Ahlborn Galanti Praeludium III

[therepetiteur]

Hi all

So upon receiving the above organ for almost nothing, aware that is has a few issues needing to be sorted out, I contacted the main representative from the company in the UK, who has sent me an e-mail saying "I'm sorry to say that your instrument is unrepairable and worthless.". Naturally, this is extremely disappointing seeing as how there are only a few issues and the console is in excellent condition. I feel this is a very poor level of service and an utter unwillingness to help in any way.

To be clear, the main issue is that the audio cables which run from inside the organ and would be used to connect to external speaker were cut by someone at some-point. I have been advised by a helpful organ tech expert on the forum that these are simply replaceable. The organ also doesn't sound with headphones plugged in, again I'm advised by a very helpful person on here that this might be blown audio fuses. These are the issues. Of course, the instrument might need a service including contact cleaning, battery replacement and the likes, but no other major issue seems to be at play here. The console starts up and lights up absolutely fine as though it's totally ready to play. I just can't believe this rep from the company couldn't even bother offering a helpful suggestion about any of this, nor even put me in contact with a technician! By the way, I also asked him for replacement console keys (for the memory lock and the roll-top cover), of course he didn't even get back to me on that. I mean come on - surely they have some of those keys lying around!

It is notoriously difficult to get hold of a specialist electronic church/classical organ technician for some reason in this country - I'm just outside of Glasgow, Scotland, and there is one technician who covers the area but is very hard to get a hold of and always seems to put me off - I contacted him about a different organ before and he basically said it wasn't worth his time. I know he's a dealer of used organs so I assume he was trying to make me think the best option was to bin it and buy something from him! The well known technicians in England don't often travel up this way either to make things worse. However, I have a good family friend who is an electronics expert and who managed to sort many issues with my previous organ for me. I believe that if any of the organ tech's on here could give me their opinions and thoughts, my technician could maybe look at them and know what to do.

I would be very grateful for any thoughts and/or advice. A picture of the instrument is in the album on my profile.

Thanks

[michaelhoddy]

Would you be able to take a picture with the back off, especially down near the audio connection panel that's inside the lower right rear of the console?

If the headphones are dead, that could be any number of things. I doubt it's a blown fuse, because other items on the organ would also be non-functional if that were the case.

Unfortunately, Ahlborn-Galanti dried up and blew away when GeneralMusic went under. There is some apparently limited availability of new stock and support of the third-generation organs, and some parts availability for the second-generation organs, but a ~25 or more year old first-generation instrument like yours is pretty out of luck at this point, unless you can find another one for spare parts.

[therepetiteur]

Thanks for your input! I'll take a picture of the back with the back panel off Tuesday - that's when it actually gets to me! I'm really hoping I can get it sorted as it really is a fantastic console with it's full capture system, AGO specs and comprehensive stop list. Would be simply the best practise instrument for me if working well.

[jbird604]

I'm fairly familiar with the Praeludium I and II models that came out in the late 80's. Had one at church, and later got another one as a trade-in, and both of these I was able to keep going well. I don't know how different your P-III would be from these. I only have a service manual that covers the PI and PII.

If the speaker cables that got cut were in fact connected where the internal speakers were supposed to be, it's possible that someone cut them with the organ powered up, or left wire whiskers that later shorted out, and that could have blown just the amplifier fuse. And it's possible that the headphone doesn't have a separate amp, so it would be dead too. But I can't say with authority, not having a schematic of that model.

Perhaps Arie V will chime in, as he has quite a bit of experience with those early A-G models. Surely there is enough wisdom in this combined group to help you get it going, given that it all lights up and seems otherwise OK. Once you have it, you might check to see if it is transmitting MIDI on its MIDI out jack. That would tell for sure that the digital parts are working.

[michaelhoddy]

If the speaker cables that got cut were in fact connected where the internal speakers were supposed to be, it's possible that someone cut them with the organ powered up, or left wire whiskers that later shorted out, and that could have blown just the amplifier fuse. And it's possible that the headphone doesn't have a separate amp, so it would be dead too. But I can't say with authority, not having a schematic of that model.

