Hi, I acquired a Marantz PMD-222. Playback works fine, however, it seems to have a few odd problems recording. Record is completely not working for both XLR MIC and ECM MIC, but seems to work fine for LINE IN. Why would this be? Also, during LINE IN input and recording the monitor needle does not move, but I have seen the needle move for playback so I don't think the needle itself is damaged. Is anyone familiar with this family of decks and seen these issues before by chance? Thanks! Ray
In regard to the VU-meter function: in record mode does the VU-meter not move regardless of TAPE/SOURCE button position ? I would check if transistor QG01 gets somehow turned on, hence muting the VU-meter sample and hold circuit input (QX01, QX02 and adjacent compnents). You should not have any voltage at its base. Muting should only be on for a very brief period when unit start in order to not move the needle to the max due to the loud thumps. The VU-meter itself is certainly not damaged if it works in play. As for the MIC input, both inputs go into the same amplifier (QE01), while the LINE IN bypasses the op-amp. So the logical assumption is it's likely this amplifier isn't working. But I would not necessarily assume the op-amp itself is bad. You need to start by measuring the supply voltage. Should have about 9.4V between pin 8 (+) and pin 4 (GND). Have not seen this particular problem, although have serviced these units (PMD221, 222, 430) before. Seen a lot of them being powered with reversed polarity due to the center negative DC in jack. That always burns the motor governor IC AN6612. In the case of PMD221/222 the BA527 power amp along with C711 and CL04 will also need replacement. However the mic preamp is powered by a regulated supply, so it should not be affected by a reverse polarity situation. I also suggest cleaning the REC/PB switch and TAPE/SOURCE switch with Kontakt 60.
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Yes, the VU-meter doesn't budge regardless of TAPE/SOURCE position. I checked with voltage on QG01 base (meter negative cable on ground) and it was 0v. It didn't seem to change when I switched the source. Hopefully I did the measurement right, I'm an amateur at this. I did notice though that there was a lot of flux and it looks like that source switch may have had a repair attempted. I've attached a photo because I'm wondering if the joints might need re-soldering. I also checked between pins 8 and 4 of QE01 and it is receiving 9.4v when in record mode. Does this mean the chip itself might be bad?
Ok, made a mistake about QG01. That transistor mutes the entire audio line, so you will also have no audio on the headphones out if it's turned on. The signal path is common for both the VU-meter and the headphone amplifier, so what you get at the input of the headphone amplifier you also get at the input of the sample and hold for the VU-meter (see picture attached). So if you have sound on the headphones out while recording but no VU-meter movement, I would want to make sure the record level is set high enough to actually move the VU-meter. As otherwise this makes no sense to me. Anything that would be wrong with the QX01, QX02 circuit (even a broken trace) would manifest in both PLAY and REC. Please describe the situation in a bit more detail: - can you monitor the input signal via the headphone out ? You should get the sound in the headphones when button is set to SOURCE. - does the tape get recorded correctly ? Are the levels correct ? Noticed there is something re-soldered, doesn't look like an issue to me. Soldering looks good. About the TAPE/SOURCE switch, does it work in play ? You should hear nothing when you switch it to SOURCE and only hear the tape when it's on TAPE. No, it doesn't. You need to do further investigation to draw that conclusion. What voltages do you have at the inputs and outputs ? You should have around 4.6V at all pins except the power and ground (pins 1,2,3,5,6,7). As a suggestion, it's not necessary to quote the previous message as it adds redundant information. If you are using the "Reply" button, type in the box below the post instead and press "Post Reply". Quoting is only useful when quoting just part of a message or a message that's older and hence not visible.
Oh my goodness, I feel kind of silly now. It was user error. It turns out the 'input selector' switch, while shown as a 2 position switch is in fact a 3-position switch. Because it's only shown as 2 position (see photo) I was pushing it all the way up or all the way down. Turns out that top position is for the phone jack and there is a middle position for the mic. No wonder it didn't make any sense to you. I apologize for my stupidity. I looked at photos of other units and there is a label on the right hand side showing the third position; I wonder why it's not on my unit. I really appreciate all your insight; it helped me isolate what I was doing wrong. Thank you.
Wanted to ask from the beginning if the switches are in the correct position, but assumed they are. No need to feel silly, the label on the unit is not very intuitive. Looking at the PMD221 I have (which is a PMD222 without the XLR input) I notice the label on the input select button is very similar with a MIC/TEL position. I never recorded from the mic on my PMD221, only tested it initially after repair and noticed it only works in middle position. Seemed strange, but forgot about it since. Reading the PMD222 user manual, page 4 states: "When a telephone pick up is connected to this jack (it's reffering to the MIC jack), the telephone line recording is possible. When this jack is used, the XLR and ECM cannot be used." It's not really clear to me what the deal is, but the label on the button is certainly correct. So if anyone knows what the deal is about this MIC/TEL position, would be very curious to know myself.
Is it possible a mistake was made in manufacture and there is supposed to be an additional label like this? I’ve also seen units with no label and the telephone Jack with a cover on it.
Now that I look at it more carefully, indeed it seems on your unit the label that goes to the RJ11 connector label "Direct Telephone" is not there. Have seen the units without the RJ11 jack myself, but can't find a picture with one at this time. If you find one, please post it for reference. As for me, it's really not clear if this is a factory mistake or not. There were 2 models as far as I know, a PMD (European version) and a CP version (US version). And there were quite a few differences between them.
I packed up all my little PMD rugrats and can't look at the outputs, I think it's the opposite Valentin, PMD for USA and CP for EU. I never thought about the differences, is the RJ11 phone jack international? It used to be illegal to record phone conversations over here, I think it still is, that little phone jack made these units popular with the intel people. I remember some phone recorders would beep every few seconds so you knew you were being recorded like when you called a radio station. Maybe we can get Techmoan to do a show on it, it would be fun to know more.
I wonder if that could explain why I found a photo like this. Maybe this was originally one of those machines and the telephone jack cover has been removed. This machine came from Eastern Europe, so who knows what it's been used for, lol.
I've never seen that, they all have phone jacks over here. There would be three reasons, 1. added cost, 2. illegal, or 3. they didn't use the same RJ11 plugs, when I think of old James Bond Movies some of those countries seemed to have phones with old spliced wire, no universal jacks.
The RJ11 phone connector is international. But indeed back in the day it's very possible not all countries used it. In Romania, I do remember back in the 90s phones wires were directly connected to screw terminals, there was no connector back then. These Marantz units were and are very popular for modding them into a tape echo delay machine. Possibly because they're 3-head, unlike most portables which are only 2-head. https://www.reddit.com/r/cassettecu...ing_a_marantz_pmd201_adding_some_lighting_to/ As for the CP/PMD versions, I found an ad here for the CP units (post #28): https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/the-ultimate-marantz-superscope-unix-boombox-thread.2590/page-2 So question is if that ad is from Europe or from US. What I have noticed is the CP units are a lot rarer compared to PMD ones. Someone here (https://www.tapeheads.net/threads/any-opinions-owners-of-marantz-pmd430.23960/) is suggesting that the CP units may have been UK only, but he's not sure.
