Re: Broken SoundMeister

[spec@vax2.concordia.ca (Mitchell Spector)]

In article dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) writes...

><retromod-Apple-II-newsgroups> wrote:
> 
>> My SoundMeister sound board seems to be partly broken.  That is, I can
>> do audio input with it, and all audio records fine.  However, the
>> audio output is silent.  I have to turn the volume on my stereo very
>> high to get any sound from either of the audio output jacks (and that's
>> very whooshy sound).
> 
>Do you know what might have caused this?
> 
>I managed to blow up one of the output stages of my SoundMeister shortly
>after I got it, by plugging in a stereo while it and the computer were
>powered on.

    Sounds like a poorly designed board. I've plugged in to a stereo
(as well as amplified and non-amplified stand alone speakers) using 
different MDIdeas SuperSonic Stereo cards and an AE Audio Animator--
while the power on the computer and sound source were active, yet
never blew anything. 

    Perhaps I've just been lucky, but I've done the same with several 
sound boards in my Apple IIe's and IBM without zapping anything. I've
always thought swapping cables in powered audio equipment was fairly
safe (phono and RCA connectors) unlike computer connectors such as
SCSI, serial, floppy, video, ADB, etc (actually many people claim
it is safe to "hot-swap" ADB, video and serial devices, but I feel
uneasy about that risky practice).

Mitchell Spector
spec@vax2.concordia.ca