Baldwin C630-T

[organman95]

Played one of these for a funeral last week. Interesting tone, but I'm not sure why the "Tone Expander" thing didn't work with the external speakers. I had a mic for myself, so didn't want the console speakers to be picked up over the pa system. Expander worked fine with the console speakers (actually made the sound quite pleasant to my ears, for what it is). Did Baldwin not intend to have externals connected to it? Or has the relay just died over the years?

[jbird604]

The 630 and some other models of that era had five audio channels. Two channels for the manual stops (with a nearly random dividing of the stops into the two), a bass channel, and two Tone Expander channels which were fed by a complicated circuit that divided the audio signal into various frequency bands which were then made to wobble at different rates, producing a quite interesting and pleasant effect similar to a celeste.

Each of these five channels has its own level control. The console audio level controls are behind the end blocks to the left of the keyboards, which slides out after you remove some screws underneath the key desk. When external speakers are added, there is an external amplifier unit with five channels, each one having its own level pot. It is necessary to properly balance the five channels to get good sound from the external speakers. The tone expander channels are normally set just a tad softer than the main channels.

It's possible that something went wrong with the externals and those two channels got turned down all the way. Another possibility involves the design of the speaker cabinets Baldwin often used in that era. The manual cabinets included two speakers in each box, one for the manual channel itself, and a second one for the corresponding Expander channel. The Expander speakers were mounted on a different panel or side of the box, facing in a different direction from the primary speaker in the box. Unfortunately, in many installations, the primary speaker faces out the front of a chamber or hole in the wall, while the Expander speaker plays back into the cavity behind it and cannot be heard at all! That could be the problem. Only way to find out is to see where the external speakers are mounted and check them carefully for position.

[organman95]

The 630 and some other models of that era had five audio channels. Two channels for the manual stops (with a nearly random dividing of the stops into the two), a bass channel, and two Tone Expander channels which were fed by a complicated circuit that divided the audio signal into various frequency bands which were then made to wobble at different rates, producing a quite interesting and pleasant effect similar to a celeste.Each of these five channels has its own level control. The console audio level controls are behind the end blocks to the left of the keyboards, which slides out after you remove some screws underneath the key desk. When external speakers are added, there is an external amplifier unit with five channels, each one having its own level pot. It is necessary to properly balance the five channels to get good sound from the external speakers. The tone expander channels are normally set just a tad softer than the main channels.It's possible that something went wrong with the externals and those two channels got turned down all the way. Another possibility involves the design of the speaker cabinets Baldwin often used in that era. The manual cabinets included two speakers in each box, one for the manual channel itself, and a second one for the corresponding Expander channel. The Expander speakers were mounted on a different panel or side of the box, facing in a different direction from the primary speaker in the box. Unfortunately, in many installations, the primary speaker faces out the front of a chamber or hole in the wall, while the Expander speaker plays back into the cavity behind it and cannot be heard at all! That could be the problem. Only way to find out is to see where the external speakers are mounted and check them carefully for position.

Interesting. I know there is a leslie in the chamber, but I wasn't going to mess with that.