8mm Forum: ELTEK? Repair Question

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Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on April 01, 2008, 06:46 PM:

After having my ELMO GS1200 for three months Leon Norris is giving up on my sound problem. He's very frustrated and has been nice about it but I am nowhere close to having my projector working than I was at the end of last year.

So I am trying to figure out what to do next. I think I want Leon to ship it to a repair place that has a lot of experience with sound board problems. Has anyone used ELTEK in Flushing, NY? I have seen things about them online but I have no experience with them. If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it. I need my GS1200 working again desperately!!!

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on April 01, 2008, 07:07 PM:

Sorry to hear about this Brian. Have you considered asking Leon to just go ahead and replace the complete amplifier assembly?

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on April 01, 2008, 08:11 PM:

Paul - Leon says it would be about $800 to replace the sound board plus labor... I think that's too much. Plus, I've heard that complicated sound issues may not be Leon's strong point (although he's great at mechanical problems). So I'd like to have someone else work on it before giving up. I guess if all else fails I could just keep this one for parts and buy another projector altogether... but GS1200's are not that easy to find right now. If anyone knows of one for sale please let me know... [Confused]

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on April 01, 2008, 09:11 PM:

You can always try Duall. They are however expensive and the last time I spoke to them they told me that they were swamped and couldn't get to anything "Super 8" in a few weeks. But they sorted out a GS1200 with a non functioning left channel. It was at Leon's for a few months and the problem couldn't be found. Duall found it in a day (bad solder joint) but they charged me $400!!!
Still...it worked. And it was cheaper than getting another GS.

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on April 01, 2008, 09:46 PM:

Alan - Thanks for the tip but I don't really like Duall at all- they had one of my ST800's and couldn't fix a sound problem I was having. Then they couldn't diagnose another problem with my second ST800 and just gave them both back to me after waiting a while... Plus, I thought the staff wasn't that friendly or helpful either.

It really seems like there aren't that many options with projector repair places you can trust anymore. I don't mind shipping it somewhere, even across country, if anyone has another suggestion.

ELTEK is close by so I really would like to try them - anyone with experience with them - good or bad?

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on April 02, 2008, 12:13 PM:

Such a difficult one to diagnose without hearing the noise concerned. I take it that Leon swapped the amp unit with another to check that it was that unit causing the problem?

I have a few questions. Is this popping continuous? Does it also happen with the Vol controls at minimum? Do you get it through the aux outputs next to the speaker jacks? Does it happen through both speakers?

Let me know as it will help to track the problem. Has Leon sorted the Threading and Lamp Holder problems for you?

What you need is another GS owner close to you so that you could try that amp unit in another machine.

Kev.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on April 02, 2008, 02:21 PM:

I think Kev has some prompted some very sensible trouble shooting tests. His comment about the AUX output reminds me of my version 1 GS, which can sometimes pop and hum when playing back through the internal speakers, but is totally trouble free when connecting the AUX OUT through an exterenal stereo amplifier. As a result of this, I have disconnected the projectors internal speakers, which I never use anyway. No more snap, crackle, and pop!

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on April 02, 2008, 03:30 PM:

Kevin and Paul - It's tough for me to troubleshoot right now since the projector isn't with me. But Leon says he switched tons of parts and now he's having a new problem - the sound is so low it's almost inaudible. So he's not sure if the popping if gone or just there and lower. He sounds very frustrated after having worked on it off and on for more than three months.
I am calling ELTEK now to see if they'll give it a shot and I'll have Leon ship it right to them. This has been going on so long that I'm anxious to have some sort of resolution.

UPDATE: ELTEK doesn't work on GS1200's anymore because they ran out of parts so they won't take it. So I called Irv Higdon in CA and he offered to take a look at it so I'm going to have Leon ship it to him. Stay tuned.

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on April 02, 2008, 04:00 PM:

Hey Brian,
It may be this guy.
Try it. He has Elmo Stuff for sale and I think he does repair.

super8stuff (at) netzero (dot) com

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on April 02, 2008, 05:26 PM:

We will have to wait patiently then for the next episode. BTW there are 2 amps for the GS one for the std machines and one for the Xenon version. The std version runs at a lower volatge than the one for the Xenon. The xenons version has different resistors to lower the xenon's higher supply voltage back to that of the std version.
If you put the xenon's amp in a std machines the levels for playback and record are very much reduced. There is no way to tell the difference except by looking at the component values. I hope that isn't what Leon has done by mistake if you say he has swapped them.

Kev.

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on April 02, 2008, 10:28 PM:

Kev - I have no idea if the problems lie in the amp swap. That's way over my head I'm afraid. I just hav eto have faith that the next repair guy is going to figure this out - meantime I would love to buy another GS1200 right now and forget about this machine... If anyone has one for sale please contact me.

Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on April 03, 2008, 12:20 AM:

Here you go Brian:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ELMO-GS-1200-super-8mm-Magnetic-Optical-Scope-lens-att_W0QQitemZ160226001663QQihZ006QQcategoryZ15255QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And I think the seller is a member here. Isn't he?

Posted by Brian Hendel (Member # 61) on April 04, 2008, 08:50 PM:

Alan - Thanks for the alert about the GS1200 on Ebay. I bought it! It comes with a cool scope lens too that looks a lot like the Rectimascope you turned me on to. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this projector will be less tempermental than my other one and will actually work right! That would really make my life so much easier... Meantime, I've decided to take my other GS to Duall to see if they can fix the audio. I think you said you had a good experience with them. That just seems easier than shipping it to CA it Irv Higdon. I'll report back how it all goes.

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