Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems G68J given up the ghost, repair or replace?

Hi,

My G68J has developed a fault and I am looking for advice as to whether or not to attempt to have it repaired or just replace it.

There is no display or sound on any output and the case is slightly warm when switched on.

I currently am using a Wiim Pro streamer directly into my DSP6000's until I decide what to do. Are these still worth investing in repairs?

I have removed and re-seated all of the boards and on visual inspection I can cannot see any suspect caps or signs of damage, the power supply has been upgraded in the past before I got it to a standard switched mode power supply.

I used the ADC in the G68 to play my Vinyl and liked the sound and I previously used an MPMax 221 which I also liked, The ADC in the Wiim Pro falls short of both of these.

I also used room correction on the G68 but I can fairly closely match the DSP profile on the Wiim Pro with a bit of tinkering.

As it stands just now I am fairly happy with the digital end but my turntable setup has regressed so do I try to get the G68 repaired or do I buy another 221 max and feed that into the Wiim pro?, what do you think?

Rgds
Stuart

Hi Stuart,

It could be that the PSU has expired again. If the capacitors on the backplane and other cards were not replaced, these would have added extra load and would have caused premature failure of any replacement PSU.

Take a look for any bulging or popped capacitors...

A new PSU is just over £75. I'd swap that and see if it at least boots up and operates. If so, get the capacitors replaced, and it should be fine.

If that's not something you're confident to do yourself, drop me a PM and I can sort.

Cheers,

Steve

HI Stuart,

I would definitely look at repairing it, in terms of versatility and performance, it’s still a hard match.

I have just finished repairing my G68ADV, which included fully removing the backplane and trying different power supplies in it (I don't recommend the Meanwell RPT 75B) ....it works, but runs as hot as the original UMEC UPO653S-01, which had nearly completely melted through one side of the Molex DC connector!

I don't know exactly how much effect it has, but I also replaced every single electrolytic capacitor in the entire unit, including those accessed from behind the display.... not an easy task.

My findings were interesting to say the least, of all the caps removed and replaced, less than a third were anywhere near their stated values, most were less than half that value and none had any visible signs of deterioration (barring those on the backplane).

I did also isolate an intermittently working 'DSP C/D' card, which was determined by swapping with another ('Bad Code Combination' following it on about 1 in 10 boot up's, immediately turning the power on and off always correcting this).

Anybody got any ideas on fixing that, I'm completely at a loss?

Persevere with the G68, it'll be worth it, I'm sure.

Paul.

Hi Paul,

Make sure the contacts on all the boards and the edge connector sockets on the backplane are perfectly clean (use some de-oxit spray), which should cure the intermittent loss of a DSP card.

The other thing to try is to re-flash the firmware onto the affected DSP card.

Good luck,

Steve

Hi Steve,

I don't want to hi-jack Stuart's Thread, but would just like to say I've done all those things (and more including replacing BA 033T) but the fault follows the suspect Card into another Processor (C61R) which is what I was able to swap cards with.

I haven't yet identified what makes a DSP card 'C/D' or 'E/F' as the topology looks very similar.

Many Thanks and back to Stuart!

Paul.

Another option to consider- use this opportunity to move up higher in the Meridian range and consider the 861v4. I used an 861v4/DSP6000 combo for many happy years.

Sending it off to Steve to see if its worth doing

Rgds
Stuart

This is great advice, if funds allow. Streaming through ID40 is superb, and the A/D stage in the 861v4 is lovely. I once ran vinyl into DSPs this way and it was brilliant.