CRL Processor Questions

[AMRadioGuy]

I lucked out on a couple of classic CRL boxes and have a few questions about them. I got two units: an SEP-100 Spectral Energy Processor, along with a PMC-300 Peak Modulation Controller. As I understand it, there's one unit I'm missing and that's the AGC that would go at the beginning of the chain.

I was able to get them connected and pass audio through them. However, I was having some issues there. The big problem I was having is a ton o' distortion and extremely high levels. I can't find manuals for either of these boxes - there's nothing out there that I can find on the SEP-100. I can find a few things for the PMC-300A, but that's a different box than the 300 I have.

I've also got an audimax/volumax chain. I feed that from my laptop and then out into a regular old amp's RCA input. Works well enough. These CRL boxes sound very tinny and have a huge amount of output gain if I want them to process much at all. There's a ton of distortion and the level on the amp is sky high even at extremely low volumes (and I'm wondering if that's where the distortion is coming from).

Any ideas? Or... am I missing finding a manual that's tucked away somewhere here online?

Thanks!

 

[boiseengineer]

Have the Audio path electrolyte & tantalum capacitors been replaced?
All switches & controls need a deep cleaning and conditioning with something like Deoxid D5.

 

[boiseengineer]

It'll work without AGC but it'll be very inconsistent in the "sound".

 

[bigdonho]

My impression of CRL boxes over the years is that distortion and extremely high levels was one of the features 😁

 

[boiseengineer]

My impression of CRL boxes over the years is that distortion and extremely high levels was one of the features 😁

Sure sounded better than the Innovonics multiband we tried.

 

[kevtronics]

The models you have are 40+ years old and are probably due for a recapping by now, if they haven't already been.

Their default output level is +16 dBm, designed to drive a 600 ohm balanced load (like an old Telco line) and if you're trying to interface that with normal consumer-grade line-level equipment, you'll find that to be very very high. There may be internal jumpers to set it to a lower output level range.

Orban (who merged with CRL) has CRL manuals on their FTP server, but you'll probably need an older web browser to access it:

ftp://ftp.orban.com/CRL/

 

[AMRadioGuy]

Have the Audio path electrolyte & tantalum capacitors been replaced?
All switches & controls need a deep cleaning and conditioning with something like Deoxid D5.

I haven't replaced any of the caps yet - haven't even opened the boxes up. I'm planning to recap them as I have time and clean the switches too.

It'll work without AGC but it'll be very inconsistent in the "sound".

Yup. Similar to using a CBS Volumax without the Audimax feeding it. I'll probably try feeding them with my Audimax at some point if I can't track down one of those CRL boxes on the cheap.

The models you have are 40+ years old and are probably due for a recapping by now, if they haven't already been.

Their default output level is +16 dBm, designed to drive a 600 ohm balanced load (like an old Telco line) and if you're trying to interface that with normal consumer-grade line-level equipment, you'll find that to be very very high. There may be internal jumpers to set it to a lower output level range.

Orban (who merged with CRL) has CRL manuals on their FTP server, but you'll probably need an older web browser to access it:

ftp://ftp.orban.com/CRL/

Especially considering I got them out of a *very* rundown transmitter shack (with permission, of course). A recap is definitely needed. I was aware of the 600 ohm output but figured that was also what the CBS Labs boxes were configured for and I was able to use them with the same setup and they worked quite well.

Thanks for the tip on the manuals. I found that link elsewhere, too, but couldn't get it to work for me, sadly...

 

[W1DAN-]

The SEP-100 looks to be their first multiband compressor, I bet kind of a museum piece.

Yeah, start with replacing electrolytic caps. Attached are two versions of the manual downloaded from the Orban FTP site.

Dan