ST1200 HD M/O low optical sound problem

[Humberto Martinez]

I just got my Elmo St1200HD M/O running again with a new set of belts, and everything works beautifully except the optical sound is not as loud and crisp as it used to be 25 years ago when I used to run my airline Super8mm optical prints. I cleaned the exciter lamp lens the best I could without removing it, because I didn't want to loose the factory settings. However, I cannot see or get to the optical sound reader or cell to clean it so I just blew compressed air in its vicinity. The sound improved only slightly. The amplifier is nice and loud, but with the optical sound, if I raise the volume, I just get loud background noise. I would appreciate any advice please. Has anybody else had this problem?.

[Humberto Martinez]

Here is a link to a video I took running both MAG and OPTICAL

[Mark Mander]

Hi Humberto
firstly have you tried any other optical sound films to see if they are all low sound or the same film on another machine to compare. I also tried replacement exciter lamps.



I had the same problem recently and made some adjustments to the optical lens, I loosened the larger screw of the three but very small turns, with the machine running and optical sound on adjust the other two screws holding the optical lens, very small turns, as you already have some sound then the results happen quite quickly, my sound improved quickly as it was obvious which way to turn the screws, the tricky part is locking it in the position that gives the best alignment of the lens, remember though tiny turns of the screws then lock it into place, hope this helps, Mark

[Humberto Martinez]

Just saw this. Thanks for the tip. I will try that next.