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Arrakis Nova-10C Console

R

RadioMan203

Yesterday I was called to service as a small station has one of these consoles in their main studio and this "wonderful" beast decided to soil the linen during an air shift.

I don't know if anybody's had any experience with this console, but it's a digital design with a handful of DSP chips inside. I was told that this particular console would randomly "freak out" and occasionally removing and restoring power would cure things. Yesterday was not the case. I was there for at least an hour checking for overheated ICs, static, etc. This thing would carry on with problems from the output and metering dying, the output audio tracking the monitor selector and volume to just outputting digital hash. After an hour of futzing the console seemed to operate but I didn't trust it any farther than I could throw it.

The owner had previously called Arrakis and related to me that their support department rep implied that because the board has some milage on it that it will be prone to failures. I find this hard to swallow since there's plenty of dirt-old pieces of broadcast gear operating fine after decades of use - some with minimal service attention.

Many of you probably have the same, low opinion of this particular brand as I do but I need to be able to give an objective diagnosis regarding this board. Do I tell the owner to suck it up and just buy a replacement of a different brand or does he bother to send this turkey back to the factory for repair? Obviously, budget is a consideration for this facility so anything expensive is out of reach for them.
 
If it is like any of their analog boards, I would replace it. :( I was never so happy until the day my contract ended at a station that had all Ar*&#% consoles.
 
fm-engineer said:
If it is like any of their analog boards, I would replace it. :( I was never so happy until the day my contract ended at a station that had all Ar*&#% consoles.
Click to expand...
I spell it A Rack A SH*^ myself. About my last choice for a console.
 
Actually, first thing to do is take a scope and set the sweep speed up to 11 and look at the power supply rails. Even a little bitty short spike will often trigger digital circuits into never - never land. If that's the case, hook up a 'getby' supply and recommend to your client, since the manufacturer's service dept says it's gonna have problems believe them. And then go buy something else. I've had good luck with the Wheatstone stuff, a used IC-10 is a total hoss if you can find one, and there are others out there.
 
Run fast and far from that board. Get an Audioarts board. Find a used digital RMX out there somewhere if they want to stay digital.

What are most of the ins/outs on it? Analog or digital? That makes a big difference in the decision.
 
Good tip on the power supply. I didn't have a scope with me so that will require a return trip. After relating my past experience with the brand they're open to replacement it's just I know the budget is quite lean.
 
I certainly would check the supply as suggested by others here. With that being said, just for grins I'd try putting the POS on a Sola Ferro-resonate transformer if you don't see something suspicious in the supply. Their regulation is probably as good as their board. I bet it sucks. I'd also check all the caps in the supply with a ESR cap checker (for the smaller ones) and the 'ol charge-it-up then watch how long it takes for it to discharge trick for the bigger caps.
Again, they probably put cheap crap in their supplies (just guessing here). I TOTALLY agree about the R55e consoles. If your client can even afford a good used one (from SCMS or others when they are in stock) get it and put it in. Forget you have a console from a repair standpoint. Those wonderful R55e consoles are THE most reliable thing I've ever had the pleasure of working with. They even top the good old PR&E stuff when it comes to being reliable. If they can't afford to switch consoles right now you might (if you don't already have it) think about getting a used audio switch and put in after the console with your automation playout set to one of the inputs and the console to another. It would be ideal if the talent could simply bypass the console in the event it died. I generally do this even with great consoles, and we of course know that anything that says Arracrap isn't close to reliable anyway. Friends don't let friends by their crap.
 
In discussion I found out they have a scope in-house and I'm going to walk their local tech thru checking the power supply. I don't think the budget will flex to even a really good used board so I'll have to keep an eye out for them. I actually have an old Harris Stereo 80 but it won't fit in the available space.

I know I wasn't all that happy with the Arrakis products and I ended up replacing an ARC-10 with a Dynamax MX series and I couldn't be happier. Dave Strode at Sandies checked out and updated the modules and it sings like a dream. I'm glad Dave took over the line, but with so many people hooked on digital consoles I wonder how he'll fair for the long term.
 
