Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems DSP5200 strange problem

Hi All:

After enjoying my 8ks for a few months, finally my DSP5200 arrived and I use it in my dining room, but it's having a very strange problem...

Day 1
Using MSR+ to set Left Master speaker to Left Slave and Right speaker to Master.
Hook up the Speaker with Pioneer 969 (US Spec Pioneer Elite DV-59AVi)
Plays fine and works wonderfully.

Day 2
Came back from Work. Turn on the speakers from “stand by” and started the player. No sound from Left speaker.
So I setup the left speaker to “Right” “Master” and “Left” “Master”, connect the player directly. Still no sound. (By doing this it means it's not the left or right channel problem)
Though the display screen clearly shows “PCM 44K” when the CD is playing, and “PCM NL” when not playing. (This should mean the DSP board is working and having incoming signal)
I can still hear a small hiss from three drives. (Should mean the power amp is also working)
I even change the player from Pioneer to Toshiba SD-9200 (Which was serving my 8ks without any problem), still same symptom.

Then I left the speaker off for about 15-20 mins it worked flawlessly after turned on (for about 30 sec).
So I set the speaker back to “Left” Slave” and connect with the right master speaker.
The system again works, fine. Then I turn off the DVD Player, but left the speakers on and went to sleep.

Day 3
After woke up, left speaker isn`t producing sound again.
So I tried to let it off for 1 hour, but this time the sound did not come back.
I turned on the Player and let it play. Sound only came out from right speaker, not left.
I tried lightly tapping the speaker at back, strangely the sound came out. Not for long, lasted for 2-3 mins, then went silent again. Tap again but miracle didn`t happen.

Day 5
Went away for two days, during the two days I unplugged the left speaker from power completely. When I came back home, it worked again!! But not for long.
Same problem, no sound from left again....

Day 6
A friend who studied Electronics came to my house have a small check.
And this time the left speaker weren't letting us down. It's working. However I need to show him that sometimes the left speaker can have problem. So I unplugged the SPDIF cable from Pioneer and plug into the Toshiba player. Whala.. Left sound is gone again.
He unplugged the main power (did not switch off from the back) and the SPDIF cable, then plugged them back, and I switch the cable back from Toshiba to Pioneer.
Sound came alive again...
And after that instance, the speaker keeps on working until now. Even when the speaker out from standby, or I turn off the main switch at back. The left is just back to work!!


So what can be the problem??? Anyone have a suggestion?

PS I live in Taiwan and purchased this from US. Therefore making the servicing very troublesome... So it would be good to identify the exact problem. If it's something wrong with the board, then US can ship me the module to replace. So please let me know your thoughts.

Check the comms cable from the right master to left slave.

Just occasionally I've had a similar problem with one of my DSP6ks. This seems to mostly occur after a period away when I have powered down the speakers. After a couple of episodes I have focussed on the SPDIF cable and/or connections as the most likely culprit as unplugging at speaker and/or processor and re-connecting seems to solve the problem. Unfortunately my "frantic" efforts to get it working have not allowed me the true systematic investigation my analytic mind desires.

Once it's working it seems OK until I leave it for a while.

Hope this helps,

Chris

Hi Virus:

They are connected properly.

I've also tried setting the left to "Master" and let it have SPDIF signal directly. The screen will display "PCM 44K" but no sound. (So this should eliminate the Comm cable problem) But thanks for the suggestion. I really wanna exam all possible scenario.

This problem is very bizarre. I called Meridian UK a few times and they said never encounter such problem.

If the screen can display PCM 44k it means there is incoming signal

Also if the speaker still produce the hiss sound it means the power amp is working.

They think it's interconnecting problem, but I opened once and did not find anything wrong.

It was yesterday I asked a friend who is electronic expert. When he was here my speaker started working fine... So at the end we did nothing, just sit down and enjoy the music.

Is it possible that the DSP computer need running in? (before it can produce sound.. = =)...

I very much doubt it.

I ran my SB3 into my DSP's and would occassionally get silence. I put this down to losing lock or something derived from the SB3 end of things.

You could have a similar issue with the output of your player.

Also, check that only one speaker is Master and Controller assuming that you have no processor involved).

Is it the same using either inputs 1 and 2 ?

What Type have you given to the DSP's ?

Is the power stable that feeds your DSP's?

Just random questions, but, we'll find something that's causing it I think

Black: ncpl
Blue: STA

I very much doubt it.

I ran my SB3 into my DSP's and would occassionally get silence. I put this down to losing lock or something derived from the SB3 end of things.

I also suspect losing clock. But the right speaker always has sound (when the left speaker isn't producing any sound). BTW, when you get silence, are both speakers silent? Or only one of them? I think a lot of users on this forum are using SB3. Do you also experience similar problem?

The Toshiba SD-9200 was quite a nice digital transport about 5 years ago. So I doubt it is producing dirty sound. Also the DSP-8ks have no problem with the Toshiba player.



You could have a similar issue with the output of your player.

Both Pioneer and Toshiba had made the speaker silent.



Also, check that only one speaker is Master and Controller assuming that you have no processor involved).

Yes, I'm connecting the player directly to DSP Speakers.


Is it the same using either inputs 1 and 2 ?

Yes, I tried setting "Tape" as using input 2. The screen also shows "PCM 44k" but producing no sound.


What Type have you given to the DSP's ?

Type 1. I did not change the type. Only change Master/Slave. I also tried changing left channel to right channel. Still no sound when it's having problem.


Is the power stable that feeds your DSP's?

Yes, stable.


Just random questions, but, we'll find something that's causing it I think


Thanks for the questions and help ^^. Honestly if I live in the states I'll simply return the left speaker however it's not that simple in this case.

Most strangely.. The damn problematic speaker is still working fine while I'm typing the message. Hope the so far unkown problem will not come up again.

does that mean that it's always your slave losing sound or the master?
If it's the slave, then I'd suspect a cable or connection issue with comms or SPDIF between master and slave. Re-seating the cables as your friend did may have resolved the issue. You could open each plug and verify all joints are OK.

I think my SB3 silence was both (although not 100% as it was 1.5yrs ago), but, I haven't had that problem since using SB+.

It was always the left speaker losing sound. (No matter if I set it to Master or Slave).

It's has been showing no problem for past two days. I guess if this goes for another week then it should be quite safe.

Which speaker is Controller?

Master does not equal Controller don't confuse the two.

Master sends volume commands to all Slaves.
Controller sends IR commands to Master.

Also watch out for fluorescent light bulbs (like the new compact ones).

How do I know which speaker is the controller?

Yes, the fluorescent light bulb is causing problem for my DSP-8ks.. So I just remove the light bulb. Wonder if a power conditioner can act as a shield.

It's in the "0" Menu (Hold down 0 key while turning it on)

See page 54 of the DSP Speaker Manual.

If both speakers are controllers it will act flakey.

The default is "Auto" controller which means you can use the remote for it to pick which should be controller automatically. I think it's the "Clear" key. Have both speakers in View and hit the Clear Key. But I like to set them manually. One Controller and One not in your case.

A power conditioner will not solve a fluorescent bulb problem. It's giving off pulsing IR light and confusing the receiver from reading the remote (i.e. it's being jammed).

I know this is very old thread. But I just wanted to say that I had a similar problem. DSP5200s would just stop working for no apparent reason. What was tricky about this problem is that there were two causes. Of course, the obvious one was a loose connection. The other was loss of communication with the processor. Switching the AC power to the processor off/on did the trick.