Dead Aerius - any ideas?

[the-chauffeur]

Hey gang

I switched on my system today and found that one of my Aerius' isn't working. No front light, no sound, nada. Swapped the power cord/outlet to make sure it wasn't a cabling/supply SNAFU, but they're all fine.

I've opened up the back of the box and had a look round (carefully not touching anything) and can't see anything untoward - there's no burn marks on anything and all of the wires look well connected. Saying that, there's a red LED in the middle of what I assume is the main control PCB which is also out (as in no light when power is on). I was kinda praying that it would be as simple as an internal fuse that had gone, but I can't see one.

Any idea what my next move is? Given that both of the LEDs are out, I'm guessing it's got to be a power outage at a fairly early stage in the supply chain, but I have no idea how to go on from there.

Help . . . please. I have a nasty feeling this might be very expensive . . .

Regards


Neil

 

[slowGEEZR]

I had an Aerius that died, called Martin Logan, described the problem and they sent me a new power supply. There were only two or three wires to solder, very easy. Give them a call.

 

[the-chauffeur]

I screwed that up, didn't I . . . ?

Thanks Steve.

Sorry - I've got Ascents, not Aerius'. D'oh.

I've just pulled the PCB out and it all looks fine, but I think you're probably right about the power supply.

Here's the front:

. . . and the rear:

Can't see anything outta place. Guess I'll drop Jim Power an e-mail (living in the UK and all) :music:

Regards - and here's hoping it's not too painful a job.



Neil

 

[slowGEEZR]

Sorry Neil, didn't notice you lived in the UK. I'm not sure about their (ML) policy/processing for outside of the US. Good luck.

 

[Tosh]

Before you contact ML, you should check for a bad connection in the wire connectors and on that 14-pin IC (by just pressing it down a bit). If it still doesn't work, try swapping the boards left to right to see if the problem follows the board or the panel.

 

[the-chauffeur]

Thanks folks.

Tosh - you were half right on both points. I mailed Jim Power, who got back very quickly and said that he thought the op amp (the chip you mentioned leaning on) might have given up. I swapped it with the one in the other speaker and yup - it's the chip that's gone.

I'll pick one up from Maplin (our equivalent of Radio Shack) and all things being equal, we should be back in business pretty darn soon.

Phew - that's a relief.

Neil

 

[Pcar928fan]

Jim Power is THE MAN!!! This forum is THE BOMB!!! Between the folks here and Jim Power at ML home office you can't go wrong owning ML speakers. Not to mention they sound PHENOMENAL...at least the ESL models! The NON-ESL's don't do it for me but to each his own.

 

[the-chauffeur]

I'll second that James - particularly the bit about Jim.

Not only was I able to get hold of him directly, but in addition to telling me the probable causes, he e-mailed instructions on how to change the chips. I guess it's something they come across fairly regularly, but let's face it, a less scrupulous outfit would probably have told me the boards needed returning.

And I'm pretty sure that although they're s'posed to, my speakers never auto-powered off before I changed the chips (they were either on or off). So I've now got a new feature . . . bonus!

 

[Audioseduction]

And I'm pretty sure that although they're s'posed to, my speakers never auto-powered off before I changed the chips (they were either on or off). So I've now got a new feature . . . bonus!

How cool is that!