Seeking advice on sound not coming out of an ELMO Hi Vision SC-30-otherwise working.

[Steve Klare]

Yep! It doesn't always work: it's just a smart thing to try first. (It's right up there with "Did you pay the electric bill?" when your lights are out!)

Well, let's start from the beginning.

On a healthy machine, you plug it in with the sound turned off. Then you turn on the sound and hear a "pop" in the internal speaker and then this mixture of hum and hiss, which rises and falls as you raise and lower the volume.

When you try this with yours, what happens?

[Charlie Arden]

Hi Steve, thank you so much for your fast responses - you're a star

We're just about to try this, so I will come back to you shortly once we've given this a go and will report back.

Charlotte

[Charlie Arden]

Hi Steve,

So... we plugged it in with the sound turned off but we can only hear the sound once we switch the machine on.

Then, once switched on, we can can hear what I think you mean as the 'hum and the hiss' and this does go up and down as we turn the volume up and down.

That's were we're at currently. The film is feeding through at this point too.

[Steve Klare]

OK, well, this is better than dead silence!

We know that your speaker is hooked up and your power amplifier is at least trying.

Here's something: does your model number end with "M" or "MO"? If you have "MO", then maybe you are actually in optical sound mode and need to switch back to magnetic.

Also: Part of the switch trick is the jacks. They have their own switches too. If you have a 3.5mm headphone, turn the machine off and plug and unplug from things like the microphone jack, Aux. out jack and headphone jacks and see if that helps.

If you know some seasoned audiophile and can borrow a sound head demagnetizer, these can be used for testing sound heads: you turn up the volume and slowly bring the energized demagnetizer closer and closer to the head: listen to the hum and observe if it goes up or not.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Charlie,

Two basic points that I'd like to make sure of (and I apologize in advance if these come across as too basic):

1) The film you're playing has a magnetic stripe for audio.

2) When you are running your Elmo, is the button (pictured below) depressed and is the light above it lit?



Doug

[Steve Klare]

Hmmm!

#1 was actually something I hadn’t considered!

(Nice Catch!)

[Charlie Arden]

Douglas & Steve, I can't underestimate how thankful we are for your help - it's amazing Myself & my partner are in London, UK and are going to be going through this asap. We're 5 hours ahead of you, so hoping to pick up again tomorrow.

I'm really so grateful for your help and fast responses.

We'll be opening a bottle of Prosecco once we fix this ! It's like a puzzle LOL!

Tomorrow I can also upload a video/photos of what we've been doing - from what you've advised and let you know, so maybe you can spot something we're doing wrong.

Charlotte

[Douglas Meltzer]

Charlotte,

A video would be great! If you could, please also open the front latch to show us if the film is making proper contact with the sound head.



Doug

[Charlie Arden]

Hi Doug / Steve,

I'm uploading 2 videos with my partner showing what's happening.

The main problem is now when we start the machine with the tape, the light is switching off for some reason! This never happened before.

Many thanks, Charlie

[Charlie Arden]

2nd link here -

[Douglas Meltzer]

Hi Charlie,

Thank you for the videos, however I need to see more of your machine. Could you please show me a wide shot of the top while you are threading and then a shot where we see the whole front of the projector (top to bottom) while the film is running? Thanks!

Doug

[Charlie Arden]

Hi Doug, Will do. I need my partner to help me, so will upload once he's finished work. I really think we can get this sorted! Lol! I hope!

[Charlie Arden]

Hi Doug,

Here's the video of us firstly with it on and the light working, then feeding through the film with the light not coming on.

Let me know if you need more of a close up.

Kind regards, Charlie.

[Douglas Meltzer]

Charlie,

Thank you for your video. While I don't have an SC-30, I had its little brother, the SC-18, which has some similarities but there are also many differences. From your video it looks to me that the issue might be with the auto-thread circuit. When the film is threading, the lamp is off and the film is not pressed against the sound head. Once the film reaches the take up reel, pressure is placed on the rear roller and a microswitch releases the projector from auto-thread mode, turning the lamp on and lowering the head presser which applies pressure so that the magnetic stripe comes in contact with the sound head. Let's assume that microswitch does not need to be replaced. With the Elmo powered on and the film threaded up, can you apply pressure to the roller to activate the release from auto-thread mode?



To everybody: As I've said, I don't have this particular model. If I am incorrect here, please post!

Doug

[Charlie Arden]

Hi Doug / Steve,

The good news is.... we've managed to get the light to come back on again!

The bad news is we're back to square one. My partner has done the above but the sound still isn't coming through - any ideas?

We know 100% it's got sound on it as we saw his dad yesterday and he confirmed and there's also the magnetic strip etc.

So we're back to the beginning but hope to continue with your assistance if possible? any ideas?

Charlie