Say it again module

[humpalot]

Got a Centaur 2 pin coming my way thanks to Silverball, it's missing the rare say it again module.  After looking around I'm leaning towards getting an aftermarket board from here

http://www.strikesandspares.de/rubrik2b.htm

Price seems good and so is postage.

Interested if anyone has any experience in these or the original boards.

[Strangeways]

Congrats on the new purchase - certainly, from the pictures Dave had floating around, the machine looks to be in excellent condition. Well done Dave  for supplying a great title for a really great price 

I know the boards are super rare - so you might have to invest in the board you pointed out. I THINK Centaur was in the production run after "Cheap Squeak" and before "Squalk and Talk".

My advice would be to check the manual on the game and ensure you are in fact chasing the right part - and - ensure you have the cables either in the machine, or with the board.

Sorry I can't be much more of a help, I have not worked on the Centaur II before... Let us know how you go !

[Pinball Fixers]

The Say It Again board is used on Centaur II, and is a pretty simple board really... except for one problem - the SAD4096 chip. This chip is used in many older effects pedals (guitar effects), and is a very sort after chip for many of the "chorus" type pedals. It's renowned to have a nice sound... and renowned to be a high failure part (even if just left sitting on the shelf unused!)

Anyway, this chip has not been in production for many years, and is the main reason for the Say It Again board to not work. There are supplies of them available, but you need to buy in quantity... something most collectors will have no need to do if they only really need one or two of these chips.

I would go for the new board as it is using new parts, so hopefully the SAD4096 chip will last a long time for you.

[humpalot]

The replacement board doesn't use the SAD4096 chip, that's why I was looking at getting this board.

Here's the manual for the replacement board if anyone is interested.

http://www.strikesandspares.de/Bilderpdf/Manual_E.pdf

[Pinball Fixers]

I looked into this a few years back due to a faulty Say It Again board. They have used a freely available schematic to make the new board. You can find here: http://www.bigclive.com/centaur.htm

I have never tried one, but I would guess that it works fine. It also gets past the problems of the SAD4096 by using the HT8955 chip. This chip is also obsolete, and hard to find now... I know this because I was going to make the board myself a few years back and was trying to find the HT8955. In the end, the customer I was researching this for decided he could live without the echo (the board you are referring to didn't exist then).

[Ballywannabe]

decided he could live without the echo (the board you are referring to didn't exist then).

What no echo on Centaur?? Shame!  I would strongly recommend getting the after market board.  The cable is not hard to make up if it is missing, as long as you have got the right S&T board in the machine.  There is another mod floating around to adapt the SIA to use a different chip, but I have not got around to trying it out as my SIA is still alive...

cheers
Ian

[Pinball Fixers]

decided he could live without the echo (the board you are referring to didn't exist then).

What no echo on Centaur?? Shame!  I would strongly recommend getting the after market board.  The cable is not hard to make up if it is missing, as long as you have got the right S&T board in the machine.  There is another mod floating around to adapt the SIA to use a different chip, but I have not got around to trying it out as my SIA is still alive...

cheers
Ian

Yep, his loss!

I was looking at the other mod too recently. Looks interesting, and the chip used is available. Shame it's not a direct replacement, but it is close.