F/S Fairchild 664 EQs, 663 Optocompressors

[David Torrey]

Cleaning out excess equipment.... Hopefully this will answer most
questions....

-One pair Fairchild 663 passive optical compressor modules from Integra
series console, early 1960's
Price $700/pair. 600 ohm impedance, Jones barrier strip connections.
Will operate on 6.3VAC or 9VDC. Insertion loss 3dB.
Dimensions: 1.5"Wx7"Hx4.5"D, 8 transistors. Includes instructions and
schematic.
3 controls include: Threshold, Release (300ms. to 7sec.), Meter adjust
trimmer
Meter shows amount of compression. Signal path is passive. Ratio fixed
at 2:1. Maximum compression is 20 dB. Can be reconfigured as expander or
ducker.
Comment: *One unit is working, one needs repair, both have all parts.*
(The repair is probably a coupling cap for the control circuit/meter
driver, which is very basic.) Attack time can be decreased by replacing
the light bulb with an LED, if you prefer Manley-type sound. These units
were designed for program compression. They will fatten sounds, not peak
limit them. They operate more like an LA-2A than a 176 or the later
1176. Two units can be daisy-chained to create a 4:1 ratio, or one
detector can be wired to control both channels. The control circuit is
normally jumpered to the output terminal, allowing for compression. This
connection can be changed to insert sidechain EQ or to otherwise
reconfigure the gain control.Control is from discrete CDS photocell and
lighbulb source, not a Vactec-style element. You could retrofit a Vactec
device...

ALSO:
-One pair 664A passive program equalizers from Integra series console.
Price $600/pair. 600 ohm impedance, Jones barrier strip connections.
Insertion loss 17dB.
Dimensions 1.5"Wx5.25"Wx5.5"D No active components. Includes original
technical bulletin w/ complete curves.
3 controls include :
-High boost/cut frequency selector. Detented at 4, 6,8,10 and 15 kHz.
Boost curve is haystack shaped, cut is 6 dB/oct..
-High frequency boost/cut amplitude: has +/-10dB range, in 2dB detented
steps.
-Low Frequency boost/cut amplitude at 80 Hz: has +/- 10dB range, in 2dB
steps. Boost/cut curves are complementary.
Comment: Smooth EQ action - designed for broadband shaping and peaking
at high frequencies. The unit can be jumpered inside to change the
high-frequency points to 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7.5 kHz if desired.

Silver switch contacts in both units. Original knobs. Would prefer to
sell the entire set of four for $1200.

David Torrey 603-924-2277 http://www.drtmastering.com

[au...@audunwaage.com]

Hello David. I noticed this is more than 15 years old, but do you have any schematics for the fairchild 663? I got hold of two, and looking to build them into a rack.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Audun

[Scott Dorsey]

<au...@audunwaage.com> wrote:
>Hello David. I noticed this is more than 15 years old, but do you have any schematics for the fairchild 663? I got hold of two, and looking to build them into a rack.

I don't know about David, but Dan Rudin has a good collection of schematic
for that awful Lumiten stuff at
http://schematic.danrudin.com/index.php?dir=Fairchild/

Just a word of warning: do not expect these things to be stable at all,
because they weren't when they were new. They'll compress and then drop
back to zero and the gain point where they drop to isn't the one where they
started out at. They are just absolutely miserable pieces of crap. I worked
once on a dubbing stage that had a whole console made of the Lumiten modules
and it was impossible to get the same mix twice.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."