[BC] Black Box circuits

[Robert Orban]

At 07:29 AM 7/6/2006, you wrote:
>From: Kevin Tekel <amstereoexp at yahoo.com>
>Subject: [BC] Black Box circuits
>To: broadcast at radiolists.net
>Message-ID: <7.0.1.0.2.20060705234901.047e49c8 at oldradio.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
>
>Robert Meuser wrote:
>  > Xrays of numeropus black boxes was very popular at one time. I heard a
>  > story that maybe Bob O could confirm that the black boxes in the
>  > original 8000 had lead shields cut out in the pattern of the CBS eye.
>
>In one of my CRL processors the epoxy in the "black box" chips has become
>brittle enough with age that I can pop the caps off and peek inside.  All
>I see are a bunch of resistors, capacitors, and diodes soldered together.
>
>So that's the "magic" -- just a bunch of off-the-shelf components which
>determine the thresholds, time constants, and such.  Combine that with a
>whole bunch of TL072 op-amps and LM13600N's, and you can practically make
>your own Spectral Energy Processor out of Radio Shack parts.

The "magic" is innovative circuitry that was tuned to give the processor a 
competitive sound and that the company did not want competitors to copy 
easily. This circuitry is built with normal electronic components. What did 
you think was in there -- pixie dust?