Yamaha TX816: Testing a Few Power Supply Upgraded at Synhouse
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This is a listing for the TX216/TX816 power supply upgrade package, not the TX216/TX816 itself.
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This is the complete Synhouse/Synclav.com Synclavier Power Supply Replacement/Upgrade for Yamaha TX216/TX816
This replacement/upgrade kit includes the drilling template, both power supplies, AC inlet panel with grounded IEC AC socket, and full wiring harness, all pre-assembled as far as possible.
This includes everything needed except your tools (drill, 2 bits, center punch to mark holes for drilling, 1 or 2 Phillips screwdrivers, and soldering iron and solder).
The shipped package includes a link to the fully illustrated installation instructions.
This power supply upgrade package is absolutely complete down to the precut pieces of heat shrink tubing included in it, every bit of assembly that could possibly be done here HAS been done here, but what needs to be done at the time of installation is fully supplied for with the included parts/supply packs.
This is a world power kit, it comes set to 115v or 230v. Unless the buyer instructs me otherwise, the purchased kit is set to the proper voltage for the country it is going to. Most of the 65-70 sold so far have been set to 230v for Europe and Australia. Since January 2005, Synhouse has a 230v power environment here for building, testing, calibration, and burning in, mostly used for building the Synhouse Synclaviers.
This is a well-known and much copied upgrade from Synhouse.
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Synhouse Installation?
Aside from the cost of the kit, it's $149 + return shipping if you want it installed here, I can add that to a special listing, too, just ask me to set it up.
Shipping:
This will be very carefully packed and safely boxed for shipment.
This is a very heavy item, but combined shipping for a second one at the same time as the first is only $8 more for USA, $48 more for overseas.
Free local pickup in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles is okay if you can work around my busy schedule.
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Above is all the buyer really needs to know.
Much optional reading with additional information is below this line:
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In case you haven't seen it, the June 2019 video "Power Supply Replacement/Upgrade for Yamaha TX216/TX816" is still on the Synclav com Youtube channel, but it's kinda lame, just a few seconds long and it only shows an earlier pre-production development version of this TX816 power supply upgrade setup that shows it mounted in two areas instead of one, wires across that don't exist now, etc.. It had 20+ changes made after that, before even the first one was shipped. This power supply upgrade has since been improved to make a better fit with much easier installation and a little more safety, and the hardware itself has been improved with much better fittings and workmanship.
The Synclav com Youtube channel has a newer video with some sounds and demonstrations from April 2022 "Yamaha TX816: Testing a Few Power Supply Upgraded at Synhouse", and that video should be showing at the top of this listing if it's working correctly, or you can look it up by title.
There isn't---and never has been---anything in the world like this Synclav com Synclavier Power Supply Replacement/Upgrade for Yamaha TX216/TX816.
The Yamaha TX816 power supply deficiency and unreliability was known to me and others in 1985, yet NO ONE did ANYTHING about this until it came to my attention as a still-unsolved problem November 2016 and I started working on a fix for it. I hadn't used a Yamaha TX816 since 1987, then got two of them in from Starship 11/2016.
I did all I could for those first two months, then working with three factories for two months over February and March 2017 I did what I thought should have been all the rest of the work needed, with just a little more to figure out on my side. But there were so, so, so many fitting problems requiring many changes I had no time to do (some very, very serious Synhouse products were getting done at that time including the first ten Synhouse drum machine/synthesizer overlays, and those and the other products that started selling at that time changed everything for this company), and it only exploded into details from there. The needed resources were collected over the next two years, then finally I bought another TX816 frame for testing and spent 16 work days over two months finishing this kit so it could start selling June 2019, but the quantities were small because many details still needed to be altered and I didn't want to be stuck with loads of ill-fitting obsolete parts. Several productions were done and the remaining changes 6/2019-4/2023 were very small, with no more changes in mind since April 2023.