Hopefully many people will wake up and realize that with most formats even on FM there is very little advantage to having a digital console, only expense and trouble. In a truely perfect world it might be a slight improvement IF the source material is perfect, but the reality is that money and effort would be better spent elsewhere. No rebooting, bitrate issues, or additional cost are a huge plus in my book. If a guy is going digital, I'd go with something like the Telos-Axia stuff. The reason I'd go with it is routing and ease of install not as much the reliablity at that point. At least with those guys you get REAL support 24/7 when the thing takes the big dump and you're standing there wondering why. LOL!
 
The reason I like digital is not for the sound improvement, which is only slight and easily masked by most radios. What I like is ease of installation, ease of configuration and sharing of sources among studios. Add in the fact that I can ship multiple channels of audio around on cat6 instead of tons of DA's and 24 pair cable all over the place.

I can log in from home and change a source. That you can't beat.
 
All valid reasons to go digital where you have a complex of studios. But if you are building/rebuilding a complex of studios there may be budget to buy well-designed digital boards, such as Wheatstone and similar brands.

For a stand-alone studio makes little sense to have a digital console since just about everything going into it will be analog. When you consider the gain structure of digital vis-a-vis analog, it makes no sense. (Yes, your digital console has a 90 db signal to noise ratio--but you need to keep peaks around 12 to 15 db below maximum to avoid clipping. 90-15= 65db s/n. I could get tape decks and cart machines to make that with good low-noise tape stock.)
 
That board has too much miles on it? Bullhockey and ye know it. Poor design is what it is. Arrakashit is the same whether it is analog or it's digital. Cure is simple (does require cash). Replace the Arrakashit. FWIW, one of the stations I maintain still uses their original Collins console they signed on with in 1952. Reliable too and built good like a Collins should.
 
I have a station where there are 3 studios. Main control room, production room and a talk studio. When the upgrade comes (which is soon), it's going digital to cut down on the expenses of cabling and ease of having either room instantly be a mirror image main control room. Ease of use and the ability to lock out features on the weekends are a big plus. And being able to have everything in the rack room easily available in each room, and be able to have a preset to make each board the "same" is also a giant help. They can also IP in from a remote and control the board from the remote site. Can't do that with Dynamax.

Another station has all the multipair in place, and I'm in the process of restoring a BMX III to be the main board there and moving the old RS-12 to production duty. No budget for new, and the building is already wired with ADC punch blocks in each room. I'd love to Axia the place, but that's not going to happen for awhile.

Unless you literally have ONE studio and no racks, no remote equipment and no satellite feeds. In that case, I would buy an R-55e and a B-Tools switcher and if on auto-pilot or satellite, take the board out of the picture. If I had 3 studios, I would still set it up the same.
 
Good arguments on both sides of this coin. I have a facility that also has 3 studios (two air, one production), but since the equipment budget is determined by what is in my bank account, I've stayed analog. Still too much cost difference between an R55E 12 channel/18 mainframe and the equivalent digital console of equal reliability.

Weighing in on this is the legacy cabling from when we built the place in '83 (including two 27 pair double shielded cables installed between the three studios) that have provided plenty of pairs for routing around satellite feeds, RPU & telco sources over the years.
 
Hi guys,
I'm the owner of that Arrakis Nova 10C that everyone has been talking about...I purchased it nealry used from Ebay a little over two years ago....It had a slight issue with powering up from day one....The reason for my purchase was the price/plus the amount of space I was limited to...add hybrid ready to equation and it's a go.....Radio is only a hobby of mine and the board does not get used 24/7...Thank you all for your feedback...I was afraid that most of you would have negative feedback....but i appreciate your comments...ill keep you all posted...the console is now in the hands of arrakis....
 
I think Arrakis builds consoles just as a hobby.Otherwise,the product would be more professional from the design point .Good luck with yours.
 
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