Panel Dead

[Blitzer]

I am not hearing noise from my cinema center channel panel. I have a volt meter and am not scared to open things up. The speaker is 3 years out of warranty and I bought it used. Would putting the volt meter on the wires to the panel tell me anything useful? Voltage = bad panel. No voltage = bad power supply?

Thanks

 

[GDSA]

I'd check for simple fixes first. Connections, power in, fuse on power supply board (if one).
Sometimes the iec socket can get contacts to PCB broken, if it is not securely screwed to the chassis. cheers, Greg

 

[Blitzer]

Well, I opened it up and did not see a fuse. I put the volt meter on the black and red leads to the panel and some small readings - don't know what the electricity level should be to the panels.... What is the purpose of the different wires - red, black, blue to the panel?

I initially suspected power supply issues because it seems intuitive that there would be at least some sound from the panel if the panel was going bad rather than just complete silence. Correct me if I am wrong.

Any other crazy thing to try before I start crying :sad:

 

[MrBT]

To check panel voltage you may need hi-voltage meter (kV). Normal meter has range usually up to 600V.
If you already tried checking voltage with your meter (assuming it is normal range) and didn't fry the meter, looks like PSU.
I think, red and blue are opposite polarity and black is ground.

 

[roberto]

To check panel voltage you may need hi-voltage meter (kV). Normal meter has range usually up to 600V.
If you already tried checking voltage with your meter (assuming it is normal range) and didn't fry the meter, looks like PSU.
I think, red and blue are opposite polarity and black is ground.

This is correct. On the other side, you have two small cone speakers on each side and a center tweeter. If the speaker is totally muted, then the amp that it is driving this speaker could be fault. Also a loose connection at the back of its amplifier or at the speaker could to this too. If you are saying that the panel is not working at all, then you might have a faulty power supply or a bad panel. To check this, you need the above recommendation. The High voltage there at the red color cable should be around 3.5KV D.C. Happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[Blitzer]

I talked with Martin Logan and they had be run through a couple of test. The telling test was to play music on it without the PSU hooked up and then plug in the PSU and see if you can hear a crackle or anything. I heard nothing - so he said that this means the PSU is dead. $195 for that if I install.

 

[Blitzer]

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[Blitzer]

The power supply was indeed dead. I replaced and all is good. Word of caution. Take pictures of the original power supply and all the connections to the wires. The power supply I got from ML was different than the original. I had to work it out based on the pictures and feedback from ML. ML was very nice and responsive. Also, make sure the speaker has been unplugged for a good period of time(day?) before doing this so there is no voltage left in the thing.