Control/Dimming Can anyone identify this Strand Setup?

I have had fun surfing that site today looking around. Pretty neat seeing their product line develop, and neat to see some of the design elements from the 80's still in play with their current boards.
 
Strand has definitely made some good long lasting equipment over the years. To think that all of our lighting is controlled by that board and has been through 30-50 years of abuse is amazing. The only concern I have is if we have actors using hairspray or something flammable is in that widely used room it could ignite it when the switches are moved (the contactors produce an arc when the switch is moved).
 
I suppose it is a possibility, but I would not be too concerned about it. Might be a good excuse good though to justify replacing it. It is amazing it still works.
 
drouillard8182 said:
I'm guessing mid 1960s but maybe 70s.
Click to expand...

More likely 1950s to early 1960s. Saturable core dimmers are pretty neat, if you like dimming history. There are a few still out there and running every day.

David
 
tdeater said:
I suppose it is a possibility, but I would not be too concerned about it. Might be a good excuse good though to justify replacing it. It is amazing it still works.
Click to expand...

I guess the likelihood isn't the greatest but... I would love a new setup. The thing is whenever anything new is setup the school board likes to lock it up. Our horrible new audio system is all locked up in a big metal box that the board is only allowed into. This means we can't adjust the eq, compressor, amp or anything. Instead they just put two boxes with an xlr and 2 RCA inputs and a volume knob in each box. Luckily I carry pliers in my backpack :p
 
DavidNorth said:
More likely 1950s to early 1960s. Saturable core dimmers are pretty neat, if you like dimming history. There are a few still out there and running every day.

David
Click to expand...

Wow that's even more amazing thanks David. Ours are always being used too, mainly as a bright work light though when I'm working on the audio :p
 
If that old Strand works, keep it!

Careful adjusting audio equipment in the locked cabinet. It is probably set to best suit the space and hopefully doesn't need to be adjusted unless something major has changed about the room acoustics since the equipment was installed. In our venue, I actually went to the extent of locking that equipment in its own cabinet so it can't be adjusted. It was professionally "tuned" to the auditorium after installation and doesn't need to be adjusted.
 
Nelson said:
Careful adjusting audio equipment in the locked cabinet. It is probably set to best suit the space and hopefully doesn't need to be adjusted unless something major has changed about the room acoustics since the equipment was installed. In our venue, I actually went to the extent of locking that equipment in its own cabinet so it can't be adjusted. It was professionally "tuned" to the auditorium after installation and doesn't need to be adjusted.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Odds are the installation team got it EQ'd to sound as natural as possible for the expected use. I remember our auditorium renovation when I was in high school. It took them a day to EQ the system, and we were told to stay away from that part of the building so we couldn't introduce any distracting noise.

We had a kid who wanted to re-EQ the system for a battle of the bands and we told him "no way". AFAIK we had a ventilated metal cover attached to the EQ using tamper-resistant screws.
 
Nelson said:
If that old Strand works, keep it!

Careful adjusting audio equipment in the locked cabinet. It is probably set to best suit the space and hopefully doesn't need to be adjusted unless something major has changed about the room acoustics since the equipment was installed. In our venue, I actually went to the extent of locking that equipment in its own cabinet so it can't be adjusted. It was professionally "tuned" to the auditorium after installation and doesn't need to be adjusted.
Click to expand...
I wish it was properly setup however we had a few problems:
1. The gym teacher or janitors were curious and broke the lock
2. The gym teacher didn't like the way it sounded and played with stuff -_-
3. From the beginning it was very "tinny"
4. There's a loud hiss (sounds like the fan on the hv system) that I think is due to some grounding problems but I'm not too sure... If you guys have any suggestions let me know. I'm thinking of putting my own lock on to keep the gym teacher out :)
 
drouillard8182 said:
I wish it was properly setup however we had a few problems:
1. The gym teacher or janitors were curious and broke the lock
2. The gym teacher didn't like the way it sounded and played with stuff -_-
3. From the beginning it was very "tinny"
4. There's a loud hiss (sounds like the fan on the hv system) that I think is due to some grounding problems but I'm not too sure... If you guys have any suggestions let me know. I'm thinking of putting my own lock on to keep the gym teacher out :)
Click to expand...

If they broke the first lock off why wouldn't they just break yours off too?
 
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