the 150A though I could be wrong.

Hi,
Thanks for the info. As you may have read on this thread, I have 2 150a boards and both have the National chips. I still have a suspition the 150b might have the Exars but their price is higher than what I want to pay. I have since sold my Tate 101a for this reason. I was also able to resell the 150d board quickly. The Audionics Tate 1 is my keeper since I have the spares.

 

[Akaiquadster2]

Just a quick question re a Tate Unit I have… the back left channel is not working and I’d be interested to know if that might be something isolated from the proprietary chip?

Also I have a S&IC unit that appears to be in decent working order safe for the led display… is that something that could be replaced?

 

[par4ken]

Just a quick question re a Tate Unit I have… the back left channel is not working and I’d be interested to know if that might be something isolated from the proprietary chip?

The short answer is yes. The Tate has a much more complex output circuit, than the S&IC. It could be caused by many different things. The signal passes through a 4066 Quad Bilateral Switch a TL084 op amp and output volume control. A balance control circuit (controls DES chip) A tech could easily trace the signal through to see where it is being lost, hopefully after the DES chips!

Also I have a S&IC unit that appears to be in decent working order safe for the led display… is that something that could be replaced?

It could be repaired for sure. There are no unobtanium parts in the display. Is it dead or partially working? I would check that the ribbon cable is plugged into the main board and is oriented the right way. It can come loose.

 

[Zacabeb]

Well I gave in to my curiosity, found a 150D card from another CP55 parts unit and the answer is...... NO:

Do you by chance still have the photos of the Cat 150D in higher resolution? I'm trying to figure out what components are on the cards since I'm curious but some part numbers are hard to read.

 

[furui_suterioo]

Do you by chance still have the photos of the Cat 150D in higher resolution? I'm trying to figure out what components are on the cards since I'm curious but some part numbers are hard to read.

Hi, I don't know if I still have those photos backed up, that SD card recently corrupted . It looks like they are in full resolution here, they were taken with a budget cell phone anyway. Sorry