Sound Technology 1700B redux - Ping Dick Peirce

[Trevor Wilson]

Well, I listened to you. I did some work on the 1700B, but found that I
will need to spend some considerable time dealing with an issue
associated with an opto-isolator in the oscillator circuit.

Instead (after considerable research), I found one of these on a
Japanese auction site:

https://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/panasonic/vp-7721a.htm

Phenomenal machine. Not only is it a delight to use, but it still meets
it's published specs! Even the power supply Voltages are still well
within 1% of their design levels. AFAICT, it has only had two repair
jobs - The NiCd battery was replaced sometime in the past and a PCB fuse
was replaced (badly). I've re-repaired the poor workmanship on the fuse
and installed a new set of NiCds in a holder for easy future
replacement. Buying from Japan is an astonishing experience. Fast,
efficient and very inexpensive for an Aussie. 12kg, packed perfectly,
rapidly (4 days) delivered to my door, GST (sales tax) paid (10%, thanks
to our greedy, right wing government) for AUS$138.00. The same thing
from the US would have cost way more than AUS$300.00 and taken at least
3 weeks to arrive.

I cannot over-emphasise just how nice this thing is to use. Everything
is intuitive and very fast measurements are a doddle (I could do, say,
20 distortion measurements (different frequencies and levels) in less
than one minute). Half the size of the 1700B too. Gotta be happy with
that. As Ken Rockwell states: It really feels like the guy who designed
it, uses a distortion analyser all the time. All analogue too.

Whilst seeking out a computerised option, I noted that Quantasylum
recently released the QA403:

https://quantasylum.com/collections/frontpage/products/qa403-audio-analyzer

My QA403 arrived a couple of hours ago. Very nice. Steep learning curve
for such a sophisticated instrument though. Initial impressions are very
good though. A poor man's Audio Precision? Maybe. It should do
everything I will ever need.

Anyway, thanks for your tips and suggestions, as they have led me to
this point.

Now I'm hooked on this damned Japanese auction site. :-)

Trevor