Audio Precision ATS Discussions

[jbeckva]

I wonder how much of what Jer has done could be used here in plotting? Jer?

I can get the raw data no probs.. just working on figuring out the charting controls in order to display it in a meaningful way. A lot of those "controls" used for programming have a shitload of layers involved.. kind of like those old russian dolls where you open one up only to find another and another and so on..

Soon as I get the next build done (prolly in a week) I'll continue. Right now the 400's back in the other room and Frankey's up where he belongs - hooked up to the speaks and putting out good tunes LOL. Also will be doing another gut and replace on the main 'puter here this weekend - used a very dirty CPU cooler as an excuse to get another combo of motherboard, memory and CPU. Had the bassid actually shut down due to the CPU getting overly warm and said "Honey, I'm getting on NewEgg again tonight" LOL.

 

[mondialfan]

Way beyond my pay grade bud. I only understand about 1% of what the AP can do anyway.
Are you the guy that put the Acurus upgrades together?

Yes, I was selling the basic performance kits for the Acurus pre's. I decided to stop offering them due to the higher than expected issues that most folks were having installing the kits. Mainly non-functional pre's or other issues. I'm still doing the more extensive upgrades here at home.

 

[mondialfan]

That's correct. AP does do HP8903 emulation, certainly on a ATS-1 Access 96k like Lee has.

Here's the long and short of it with respect to PC plots and results -

The GPIB bus has the full compliment of control and data acquisition commands, so if it can be measured, it can be automated.
Hooking up a computer and using either Matlab or NI software is a walk-in-the-park for those experienced in that arena.
Obviously you need all the bus-chain stuff to make this work, like the cable and host-side GPIB board and the software.
AP uses this level of automation to perform their test & calibration routines.

The problem lies in the nice, pretty output i.e. the graphing side of it.
Grabbing data from the device registers via GPIB results in raw tables or listings.
The candy coat part of it is taking those data-sets and converting them into graphs with Microsoft Excel macros or lab software plugins.

That was my thinking, if you could just get the data off the unit into a csv file it'd be quite simple to paste it into a prepped excel spreadsheet. I have a spreadsheet I was using to plot out my data off my old manual analyzers. It was a pain gathering and entering the data for a THD freq sweep, but the charts sure looked nice. I could never get the amount of data I had in the AP chart I posted earlier though, that was a 200pt sweep, which would've taken me all day manually entering the gathered data off my Amber 3501.

 

[BlazeES]

GPIB to USB jigs look to be relatively cheap on eBoy. Obtaining a valid, licensed copy of NI Labview, even like an old Windows XP or 7 version might be attainable cheaply as well. So then it just comes down to the cmd scripting. Ugh.

Would be one helluva project though. Searching the interwebs doesn't produce much discussion about it.
Really sucks that APWIN doesn't work with the old models...

 

[mondialfan]

You know you really have to think that AP had at least a few basic GPIB scripts that they had kicking around at the factory. Too bad they didn't make any of that available.

 

[mondialfan]

GPIB to USB jigs look to be relatively cheap on eBoy. Obtaining a valid, licensed copy of NI Labview, even like an old Windows XP or 7 version might be attainable cheaply as well. So then it just comes down to the cmd scripting. Ugh.

Would be one helluva project though. Searching the interwebs doesn't produce much discussion about it.
Really sucks that APWIN doesn't work with the old models...

We use a few of the old Agilent 82357A GPIB > USB adapters at work. I just bought a couple of more used ones off of the auction site about 6 mos ago to use in connecting an HP 34401A up to a computer to automate data collection for a researcher, but I am using software Agilent had made available for a short period to collect the data with. However these old adapters work fine with Win 7 and the newest Keysight IO libraries.

 

[BlazeES]

You know you really have to think that AP had at least a few basic GPIB scripts that they had kicking around at the factory. Too bad they didn't make any of that available.

They run their test and calibration routines over GPIB. So they absolutely have a library of stuff they could share - even slimmed down for general consumption.
I think it's just a matter of propping up their newer stuff and not wanting to open up a can of worms for support questions on discontinued products.

