Hi Jim,

Without knowing the condition of the Duo-Art reproducing system in
your piano, it's difficult to recommend the use of any electric vacuum
pump that uses turbines to generate the vacuum.

Most owners are not aware that the Duo-Art mechanism works on a
principle of 'controlled leakage'. From expression levels 1-9, a knife
valve in the expression device allows an ever decreasing amount of
atmosphere to flow into the system. In other words, when the system
is playing the music at the lowest volume level, the greatest amount
of air is being allowed into the system. At level 10, the valve closes,
and stays closed until the system reaches level 15. At that level, the
crash valve opens, which allows a controlled amount of air into the
system. The primary reason that this controlled leakage is in place
to prevent an excessive load on the rotary vacuum pump since the
pump itself does not have a relief (or regulator) valve.

In a Duo-Art system that is in excellent condition, the actual amount
of air flowing through the system at the lower volume levels is not all
that great. Still, it is constantly there. In systems that are aging, and
have an increased amount of valve and cloth leakage, it is necessary
to increase the speed of the electric vacuum pump to compensate for
that leakage. The point is that even under the best of conditions, the
noise generated by air flowing across the turbines can be annoying.
As the system ages, the noise factor increases as leakage increases.

So, there is no way for me to know if you will consider the noise of the
pump so great that you will be dissatisfied. Unfortunately, I cannot
take a pump back once it has been used. That's why am providing
you with this detailed explanation.

Please let me know if I should continue with your order.

Musically,

John A Tuttle
Player-Care.com
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