Crown CSC-850 VU’s

[Hisrudeness]

This Crown is almost back to 100%. However there is an issue with the VU’s not being even.
It sounds even and spraying the record bar improved it but as you can see from the video it’s still not right.

Because these were big sellers does a service manual exist or does anyone have any suggestions or experience on this little fault?

https://youtu.be/gLr7vwKxscI

 

[BoomboxLover48]

I shouldn't ask these silly questions to a professional like you.

1. How does it react to the line in and radio function?
2. Is the tape head well cleaned and aligned?
3. Is the recording on the tape is of equal strength?

There is a small variable resistor that can be cleaned or adjusted for the VUs. Sometimes the contacts on it gets bad.

 

[Hisrudeness]

Hi Royce,
The box has been a work in progress as it was in pretty bad shape when I got it. It still doesn’t smell great!

The decks and pot stuff I did myself. The line-in was only working on one channel so it is with my tekkie at the moment. He has since fixed the channel issue but is unsure about the vu’s. I shall forward that picture of the pot to him however.

Thank you for your help.

 

[T-STER]

Good luck Rudey, well worth getting this up and running!

 

[Line Out]

Are they both reading zero when no signal input? Try to connect a mono source to the REC/PB, press rec while on tape mode and see how the meters act. Also test stereo/mono/wide.

There seems to be no trimmer adjust for the VU's, so you may need to make mechanical adjustment, if the sound output is even and only the meters are acting up. I've done it to both of my Goldstar TSR-800's but don't remember touching the Crown, and the VU's look like they've not been touched.

The lamp on the VU's make the adjustment a bit more tricky, so it may need to come off.

I think there is two adjustments. First, the return spring rate and second the tightness of the axle. Return spring of course should be adjusted so that the meters read zero without signal and power on. They could potentially drop a tiny bit when power is off. With the tightness of the axle, you can change the characteristics and sensitivity of the needles. Of course these should be adjusted with care, so they won't be too tight. But sometimes the needles just bounce like crazy without control so in that case, it could be a nice way to make them read more exact.