A quick post to let readers know about the significantly updated FAQs and latest equipment for sale in the Store.
FAQs
Firstly to the FAQs, as this is something I can tackle from the couch. More on why that’s important shortly.
The FAQs contain a wealth of information on all manner of things from cartridges, to why older gear tends to be more reliable, to how to choose a repairer if you can’t bring equipment to me.
I’ve been slowly building this resource with the goal to create a library of readily accessible information for customers and readers. Now, with these significantly updated FAQs there are thousands of words of new content. Over 5080 100+ categorised and regularly updated FAQs cover amplifiers, CD players, turntables, cartridges, vintage vs modern hi-fi gear, service, repair, and more.
Some of the FAQs are small articles in their own right. I’ve updated all the categories, especially the Turntables & Vinyl group, with new questions about phono preamplifiers, setting up cartridges, belt-drive vs direct-drive turntables, MM vs MC cartridges and more. I’ve also revised many answers, added to the other groups and created a new General Hi-Fi group.
Take a look if you get a moment and let me know in the comments if there are any other questions you’d like me to answer. I’m constantly adding FAQs and suggestions are always appreciated.
The Store
Secondly, you might notice that I’ve been working on the site, updating the look and feel and writing a few new articles. There’s also a ton of new stuff available in the Store, specifically some really fantastic CD players and amplifiers. There is also quite a bit more to come soon, so stay tuned.
This stunning piece is still for sale!Someone has reserved purchased this beautiful piece…This gem has also just been sold
Post-pneumonia
Lastly, some may recall that I had pneumonia in 2018. What you may not know is that I’ve never been quite the same since. Post-pneumonia issues have again absolutely wiped me out after what should have been a regular cold. Some people develop chronic fatigue-like symptoms after pneumonia and this has unfortunately happened with me.
I’ve experienced periodic bouts of extremely low energy, coughing, headaches and other aches and pains, often precipitated by exertion. I can be OK for months and then it will kick back in with a vengeance as it has this time. My doc diagnosed the post-viral chronic fatigue syndrome after tests last year.
Anyway, it’s really slowed me down and I’m still dealing with it as of the end of August, 2021.
Krell
Some good news is that I worked through a ton of repairs and service work prior to getting sick. I am midway through repairing and overhauling a stunning Krell KSA100S class-A power amplifier, followed by a Krell KRC-HR preamplifier. What a beautiful beast she is!
Very complex work, there is no room for error when working on amplifiers like these.
Galahs!
Onwards and upwards as always and I hope you enjoy this photo of my wonderful Galahs, otherwise known as pink and grey cockatoos. These two are twice-daily Liquid Audio visitors and beautiful native birds.
The Meridian 506 CD player is a seriously good machine, one of the best I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. This 506 had a strange fault, read on for more…
If you want a smooth, relaxed, organic-sounding player, you’ll go a long way to find one better than a Meridian 506. Meridian really was on a roll when they produced the 506, 507 and 508 series of CD players, from the mid-nineties. All are superb players, easily beating most affordable machines even now.
I like the look of this series even from the front. The combination of black, matt plastics, metal and glass works very well and the 506.24 is a very well-made player.
Plenty has been written about just how good the 506 series sounds, especially the 506.24. This TNT review is a good starting point. If you want a few more technical details, revision history and owner’s manuals, check out the very useful Meridian-Audio Info page about the 506. I like the Meridian 506 so much that this unit has become my reference CD player.
I’ll review the 506 in an upcoming piece. In this article, I’ll outline the original service and repair work I did to the player, laser replacement, the unit’s mystery fault, and finally, the moment I uncovered the underlying fault that lay dormant in this 506.24 for many years!
Service – The Mystery Begins…
This 506.24 came to me for service, exhibiting a fairly common fault with the loading mechanism. I repaired the fault with the loader and serviced the player, all fairly standard stuff, requiring no major surgery.
With the lid off, let’s take a quick look at the Meridian 506. I think this is pretty self-explanatory, but note the nice touches like the custom-designed and built metal loader and, tucked away at the rear of the player, the discrete class-A output buffer. Very nice to see this and just part of why the 506.24 sounds so good.Here you can see the VAM 1205, set into the completely custom Meridian plastic and metal loader. Note that this is the original laser.Here’s a closer look at the class-A, discrete output buffer. Astute observers will pick out the tantalum capacitors, Nichicon MUSE caps and WIMAs, all expensive parts. Note the tray load motor in the background.I took all of this apart for cleaning and lubrication, standard in a service like this. This area needs a little time spent on it to get things running smoothly.The loader drive gear and drive belt always need attention. In this case cleaning, lubrication and replacement of the drive belt.These Teflon strips sometimes become detached and caught in the mechanism on the 500 series players. I re-glued this strip and made sure everything else worked smoothly before reassembly.