But now that Synhouse has done it, as usual, here come the copycats. Since Synhouse released this product 6/2019, various people have tried buying a cheap imported off-the-shelf switching power supply and selling it for triple the price as the total solution to this problem, and even falsely claiming it to be an "upgrade" (It says "Upgraded Power Supply Triple Output 5V 5A 15V 5 15 Volt For Yamaha TX816". Really? How is it "upgraded" since bought online with free shipping from China for $21.33?), when it has no fitting whatsoever, no wiring, and no hardware.
It also has no instructions, except one real winner selling a bare, unsupported power supply (you can buy the same one here online for $21.33 or Best Offer with free shipping from China) for $59.95 + $15 more for USA shipping with this advice: "Tech cut, stripped, soldered and put crimp connectors to the wire (sic). Easy install (sic) if you have experience.".
Experience putting the wrong underpowered power supply into a TX816? Glad I don't have that experience. And how is it mounted? Do the holes for this wrong power supply just appear magically and the hardware to mount and connect it drops from the sky? And how well are those "crimp connectors to the wire" conducting several amps of power years later? This is like one of those Fender Chromas people hacked cheap Taiwan PC clone power supplies into in the 1990s because they didn't know how to repair the good power supply it had, ruining the instrument, and no one wants that trash. That $60 garbage is only rated for HALF the -15v output of the Yamaha/Yutaka, which itself was underpowered. This is a joke.
Then along with that, there are loads of forum posts, articles, and videos---all of which came out AFTER the Synhouse upgrade 6/2019 which was 34 years after the problem was known, weird coincidence, once again no one does it until Synhouse does---giving people loads of bad, stupid, or even dangerous advice.
One posted a completely idiotic video "What does it mean to RECAP old gear? | Yamaha TX816 in need of help", saying this fixed the problem with TX816s. Really? So, uhm, how? Was this problem---known to exist in 1985---caused by Yamaha putting 40 year old capacitors in the TX816s? Because I can't see how right from the start this problem was coming from old, bad capacitors.
And just as Synhouse stated very, very clearly 6/2019, just read around the internet of the galaxy brains saying "I recapped it and fixed it! Oh, wait, doesn't turn on now..." or "I heard recapping it would fix it and I recapped it and it still doesn't work.", this same moron came back many months later with another stupid video "Yamaha TX816 with Mean Well PSU | Recapping is a waste of time and money, I realize that now", refuting (but not taking down, because that would lower his total channel views count) his own video about how people should recap their TX816 power supply, saying it actually doesn't work, but you can buy this one (just one power supply, not two, to do three voltages) cheap imported power supply and install it (no details given on that here, either) and that will fix it.
He rambles on, saying, "...they use good components (Source? He's unfit to judge any aspect of this and the second video showed he was completely wrong on the first, which was a video about.........components.)...I highly recommend these...I highly recommend you putting in one of these switched powers (sic) into your old 80s module...you can definitely put in one of these instead and you'll be much happier guy...so this will last me probably for the rest of my life... (Source? Which power supplies are known to last "the rest of your life"? Because that's a pretty stupid claim. Especially coming from a guy that already told you the original Yamaha capacitors had gone bad in just a small fraction of his life. I guess his recommended power supply either has no capacitors or uses Jack and the Beanstalk Magic Capacitors that last all your life.)".
The recommended/linked (it's a dead link now, I've been humiliating these people for four years now, so they're backing down) power supply is only rated for HALF the -15v output of the Yamaha/Yutaka, which itself was underpowered, and less than a third of what the Synhouse has on that rail, and half what the Synhouse has on the +5v rail.
This advice is so stupid it rises to the level of criminal negligence. Don't waste your time replacing an underpowered power supply with a power supply that has even less power.
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2024 update on the Synclav com Synclavier Power Supply Replacement/Upgrade for Yamaha TX216/TX816:
Most people looking at this listing have some familiarity with it, as it has been listed many times since June 2019. Normally this---like almost any other Synhouse products---would be in constant production and selling from stock year after year, decade after decade (the Synhouse MIDIJACK is presently selling from stock 25 years after it went into production June 1999), but various parts shortages and transportation problems caused by governments and not a virus had this item sold out half the time 2019-2024, but Synhouse could have supplied millions of them without this interference if needed.
