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Meridian 206 CDP ...partial success

Chris Tarling

Yellow Hound
Back in the very early 90s I bought a Meridian 206 CDP new from my local Audio Excellence.

Serious money for someone newly married and with a big mortgage...

Anyway, loved it. A few years went by and I had it breathed on by Trichord Research - a Clock 3 and some changes to the output stages.

This elevated its performance significantly and I enjoyed its musicality until it gradually started to play up. Upon inserting a disk and pressing play it would simply display 'Err'. Quite often I could coax it into life by manually moving the laser and turning the CD. But the problem deteriorated until the day about 2-3 years ago when nothing would persuade it to play a disc.

Thinking the laser had cried 'enough', and knowing these were unobtainium I bought a used Meridian G06.2 to replace it.

Buoyed by my recent success with refurbishing the electronics of my 101/M2 purchase I decided to have a go with the 206 CDP. I had been reading on the net about how actual laser failures are low in number and often misinterpreted. Given the age of the machine I decided to recap it throughout and see where that took me.

This afternoon I put it back together.

And it's a partial, but quite encouraging, success. Given I have completely put it together, so I only have the display to indicate what it is doing, it would seem that I have fixed its refusal to read a disc. It appears to read and play a disc exactly as it should. No cajoling required.

I say 'appears' because it's not producing any output :(

Something I have done within has not been successful so I need to delve back into it. Now troubleshooting electronics is not an area in which I have any experience.

Are there any sages on here that can suggest where I start? Obviously I need to check my capacitor installations one by one.

Any other pointers or technique suggestions?

TIA.

Pic for interest:
 
On an older dac like this you're probably right, especially if the display is on. On newer dacs the mcu is often in the display board and that can lead to all sorts of shenanigans
 
First thing to try would be to attach an external DAC and check whether the digital output is working. If it does, i'd then check the power feeding the DAC chip is correct...
 
Update - took the optical output from the CD player into an external Meridian 203 DAC. And it works!
So that would seem to indicate that the problem is on the DAC board.
I have also ordered an inexpensive LCR meter which had good Amazon reviews.
Although I'd love it to have worked from the off I'm finding this all very encouraging. I had written the player off as having a dead and unobtanium laser but my re-capping has cured that.
Every cloud...
 
Or you've messed up a connection and bent a pin between the main board and the DAC. I'd certainly unplug/check/replug between the boards, and then as has been mentioned carefully check the soldering to see whether you've bridged the pins on a replacement cap. Re-flowing the solder joints on the replaced parts might also fix it, and also reduce the chance it's a dry solder joint.

But anyhow, sounds like the broken bit is now working, and a previously working bit is now broken. Welcome to electronics :)
 
Or you've messed up a connection and bent a pin between the main board and the DAC. I'd certainly unplug/check/replug between the boards, and then as has been mentioned carefully check the soldering to see whether you've bridged the pins on a replacement cap. Re-flowing the solder joints on the replaced parts might also fix it, and also reduce the chance it's a dry solder joint.

But anyhow, sounds like the broken bit is now working, and a previously working bit is now broken. Welcome to electronics :)

Not so simple as a connector issue - they are all good.
Going to have to dig deeper.
 
Starting to feel frustrated.
I have been back over the DAC board with as close an eye as I can manage. Nothing physically appears wrong.
I have also tried to check each capacitor in-situ with my LCR meter which has produced some results I don't understand. Some capacitors measure to their stated value (allowing for their tolerance) but some others I either get a high value - say almost 2000uf for a 1000uf nominal value or zero. Where I was seeing these 'inconsistencies' I removed the capacitor, checked its value off the board, and then reinstalled it.
I've just given the player another spin and unfortunately I am no further forward.

Suggestions please!
 


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