REPAIR GUIDE - TurboDuo: Sound Fix

[thesteve]

if the old caps are still there, it wont last long, as the caps drift and leak.
new caps in, and it should stay tuned for years

[Bekic]

if the old caps are still there, it wont last long, as the caps drift and leak.
new caps in, and it should stay tuned for years

That's pretty durable, by that time it won't even get me frustrated. How much time would you need to put new ones in?

Also, i wonder if it's possible that aside from the sound and some cutscenes citting out that the actual graphics and music themselves have deteriorated in terms of quality (or is it just works or doesn't)?

[thesteve]

the sound mixing does deteriorate, but the grafx not
currently no backlog (couple weeks here max)

[Bekic]

the sound mixing does deteriorate, but the grafx not
currently no backlog (couple weeks here max)

I see. How do i know how much the sound has deteriorated at a certain point?

[thesteve]

the music will fade, making the other sounds too loud
hard to tell without a test on another system

[Bekic]

the music will fade, making the other sounds too loud
hard to tell without a test on another system

But that would be restored to along with the other problems i had? How long will it take before deteriorating after the fix?

[thesteve]

new caps should outlast the originals 20+years

[Bekic]

new caps should outlast the originals 20+years

So it does restore the sound quality too?

[thesteve]

yes

[Jay See Double You]

Hey guys! First post! I have a US Turbo Duo that I got in 2003. I fired it up a few nights ago for the first time in a few months, and let me try to explain what I noticed: There was static scratchiness in the sound, but the sound proper was not distorted. Does that make sense? I would occasionally notice the static on top of otherwise clean sounding music and sounds, but mostly, I'd notice it when there was no music, such as when I was playing Hit the Ice. I did not notice any issues with video, or performance in other capacities. I don't recall ever noticing this static before.

The only environmental change was that there was a mouse back behind the systems that I caught and killed in a trap. But the only way I can imagine that making any difference was if he chewed on either the AC or AV, and I don't think he did. When the trap caught the mouse, there was a wire under the mouse that I had to pull on to separate from the mouse/trap, that could've been the TD AC cord, but I'm not sure - I didn't check. There is also a new AV selector box that I am using, but I'm not noticing any similar effects on the other systems hooked up to it (Genesis/SNES/NES).

Do you think I'm dealing with this capacitor issue, do you think I'm dealing with bad AV and/or AC cords, -or- do you think I've got something else (probably more serious) going on? Let me know! If you need me to, I can probably capture some audio for you!

Would appreciate your expertise on this! :-)

Thanks!

p.s. Unrelated question (I hope it's okay that I'm killing two birds with one stone here): If I understand things correctly, there is no region lock on CDRom2, Super CDRom2, and Arcade CDRom2. I'm also under the impression that all Turbo Duos can run all three CD-Rom formats without requiring the accompanying Hu Cards. Am I correct? It seems to me that, if so, and this Turbo Duo I have is easily fixed, then the best course of action for me is to keep it, use it for all region's CD-Rom games, and American Hu Cards, and rather than buying a pricy region card adaptor, just get a PC Engine or (if I'm really ambitious), Supergrafx off e-bay in order to play the Japanese Hus. Am I right? If I'm wrong, what do you suggest? If I am right, but my Duo's gonna be an expensive fix, I might be better off buying a Japanese DUO R/RX, buying a standard American TG16 with turbo-booster, and going that route (since the American Duos are soooooo much more expensive!) Do you agree?

Thanks guys! Look forward to interacting with you guys in the future!

Cheers!

-JCW

[Necromancer]

Sounds like caps to me, but whatever is wrong I'm sure one of the guys here can get it fixed up for a reasonable price.  If it's not caps but they haven't been changed yet, get 'em done before they leak and corrode the PCB or take out some other component. 

As for CD formats, discs are region free but system cards are not.  Your TurboDuo can play CDs and SuperCDs with its internal system card, but you'll need an Arcade Card Duo* (and region mod of some sort to use it) to play Arcade Card games.  For region mods, don't waste time with overpriced and often finicky converters; get a switch installed or buy a re-capped PCE Duo or a Duo-R.

* - an Arcade Card Pro will also work, but they're pricier

[Jay See Double You]

Thanks Necro! I have thought about looking into toggle switch region mods for this! If I were to mod the system to handle JP Hus, would there also be any way to mod the system so that it's internal "system card" is equivalent to the Arcade card instead of the Super CD-Rom2 card? Also, I think I know the answer to this already, but I suppose there isn't any way to mod the thing to add Supergrafx support as well, right? So we don't veer this thread off topic, you can PM me if you'd rather. :-)

[Necromancer]

The short answer is there's no way to add AC and/or SG support to a Duo.  I suppose it's technically possible to add AC and SG support to a Duo (look at the crazy shit people like Ben Heck cobble together), but it'd be a ton of work, costly, wouldn't fit in the original case, and would require cannibalizing parts from a real AC and SG anyway.

[BlueBMW]

I could see possibly hijacking the lines to the internal system bios and running it to an arcade card, but yeah it would require an arcade card still... itd be simpler to just use the arcade card in the system.

Byron

[Jay See Double You]

Thanks, Byron!

Simpler, yes. But I like the idea of not having to mess with popping a card in and out (not to mention risking losing or breaking it). I don't know whether I'll pursue that or not. But it's neat to know that something like that could theoretically be done. I will plan on having the caps replaced, and probably also looking into a toggle mod to switch between US / JP HuCard pin config. I'm sure a thread exists for that here. Does anyone have a link?

I guess I'll noodle the Arcade 3 card internal mod idea. It looks like the Arcade 3 Duo card is not too pricey, and even the Arcade Pro cards are only about $80-$120 on "the bay", which is not too bad, especially if they're your key to the best Neo Geo ports of the 16-bit era this side of the Neo Geo itself (which I do have - JP AES, and JP Model 1 NGCD), then I think they're probably justifiably priced. (What is the diff between the AC DUO card and the AC Pro card, btw, and are there any games that absolutely require the AC pro to run?)

Thanks for letting me pick you guys' brains on this stuff!

Cheers!