The present model in production has the latest and last updated version of the drilling template (slightly rearranging the hole positions and markings each time, four factory versions have been made since 2017, plus more that were just hand modifications of a previous production item, with the next factory version incorporating those changes), this is the April 2023 version anticipated to be the last one ever needed if the other componentry stays the same, and the entire main wiring harness is now entirely factory made with mostly robotic assembly, using the best components available, including Synhouse parts not available to anyone else.
The wiring/ring terminal setup got a massive upgrade in late 2019 with the stocking of some very, very high quality parts that you can see in the photos. Try putting a giant 10 gauge pure copper wire on a relatively tiny 6-32 or M4 screw terminal (the diameter of the wire is bigger than the screw itself) using a very thick ring terminal that is cast of pure copper and then tin plated for excellent solderability and is soldered with real lead solder, not crimped. See the photos for examples, it's stunning and something that no one but Synhouse has.
Warning since 2021:
I've had at least THREE people write to me all confused, I don't know if they were scammed, wrong, or just lying (Which is worth considering when N O N E of them would answer the question: Who is the seller? Very specifically, who is the seller? Who sold this to you?), but they seemed to believe that they had already bought the Synhouse/Synclav.com TX216/TX816 Power Supply Upgrade from someone else, and couldn't figure out how to install it because "it doesn't match the instructions" and could I please help them, only to find out they just got ripped off buying some total trash Mean Well power supply (the wrong voltages, not even as much current as the old Yamaha/Yutaka trash PSU, noisy because it's not a linear power supply, etc., just crap not meant for this, very much not a Synclavier power supply). They say it doesn't seem to match the holes and they can't figure out the wiring. This isn't from Synhouse. Synhouse has the instructions and all the parts match the instructions. I think one or more people out there tried to copy the somewhat well known Synhouse power supply upgrade and is letting people think it's the same one. It's not a Synclavier power supply. I've had this happen again and again with the Synhouse synthesizer/drum machine overlays as well, with people writing to say my Emulator II Moog wheels panel overlay doesn't fit. And I say, mmm, yeah, that's great.....except you didn't buy one. They say yes I did. I say no you didn't, uhm, I'd know because I'd have your money. And they say no, I bought it online from one of your dealers in Europe, they bought a bunch of them and I bought it from them. And I say no, I don't sell to people buying "a bunch of them", what you have is a defective design mis-cut crap overlay from one of my worthless hump out-of-business ex-competitors ("You will receive 10 sets of Emulator II label sets which includes the main control label and pitch wheel. So a total of 20 labels for $250. BLOWOUT SALE !! This is the last of them. Don't sleep on this deal.") that somebody bought on the cheap when the dying seller couldn't hold his **** and had to dump stock at 85% off to get some of that money back after Synhouse was clearing the field of trash overlay sellers.
Synhouse has no dealers. I've been in the international mail order business for 34 years as of this December, with 7,000+ shipments to customers in 42 countries just since forming this company (Synhouse Multimedia Corporation) 25 years ago in 1999, and I don't need anyone's help selling my products and services. Check the Synhouse sales of the last 90 days, it doesn't involve anyone else. Almost anything Synhouse sells is something not sold by anyone else. And it's only bought from Synhouse here or on one of the selling platforms or sites. If anyone else says they are selling for me, they are lying. A couple guys out there have been misled about the Synhouse upgrade.
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The Problem(s):
The Yamaha TX816 (most people call it a TX816 but the model number is sometimes actually TX216, you can see that by looking at the serial number tag on the back, but it's the same frame/PSU setup in any case), described as eight DX7s in a rack, is an instrument of enduring popularity, but it has 1) a horrible power supply and 2) an unfortunate AC power cord setup.
Even back in 1985, the Yamaha TX816 was well known for having a very bad power supply, it either had a loud buzzing, humming sound in the room, or it just failed outright. Anyone involved with electronic music or instrument sales (worked at GC, etc.) knew this well all the way back in 1985. Various synth technicians over the years have figured out how to replace a dead one with something else, usually taking a lot of time doing them one by one, and not ending up with anything that could be considered an upgrade (usually a crappy, noisy combo switching power supply like a Skynet because it's all they had or all that they could make fit).
