Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DTS XD10P cinema audio processor

This is topic DTS XD10P cinema audio processor in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Zack Strickland (Member # 5503) on 05-26-2011, 12:56 PM:

unless i bypass this device, i can only hear background and soundtrack. No foreground noise or dialog can be heard. Any Ideas? Anyone experienced this? is it blown out?

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 05-26-2011, 01:06 PM:

Is this house film or digital?

You probably have a bad center channel speaker or amplifier. If you are running 35mm, putting the processor (just about any cinema processor) in Bypass causes the processor to read the optical track and, without matrixing or noise reduction, send all information to the left, center, and right speakers. Most screen dialog comes from the center, so if the center is lost, sending the audio to the left and right simultaneously will cause it to appear as though it is coming from the center. That's why Bypass is an effective solution to a lost center channel. (A temporary solution, of course.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 05-26-2011, 02:22 PM:

Remove the front panel held in by two small screws. Make sure the power is turned off. You will see three cards. Pull the card on the left out and push it back in a few times. This will re-seat the contacts. Do the same for the center card. Now turn the unit back on and see if you still have the same problems.

If this does not solve the problem swap the left card with one from another DTSXD10p or a JSD-80 processor if you have them and see if the problem follows. Do the same for the Center card but not at the same time that you do the left card.

Posted by Zack Strickland (Member # 5503) on 05-26-2011, 05:09 PM:

When I ran the pink noise test through the windows software connected to the processor, the center Chanel sounded muffled and much less loud. How can i tell if it's the amp or speaker?

It is 35mm btw

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 05-26-2011, 05:30 PM:

You can swap the outputs of the amps. Let's say you swap Left with Centre. If the muffled sound follows the speaker, the speaker is blown. If it follows the amplifier, the amp is blown.
You then may want to swap the inputs as well, to make sure it's not a processor issue!

Don't do anything if you're not trained to do this kind of operations.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-26-2011, 05:46 PM:

If center channel is muffled, bet you lost a HF diaphram in the driver mounted at the end of the horn.

If the systen is bi-amped (one amp per horn and woofer bin) as mentioned, swap speaker leads, but I do a simple 9v battery bump: undo the speaker leads from the amp and touch the leads across the battery to make the driver "bump". If you don't get "bump" from the battery on the highs, good chance the diaphram is toast.

good luck-Monte

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 05-28-2011, 08:44 AM:

Be careful swapping the amplifier outputs if your system is bi-amped. Applying the low frequency output to the high frequency driver will most certainly kill it if it is not already dead. Best thing is to check it at the amplifier outputs first with a small signal tracer or battery operated scope and then at the speaker terminals. If you have signal to the hf driver then it is most likely. If you have signal at the hf driver it is most likely bad. If it is JBL, EV, Altec or QSC it is also repairable.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 05-29-2011, 09:32 PM:

True, takes 10 min to swap out a diaphram within the driver. All you need is a philips screwdriver..

...just watch out for the polarity markings (either a green or red dot for positive)of the diaphram connections...and the fragility of the diaphram itself being of very thin, stressed aluminum.

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 06-04-2011, 12:13 PM:

Sorry about the late response. I wonder, though, how the audio sounds on the booth monitor (if there is one). Booth monitors I'm familiar with (USL) will let you listen to the outputs of the processor and the outputs of the amplifiers. Listening at the processor output, then the amplifier outputs, will let you determine whether the problem is electronic. If the output of the amplifiers sound ok, then, as suggested by others, it may be a speaker problem.

Good luck!

Harold