So, with the loader serviced, everything cleaned and lubed and back together, I plugged the player in, hoping for a smooth-running drawer. The drawer did indeed now work perfectly, but the player would not read a disc. WTF..?
Extended Repair – New Laser/Mech
My testing of this 506.24 showed that the spindle motor wasn’t working properly. It was getting power, but not spinning. All CD players eventually need replacement lasers. Laser power output drops over time. Eventually, power output will drop to a point where the energy reflected off the disc is no longer enough to enable correct focus and tracking. Sometimes spindle motors fail too and, based on the symptoms, that seemed to be the case here.
The 506 was manufactured with two different Philips laser mechs. This unit uses a VAM 1205, but others seem to use a CDM 12.4. I have a supplier of both CDM 12.4 and VAM 1205 mechs. Much has been written about these mechs and there is much much misunderstanding about them. They are NOT interchangeable. The VAM 1205 has a hall-effect motor, whilst the CDM 12.4 uses a standard DC motor. You have to use the right part for the player in question.
Anyway, I chatted with the customer and explained the situation. Obviously, this deeper fault had to be repaired and this would take a new mech and possibly a bit more troubleshooting. I felt that this was worth doing, but the owner just didn’t want to proceed any further. Instead, he very kindly offered to donate the unit to me, thanks again Jed, your donation is genuinely appreciated.
Some months later, I replaced the laser/mech, not sure if this would fix the problem.
So to take this repair to the next level, the entire loader/mech has to be removed. There are lots of little screws and washers, so organisation is important when working on anything like this.With the loader/mech removed, the laser and motor drive circuitry is revealed. I carefully examined all of this for faults, measured capacitors etc.This is the loader/mech still attached to the main tray assembly. Note the ribbon cable of the VAM 1205 motor. This is different to the two-wire loom of the CDM 12.4 motor.This is the laser mech carrier, removed from the main tray. Next, I carefully removed the old mech and installed the new one.This is the new VAM 1205 assembly. I should mention that these are not genuine Philips parts, which are NLA. They are in fact clones, possibly remanufactured from original Philips parts, with some new bits added. Either way, the units I get work well.
The Ah-Ha moment!
So, with the 506.24 serviced and now with a new mech installed, you can imagine my anticipation about finally testing her. I carefully put everything back together, not a trivial exercise, inserted a test disc and hit play… Nothing. The player was still dead. Not happy.
This 506 obviously contained a fundamental flaw that was preventing her from running. Further testing now showed that the spindle motor was getting intermittent power, but why? I spent several hours going over the drive and control board.
Finally, after much time spent tracing power and other circuits, I found it. It’s evident in the image below, I wonder if you can see it?
This is the power supply for the laser and mech. I traced motor power from the connector at the right, onto the board. From there, power runs up to the soldered-in fuse, top-right. This is a nice touch by Meridian engineers, designed to prevent over-current damage. When I probed the fuse, there was a tiny spark from within the joint…
Resolution – Final Fix of the 506
So, I found my smoking gun. A very dry joint in the mech power supply caused an intermittent break in power to the motor. This fault had obviously been there a long time, waiting to fail completely. The joint would have been barely adequate when manufactured, and then gradually deteriorated over time to the point where simply moving the player would have caused it to fail.
In other words, simply delivering the player to me was probably all that it took to finally break the joint completely. Once broken, the player could never read a disc again until I repaired this tiny fault. I wonder how many Meridian 506s were scrapped because of a fault like this?
Finally, I’d found and fixed the fault that accounted for the intermittent symptoms and other weird effects I’d observed. I reflowed the joint and the player sprang back to life, working perfectly from then on.
Apologies for the grainy enlargement. Look closely at the joint I’ve highlighted. You’ll see there is no solder on it, likely none on the bottom pad either. This lead was free to wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle – yeah. When my DMM probe bridged the gap, current flowed, causing the spark. I’d found the problem, by tracing the circuit. The fault was there for a long time, I suggest the joint was only ever marginal and, as time passed, it became a point of failure.Finally, this beautiful Meridian 506.24 lives again! Partnered up with my modified Tri-Vista 21, this is a killer player/DAC.
This wonderful Meridian 506.24 CD player plays on as part of my system, for now.
I’d be very happy to service or repair your Meridian 506, 507 or 508. Get in touch to start the conversation!
