CT! CBS labs, Stamford, 1963 – 1965. These CBS units still seem like the ugly ducklings of the vintage limiter market. I have had 3 of the later solid-state audimax 4440’s in the basement for the past 3 years. They work fine. No one wants em! Eventually these will be re-discovered by some hotshot mixer dude and prices will rise. The 4440 is so goddamn complicated inside, its like a fkkn analog computer. Anyone using the Audimax and/or Volumax lately? Drop us a line and let us know…
Categories
6 replies on “CBS Volumax and Audimax circa 1964”
They work fine but so do inexpensive homebrews and lots of modern boxes with a warranty. There is no special reason to want them, they’re like a four door seventies sedan.
I’d rather have a four door than a Nova, the most no-style car ever made but the market says different. Same here.
Looking on eBay, it appears that there aren’t too many deals on these. The 4440 and 4450 are generally priced around $500. That doesn’t mean that anyone is buying them and there may be bargains from time to time.
Friend here in Oz reckons his 4000’s are the best buss compressors he’s tried – and he’s tried some goodies … hmm .. compelling!
Did you get around to trying your ones out, Chris?
I have a volumax that I use quite a bit. It does that Beatles compressed piano thing really well. It’s also great for rock bass and guitar solos.
There’s nothing complicated about the audimax 444a, in a way it is a bit of an analog computer, but you just have to look at it the unit by section not as an overall device and you’ll see it it’s actually fairly simple you have an input amplifier circuit you have a overall gain control circuit and then you have multi-level timing so if you think of it it’s the same as the attack in the release of a standard compressor except the unit is controlling the attack in the release for the first portion of the audio signal you can then choose the overall release time by adjusting it internally but it will make sure that the initial attack and release is as musically sound as possible, I’ve rebuilt many of these units there’s nothing hard about him
I have a later version set of the 4440 and 4000. The problem is that they are designed to slide in and out of the enclosure, with male plugs mounted on the back of the chassis and corresponding female receptacles at the inside of the rear wall of the enclosure. You cannot pull the unit out from the enclosure for service, because there is no way to apply a.c. power nor apply audio to the input and output. I need extender cables for both the audio and a.c. power, which would be easy to construct if I had a set of female receptacles. I could jury-rig an a.c. connector, but does anyone know what that type of 8-pin audio connectors are called? Are they still sold anywhere?