Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Centre speaker sounds like its through water!

Hi

I have the 18 bit dsp5000 fronts, 24bit upgraded 5000c, 565Z3 processor, 562V and 500cd.

We have frequent powercuts here and usually when I first listen after a powercut, the centre speakers sounds wobbly / sounds like its through water!! and often crackles.

Turning everything off and back on again gradually has always cured the problem, until now.

Whatever sequence I use to power up now, the centre sounds awful.

However, if set to the 565 DSP setting of 'Direct', (i.e. the centre is not used), it sounds OK. Any DSP mode using the centre sounds bad.

So its either the centre or the centre output of the 565.

Has anyone else here had similar? And of so, whats the cure?

The only other 'symptom' which may not be connected, is the comms side of things can be a bit hit and miss occassionally. The volume settings of the processor sometimes doesnt keep up with the speakers from the MSR for example.

Try swapping the centre and left or right over. Does the issue move with the 5000c or stay in the centre ? If the latter then it's perhaps 565.

If your volume gets out of sync it's probably that you have >1 controller

Hi,

A-ha, yes I've often had this problem after a power cut. It doesn't affect any source which is originally digital - only analogue sources converted to digital. CD and DVD sources were ok - just the TV was affected. I've upgraded to a G68 now, so I had forgotten about that problem. I had spoken with M at Huntingdon (in the good old days) about it and they were mystified. I used to leave everything in standby, turn off the Speaker electrically, wait a while and then switch it back on. This invariably cured the problem. I had even set up two distinct settings for TV viewing, one Trifield, one Stereo, using TV and Cable as the presets. This was my fallback if I couldn't resolve the problem.

The powering down of the speaker worked (eventually) each time.

Best wishes,

Roy Woods

ncpl
Good points.I will investigate both

Woodro1
It happens with anything, DVD, CD transport, Tele etc in any DSP mode that uses the centre. However, all goes through the 562V.

Verify your center tweeter works. Nicks suggestion will help verify that problem.

The centre on my 565 system always stays muted for about a second after coming out of standby. This on DSP5000C Mk 1, Mk2 and now my DSP5200HC so I assume its something to do with the 565.

Another thought; could the centre think that it is a right speaker not left (IYSWIM) and thus is getting the sub output?

I have been investigating things...

At the moment, only my 500 CD Transport, when connected via the normal 4mm digital o/p direct to the 565 dig input, in Trifield or any DSP mode, causes the horrible sound. In stereo mode through the 565, it sounds fine. (Suggests therefore that the 565 is at fault).

However, I also have a 598 DVD player and if I connect the Aux Digital output (4mm)of the 598 (using the same CD in both cases by the way)to the same input of the 565, the sound is fine in all modes!! (This suggests it is the 500 CD Transport that is playing up).

So, how can a faulty 500 CD transport be awful in Trifield but OK in Stereo? Considering both the 500 and the 598 are using the same type of digital output into the 565, it doesnt make sense....unless someone knows different......

If the 598 via 565 works perfectly, the fault cannot lie there.
Do you use the same digital cable (75 ohm) for both players? Have to rule everything out.
Just thoughts, Chris

I have been investigating things again and

1). have cured both the strange sound from the Centre Speaker and
2). the vol control of the 565 getting out of sync with the Master Speaker.

1). Reading the Forums, some people have had problems with other devices that have required a reflash of the firmware. I couldnt find any download for the 565 so I went into the setup of the 565 and reconfigured everything again, in the hope that this would fix things....and it did!!

Whether it was a corruption thing due to power cuts or a conflict thing due to some sources set to the same input as other sources (which was the case), I dont know. I suspect both because it all used to work fine....until I had a power cut.

Anyway, I reconfigured the Type, the Layout and the especially the Sources. I did have, for example the Optical input set to 2 sources so a conflict may have been part of the problem. I also changed all the inputs to accept the type of input associated with that device (ie CD = Trifield, digital input: DVD = digital THX, digital input, radio = Trifield, analogue input etc). The configuring each source is part of the Config but you have to press Source after entering Config to get into that area.
I await further power cuts to find out!!

2). I had 2 controllers. It works much better with just 1.!!! Thanks to ncpl for that one!

A single physical input set to multiple logical sources (as on the remote), if that is what I understand that you mean, is relatively common and is basically what a phantom source is.

This allows a single input to have multiple pre-sets and also forms the basis of daisy chaining other components such as the 562 where a single physical input (say D1) may have multiple physical devices connected via an upstream component (such as the 562) with each one being selected via a different source on the remote.

That is correct.

However, with power cuts and the subsequent unstable start ups, who knows what the internals of the 565 made of it all. Not alot from the way things sounded!!

Get a surge protector on your mains lead, It will do no harm AFAIK.
Mines ok with one, Chris