meridian 101/105 help

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can anyone help i have a classic meridian 101 pre and two 105 power amps, i have a long lead set which seems to be giving my speakers bad feed back (humming and popping when i turn it on and off. my speakers ara gale gs401 and i have a meridian 507 cd player.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Need more info.

Start with the simple things 1st.
It could be a ground loop, check all plug/socket connections.

Does it still do it if you use another source, ie record deck?

If it does it is not the 207. It could well be a faulty cap / diode on the power rail side in any one of the other items. Try to narrow it down to which one by removing them one by one from the system.

You can use the 207 pre amp to feed into each of the 105 power amps for example.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
hi there i have had my 101 pre checked 2 day and my long lead signal leads which r fine too. the humming happens when the pre is off then pops when i turn them on, also i disconected my cd player to c if that was the problem but is still the same, any ideas mate cheers lewis
 
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Anonymous

Guest
So the 207 and the 101 are OK, along with the speaker cable.

Try removing each of the 105's in turn and see if it still happens. Suspect that 1 of them is faulty.

If it does it sounds as if you have leakage in the wiring.
Check with a meter if you have 0v on negative and earth rails. Sounds like somethings going to ground someware.
Still think it is likely to be a faulty cap in a piece of equipment.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
One of my JVCs has faulty caps (ie, they're leaking everywhere)...gives it a nice warm, cuddly sound
emotion-4.gif
 
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Anonymous

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we tried both amps and they both do it,( hum) so we tried my brothers 101 pre and it still made that noise, i have just got them back from meridian who said they had serviced them and told me they were fine but they r not.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
So what are you saying?

Lets have the full story, what have you had checked/serviced and why?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
i got them both of ebay last year but could not rig them up until i got long lead set now i have they make that noise which not suposed to do so i sent them off to meridian to service, they said they replace aload of transisters cos the amps were getting hot, and said the humming and feed back was gone but it aint, would u know what it might b because its like speaking to a brick wall with them
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Ah, what long lead set are you refering to?

Sorry for being bossy!
 
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Anonymous

Guest
ha ha your alright mate, its a signal cable so i can sit my amps close to my speakers with short speaker cable. would u think it my b a dodgy cap
 
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Anonymous

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hello mate they checked the cables over too i think i might take them back 2morrow cos it right to me
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Thanks, I would be inclind to keep the amps closer together as long as they are apart enough from the Pre amp and 207 so the power supply paths don't radiate.

If they all checked out OK with Meridian could it be that the signal path (of the long leads) is picking up mains borne inteference? You must ensure that they are kept well away from mains leads. They would generate lots of hum, but the snap, crackle and pop on switch on is quite extreme. What make of cables are you using?
 
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Anonymous

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we tried the amps togever but no diferent also used my brothers standard signal cable, i use chord crimson signal cable and sonic link speaker cable. i bet it is something petty doing all this
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Well it seems down to poor earthing on the mains, or maybe a tracking short across a plug/socket.

Would be tempted to try it out on another ring main supply, if poss in another house. Do check all the electrical connections 1st before even considering Meridian being at fault.

They have good quality control and I can't see them missing an obvious fault.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
i took them to work 2day and had them tried out by a sparky, i think theres a bad earth somewhere along the line, we even checked inside the plugs, i think its something to do with the amps
 
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Anonymous

Guest
What I'm not understanding, is that you just said "it's something to do with the amps" and that you "had them tried out by a sparky" and yet you also put it down to cables earlier on. I hate to be accusatory, but are you telling porkies or what?

Anyway, if Meridian checked the amps out and they were returned safely, then it's obviously not the amps is it? A more logical solution would be to check if there is a problem with the source or the speakers you are using.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Yes, as Hughes says, could it be a fault with the speakers?

Cap down on the crossover board, tracking/shorting etc.

Plug in another speaker, see what happens.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Fascinating thread. I'm looking at buying some Meridian kit second hand at the moment. One of the things I came across during my research related to popping sounds that some Meridian power amps give off when you start up the amp. It was to do with their push-pull design and was actually described in the manual. (You can download it from Meridian's website). They state in there, that it's normal for the speakers to thud or pop on startup of the amp, while it equalises. Obviously it shouldn't hum after that, but a startup thud is not something to be concerned about. The amp would certainly be working as normal.
Hope this helps.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Hi Will,

I have similar gear to you except that I have a Dali Ikon speaker setup and am going to review some Helicon 800's soon to go with my Arcam AVR 600( a bit on the expensive side!!). Did you compare Ikon 6's with your helicon 400's? I also used to have a Meridian 101/105s amp but think the 600 sounds much better. I also have just bought the OPPO hardware hacked Blu ray player so we are living sort of parallel lives. I would be interested in any comments not posted here if you want to email me?

huntersfold@tiscali.co.uk
 

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