NDA required to get a service manual?

[satech]

Anybody else experience this? In order to get a service manual from a manufacturer of broadcast consoles and audio processors (not located in the USA), I had to fax them a signed non-disclosure agreement printed on station letterhead. Then they e-mailed me an Adobe Secure eBook document, which can only be used on one computer, and cannot be printed out or saved to a standard PDF file.

 

[joep]

While you're not at liberty to disclose the information contained in the PDF, you're certainly allowed to disclose the name of the company so the rest of us can avoid doing business with them.

 

[bilco]

I have done several NDA's and have no probelm as long as the manufacturer is reasonable. A NDA is preferable to "no schematic is available to you."

 

[OKCRadioGuy]

Yup. And knowing what snakes to avoid it the most preferrable thing of all ! Several years ago I brough to light a certain (excellent) console manufacture hid their manuals online behind a pass code and how much I hated it because it could create a real problem for after hours repairs etc. They fixed it. So, "outing" companies that pull bad moves for us on here can be very benificial. In their defense, I think that's just always they way they did things. In the year 2010 playing little games where it makes it harder to get documentation just isn't acceptable though. Most all of us have 10 stations deep and no spare time to wait. We need manufactures that understand that concept. We need manuals available, online with easy access and someone to answer the phone with a real human when we call (callback) in a reasonable amount of time. Again, in the post-consolidation run-the-engineer-silly world, we simply don't have time for that crap. Who is it?

 

[satech]

Who is it?

Solidyne. I was setting up their "Audimax 362" for an LPFM who got it just because it was the cheapest FM processor available. (I tried to push for a recapped Optimod 8000, but they didn't trust a 30-year-old piece of equipment, no matter how bulletproof it may be...)

For the bargain-basement price, its 3-band compressor is actually quite good, but as-built, it relies too heavily on composite clipping to produce modulation density, and no clipper drive adjustment is provided. We didn't care for that grungy sound, so I needed the schematic to find which resistors to change to reduce the drive level into the clipper.

Now with that mod done (and the Solidyne warranty surely voided!), I can use its multiband compressor more effectively, and it sounds decent on the air. Not a loudness box by any means, but when the station is on a shoestring budget, you get out the soldering iron and turn lemons into lemonade!