Dj Dunc Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 A starter for 10 points. In my new job I've been doing some housekeeping in one of the performance venues after complete new lighting install and clearing out of all the old-old system that was just covered over effectively. In the loft I unburied this contraption, but it has no identifying marks and I can't figure out what it used to do! Its about 5 or 6ft long, with the banks of switches repeated to about 30 rows in total. http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l82/dunc2006/IMG_5443.jpg I can understand the master section, but not the extra bits! cheers Duncan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandall Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I can't really read the labelling, but it looks like a custom-made SM desk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dj Dunc Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 Bummer, just looked and it really is hard to read on here, although on my phone its fine. stupid photobucket. Anyhoo.I think its something to do with audio, but potentially related to school activities perhaps? It has come out of a now decommissioned dimmer room at a boarding school. The texts have various legends such as: Output Selection, Intercom Volume, Program Source, Recording A, Recording B, Student Control, Teacher Control and the banks to the right are headed "Group Selection" In the top left under the ACD/2, it has a two way toggle labelled A A-C or A-A/EXAM which is what really stumped me! cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Looks like it's something to do with paging and comms, maybe - so maybe the switches are a set of cue light controls? Or I wonder if it might be something to do with a Language Lab type setup...? And being found in the theatre was coincidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w/robe Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Is it a public address system for the entire school rather than anything specific to the theatre? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter F Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 My school had a language lab with something similar to this. Central control section for the teacher that allowed them to listen to each pupil. Each pupil had a headset with a microphone on it and headphones playing recorded teaching material to them. Looks about the same era as my time at school. Actually, it looked dated back then. Cheers, Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryson Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Mind if I repost it to /r/whatisthisthing? I'm often amazed by the things people there can identify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dj Dunc Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 Go for it Bryson. I think it might be a language lab type thing. That hall in question is right next to the languages block so that would make sense. That hall is used for exams so it could be that it was done in the same place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave m Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 It shouts Lang lab to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomHoward Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I'm not certain it is one but there's those old big keyboard switchers as well, where you had keyboards all round the music room, and all the audio was run back to the teacher's station before going to each pair of headphones, and all sorts of routing between keys / talkback / etc could be done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IRW Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Bummer, just looked and it really is hard to read on here, although on my phone its fine. stupid photobucket. Anyhoo.I think its something to do with audio, but potentially related to school activities perhaps? It has come out of a now decommissioned dimmer room at a boarding school. The texts have various legends such as: Output Selection, Intercom Volume, Program Source, Recording A, Recording B, Student Control, Teacher Control and the banks to the right are headed "Group Selection" In the top left under the ACD/2, it has a two way toggle labelled A A-C or A-A/EXAM which is what really stumped me! cheers As others have said, it's got to be a language lab controller. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Another vote here for some sort of language lab control panel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 It is Language Lab (and I worked in one for 20 years!), those are likely to be very expensive switches! Many poles, some latching, some momentary, some both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boatman Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 ... those are likely to be very expensive switches! Many poles, some latching, some momentary, some both. Yep. They are Ericksson switches as used on every audio and comms panel in BBC TV Centre (before it got the drop) and every GPO switchboard in the UK! There must have been tens of millions of them in use in the 60s and 70s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I used to have loads of those switches, Super Radio in Liverpool, and PRS, when they were a junkshop, flogged off panels that had loads of these lovely switches on. In later life when I needed a few for a project, and seeking to buy new from RS, having to pay the actual price for those switches was a shocking and sobering experience. Official description: PO Type 1000. 4 pole C/O, £34.69+VAT in the July 1999 catalogue. Canford had them, but for a tenner more!!!! A panel of a couple of dozen from Super was a fiver or something silly... In searching for these, I discovered that [we've discussed these very switches previously]... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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