I don't know if it was different in Europe, but the PIII was the one organ in that series that did not have internal speakers. It instead had a pretty elaborate unbalanced line level output panel on the lower right rear, where up to 16 channels could be connected on 1/4" TS phone connectors. Cutting those wires might short out the audio, but should not blow fuses, and I seem to recall that the headphone circuit was separate from all of this and would cut the organ outputs to the amps via a relay (I actually do have a PIII schematic buried somewhere in my garage that could confirm or disprove this!)

[therepetiteur]

Thanks everyone for the encouraging response to my situation. I'm so grateful that people are so willing to help on this forum, it really is fantastic. michaelhoddy, if you do have a copy of the schematics for this organ, could you possibly email them over to me at all? This I'm sure would be a great resource for my technician.

Thanks

[jbird604]

Another possibility, then... If I were to go out and find an Allen organ that seems to be working but is audio dead, the first thing I'd check is the muting circuit. That circuit is somewhat prone to failure anyway, and when it fails, there is no sound. It doesn't affect anything else in the organ system, but it sure makes it useless! I don't know if there is anything in your organ that corresponds to Allen's audio muting system, but I suppose there must be some provision in the system for muting the start-up and shut-down noises of the digital section.

[therepetiteur]

Thanks John

Shall either attempt to check on this, or just take lots of pictures of it when it comes Tuesday morning!

Many thanks

[michaelhoddy]

John, yes there is a similar circuit on the Praeludiums. I honestly don't remember at all how it's implemented, but there's an internal muting relay that fires a few seconds after startup.

Brainstorm!- I seem to remember that the muting relay and the remote +12v amplifier relay circuit are tied together and fire at the same time (when the internal muting relay fires, it also closes the circuit to trigger the power relays for the external amps). If the audio cables were cut, it's possible the external amp relay line was cut and shorted, since it runs together. This would DEFINITELY blow the fuse to the 12 volt circuit, which would kill the internal muting relay as well, killing the headphone circuit. So my money is on the fuse for the +12v circuit on the power supply being blown.

[therepetiteur]

Thank you for this! I will collect everything you helpful folks are telling me and show it to my technician when he makes a visit...may not be for a while as I hear his mother is very ill, but I'm very grateful to everyone on here for your advice, knowledge and help.

Thanks to all for the continued support. If it's useful, I will take as many photos as you like of the inside of the organ and add them to my profile album.

PS - can anyone give me an age for this organ based on the serial 96G8903?

[toodles]

I can't give a specific age, but the Praeludium I, II, and II were introduced to the US market around 1988, so I doubt it is any older than that.

[therepetiteur]

Thank you for that!

[therepetiteur]

Hi folks

So- the organ was delivered just a few hours ago. The condition is MUCH better than anticipated. The organ IS sounding through headphones, and I've gotta say even with a cheapo pair of headphones, some of the sounds are seriously impressive considering the age of this instrument!

Ok, so issues -

- 10 stop-tab lamps out
- 1 toe piston lamp out
- some stops are sounding the exact same - as if two or three stops on the same division are pulling data from the same place and clearly shouldn't be... (for example, a great principal 8, flute 4, mixture are all sounding like the great principal 8)
- one pedal note sticking
- one pedal note not sounding
- no key for the memory lock so kinda screwed as far as setting pistons goes

Any one with suggestions/knowledge/ideas...please speak up, it will be greatly appreciated and passed onto my tech who can hopefully get it to 100%!

Thanks for now

[toodles]

All the lamps are replaceable, but I'm not sure of the specific lamp type. The rocker tablets can be removed by a gentle pull, or the nameplate on the tap can be gently pried out. The lamp is underneath, and it might be marked, if you are lucky.

With the stops sounding the same, make sure the crescendo pedal is closed.

As to the memory lock key, it's probably just an electrical switch. You could short it out or replace it with a switch of your choosing that fits the space. Would not necessarily have to be a keyswitch. Or find out who made the switch (it's probably marked on the switch if you can remove it)--if it is still being made you can probably buy the same switch with a key. Your technician can certainly get a switch working for the memory.

Pedal note sticking & not sounding are probably mechanical issues.

[therepetiteur]

Thank you so much. The crescendo pedal was not engaged at all, so there is definitely something strange happening there. When you say the pedal issues are "mechanical", are these still easily repaired by a technician?Many thanks for your wisdom!