I guess on the other side of it, there is ATS-2 and System libraries out there that could be 'ported' to work with the older stuff, with some serious editing.

 

[grapplesaw]

I am exploring using NI labView with a glib to usb Hp adaptor

 

[laatsch55]

Bout time you chimed in..

 

[Fishoz]

Yes, I was selling the basic performance kits for the Acurus pre's. I decided to stop offering them due to the higher than expected issues that most folks were having installing the kits. Mainly non-functional pre's or other issues. I'm still doing the more extensive upgrades here at home.

My buddy is still installing the last upgrade kit....he was in no hurry. Any issue he should be looking out for Kevin?

 

[grapplesaw]

So does anyone have any scrips for the AP to start with this project??

 

[mondialfan]

My buddy is still installing the last upgrade kit....he was in no hurry. Any issue he should be looking out for Kevin?

The main issue most people are having is the through hole via on the +pin of C8. The insert and plating on either side of the hole is fragile and the +rail voltage passes from the bottom of the board through to the top side on that C8 pin. These snap-in caps are very tight so the holes are easily damaged. The best thing to do is to measure resistance between the cathode side of D1 and the rear side of R36. It really should measure no more than maybe an extra tenth of an ohm of resistance than when you hold your two leads together. If it does then you should add a jumper on the bottom side of the board between the + pin of C8 and the rear side of R36 to ensure continuity. This jumper will only be about 1" in length and is located on the bottom of the board so it isn't visible. If you want any more info feel free to contact me through PM or gmail as I don't want to take this AP thread in other directions.

 

[mondialfan]

I guess on the other side of it, there is ATS-2 and System libraries out there that could be 'ported' to work with the older stuff, with some serious editing.

One other thing to consider is that both the AP Sys1 and Sys2 came with optional GPIB inputs. You would have to think that the GPIB commands are identical in most respects for those other AP systems. If you could find someone that had written GPIB scripts for either of those systems it might simplify the process.

 

[BlazeES]

A 'Good Friday' indeed !

 

[laatsch55]

Lovely....

 

[grapplesaw]

View attachment 34805

A 'Good Friday' indeed !

So what did I miss??
What’s in the Box???

 

[BlazeES]

 

[grapplesaw]

View attachment 34811 View attachment 34812

Very nice. What was the final cost if I may ask?

 

[grapplesaw]

I tried to fire up my XP loaded machine which has labView 8.21 on it. No go only blue screen then it reboots in a continuous pattern.

I tried to remove all installed cards and test master boot record and tried safe mode etc. reset board memory and it started one but did not connect keyboard so rebooted and back to same old thing. I am going to pull drive and try in an other machine. I checked the disk without errors. I think I am loosing my hair.

Ugh!!!

 

[BlazeES]

Very nice. What was the final cost if I may ask?

Less than what Perry was asking for his. : ) ... cal'd and repaired by AP. The display needed to be replaced.
This thing passed Self Test 100% of the time before I sent it in but Self Test isn't the whole story when trying to find one of these in proper condition.

AP flagged this -
[8] Input Common Mode Rejection (mV)
2.5V range, 20 kHz 0 1.95 1.58 (upper limit) >> FAIL <<
on channel B

"The instrument was received in good condition, passing its self-test and having only one
failure in As Received calibration for Input Common Mode Rejection. This was corrected
with application of Service Advisory Bulletin ATS1.0002 and readjustment of the analog
input pre-amps."

I did a Self Test print out before I sent her in but still need to do my 'after' one to check how much tighter they dialed stuff in.
Nothing was harry-edged and most parameters were pretty centered in their tolerance windows on my fully warmed up pre-test, which is a testament to how little these things drift over ~ 20+ years. I suppose the 'luck of the draw' is a factor too.

This one is a 1997, high serial number build with the IMD option installed. And AP discontinued the standard ATS-1 in 1998 when they transitioned to the "Access" platform. So I'm pretty stoked that I grabbed this one when I did. Most of the ATS-1's and ATS-1A's for sale these days (std or portable...) are pretty expensive out-in-the-wild and it seems most of them are in the Far East or Israel. This one was in Mississippi of all places...