A huge percentage of TX816 power supplies have failed or become very noisy. Bad power supplies (and other components, such as the LCD/backlight on the Yamaha REV7 reverb, more than half had failed in two years, almost none exist still working in the world today) are common to Yamaha products, and nothing has ever been done about it. The slightly newer Yamaha TX802 module is also known for having a humming, buzzing, failing power supply, and the Yamaha 02R and 02R version 2 digital mixers have suffered an almost 100% failure rate, and even when fixed, fail again, because they are garbage.
Work was done here on a number of Yamaha TX816s 2016-2017, and it was shocking to see that all over the web, everyone still knows about the bad power supplies, and still no one had done anything about it.
What people on the web DO NOT discuss is how terrible and insufficient the Yamaha TX816 power supply is even when it is working properly. It doesn't have nearly enough power for eight TF1 modules. There is no power headroom, so transient response is suppressed when any sounding voice has to suck power away from the other voices/modules.
The Yamaha TX816 power supply doesn't supply nearly enough power for eight TF1 modules. Even when first turned on cold---WITH
NO VOICES SOUNDING---the +15v load is drawing 80% of the rated power supply capacity and the -15v is drawing 91% of the rated power supply capacity. If you don't believe this, you can cut the wires and clip your DMM/ammeter in there and see for yourself how much power it is drawing when turned on cold. And keep in mind that the meter is slowly averaging, it is not showing transient peaks of usage which is, well, where your audio is.
A TF1 module is a complete instrument, a 16-voice digital algorithm synthesizer with MIDI. If Yamaha had made one of those in a standalone box fitted it with this crap Yutaka power supply, the load and amperage capacity would be well matched. But EIGHT of them on one of these crap Yutaka power supplies? That's really a joke.
The Solution:
Synhouse has engineered (2016-2019) a massive power supply upgrade that puts a true analog/linear power supply out of a $250,000 Synclavier into the Yamaha TX816.
Just look at the installed photos, it will BARELY fit, it's like looking into the engine compartment of a city bus. It adds about four pounds to the weight of the mainframe.
And it's a little more than that, it's half and half on the power, a custom +5v digital switching power supply to run the digital logic and a +/-15v Synclavier analog/linear power supply to run the analog/mixed signal op amps, DACs, etc. that create the audio output, and all that goes into the TX816 with upgraded wiring, improved grounding, and additionally gets rid of that ridiculous donkey tail AC power cord (only 2-prong, it isn't even grounded), putting a normal, properly grounded, IEC AC inlet on the back so that it can use a standard computer power cord. As it should have had in the first place.
Three different factories (regular Synhouse subcontract suppliers) kindly contributed to this very, very low production volume product and made it possible to have high quality at a low price (the current retail price of the analog/linear power supply itself is $165-$185 plus shipping). This power supply upgrade kit should remain available for at least a number of years.
This design and all the factory made components had to sit here more than two years until I could finally finish it, photograph it, and write the instructions for it, and that was done in June 2019 (after 16 very long days of work on it, plus 4-7 days of work on it 2016-2017), and by then it wasn't quite "drop-in" due to the extremely tight fit of the improved power supplies.
The TX216/TX816 power supply upgrade will take a few hours to install. If I did it myself in 90 minutes, I would be rushing. If I haven't installed one in several months, it will take me six hours. If I have another one here to do at the same time (sometimes a few sent in for installation pile up and I do them all at once) and I do the second one the very next day, it will take more like 3 or 3-1/2 hours because I've figured it out again. But I work more slowly than most people because I go back and forth checking things again and again. On average, I'd probably spend three hours on each one if I did them every day.
Installing this isn't quite as easy as installing a Synhouse MIDIJACK, but it isn't difficult at all, it just requires some tools and some care and caution as you work. The installation method is well described and illustrated in the included instructions.