Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Two dead DAC's in DSP5000's?

Hi

I'm guessing that I've got two dead 24/96 DAC's in my rear DSP5000s. No audio from anything that I send when connected to any G68 digital output, front rear side etc.

It's odd that both have gone at the same time, but I've been thorough in my testing. Replacing them with a spare DSP5000C outputs audio. I've tried re-typing etc.

The only time audio is heard is if I run a speaker calibration test from the Meridian Config program, I'm guessing that the noise generator for this is local to the speaker. Sending a sine wave from the G68 outputs no audio to these speakers.

Is there any repair available for these? I've read elsewhere that replacement DAC's are no longer available.

I have two (I think) spare 24/96 DSP5000C's and was wondering if the DAC board in those can be used in the DSP5000's? If so, will I need to switch firmware?

I also have some spare DSP5000's but they are not 24/96, I'm assuming that introducing these to the G68 will downgrade the 24 bit resolution for the entire system?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks
Steve

That would be very surprising for them to fail like that. I would retype them to 5 and feed them with an SPDIF signal (CD player/ set top box). Worth checking the cable (double checking) is working. You had the processor as Controller?

An incorrect assumption. Speaker calibration tones are not generated in the speakers, but in (this case) the G68, just like the sine sweep.

So sounds like (or not, pun intended) that the fault lies outside the speakers.

Maybe a retype of G68.

Hi

Thanks ever so much for your feedback. Your comments have enabled me to prove that the DAC's are in fact good, but I'm now even more confused.

To be fair I had tried my old decommissioned 500 CD transport connected directly to one of the rear speakers a couple of days ago but I think the CD player is tired and although it read the number of tracks on the CD's it errored when I tried to play them.

Your comments today made me persevere and I dug out my old decommissioned 586 DVD transport. which fortunately is still working. I typed the Left Rear 5000 to 1 and connected directly to the 586. When I first tested it (using the TV source, configured for input D1) nothing. I then switched to the CD source and bingo! Switching back to the TV source then also worked – freaky but it works!

I repeated with the Right Rear 5000 and that worked also.

I've now reconnected to the G68, both speakers are currently typed to 1. I'm not sure if this is correct, perhaps you can advise. It's been a long time since I originally configured this system.

Anyhow, here is the situation now, and it's very odd, which leads me to suspect that it may indeed be a speaker configuration issue.

1) Meridian Config software speaker test – All 7.1 speaker's output white noise and work as expected.

2) G68 Sine wave test – Rears do not output the tone, all other speakers do.

3) I switched the digital outputs on the G68 rears for front and repeated the G68 Sine wave test. The fronts/main (now connected to the G68 rear digital out) output the tone, but the rears (now connected to the front/main digital output) don't.

I think that this proves that all speakers and the G68 outputs are good, so help with the correct configuration settings for the rears would be appreciated.

Should they be type 1, 5 or 6?

Anything else I should be watching out for?

Thanks
Steve

Hi Richard,

TYPE 6 is what you need, see DSP5000 User Guide page 32.

Don't forget to set the up as left (right) slaves after typing ... also covered in the user guide (page 33).

Regards,
Carl

Hi

Have set to type 6, same scenario.

Config white noise works, sine wave from G68 does not, nor does audio.

Help please!

Thanks
Steve

Try swapping D1/2 inputs over.

Sent you a private message

Hi

After days of pulling my hair our I've found the cause of the problem, but it's very strange.

The rear 5000's (which have previously worked fine - although not sure when they failed - it could have been some time ago) are no longer working when configured to 24/96 but work perfectly when configured for 18/48.

I am 99.9% sure that I paid for these to be upgraded and am now trying to find my invoice to check the serial numbers, which might be a trick as it was 10 years ago.

Believe me, these speakers have been in my theatre setup for years and previously worked perfectly with my G68.

1) Is it possible that these speakers have 'forgotten' that they are 24/96?

2) Is it possible that a firmware update to the G68 may have triggered the problem? Although I have not upgraded the firmware any time recently, the G68 did go back to Meridian for a repair to the DAC's a while ago and I wonder if they may have upgraded the firmware?

3) Is there any easy way of perhaps inspecing the DAC to determine if it is 24/96?

Thanks for everyones help.

Regards

Steve

I haven't read the whole thread but do you have HS=Yes on your G68?

Ken

+1 sounds like at some point someone set HS=Y in G68.

You should find two serial numbers on the back of each 5k - often one is hidden in the port.

If either starts 2 or higher, then they are 96/24, if both start 1, they are 18bit.

2 serial numbers - one for cabinet, one for electronics.

Upgraded DSPs *should* have the round 96/24 sticker on the back of each.