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Melos Mat 185 schematic or repair needed [message #9842]

Sun, 15 October 2006 16:15

fxbill
Messages: 8
Registered: May 2009

Esquire

Hi,
I recently picked up a Melos power amplifier. I believe the model is a Mat 185, but it doesn't say anywhere. It runs a quad of 6kg6's and is a huge 75 lb beast.
The left channel operates great, but the right channel has a problem with the auto bias circuit. Each tube has it's own led next to the tube and on each channel you can see as one led grows brighter the complimentary tube's led gets a little dimmer. On the right channel, however, one led is at full brilliency all the time and the other doesn't light at all. Needless to say the tube with the full lit led glows cherry red within a minute and the right channel just makes an occasional shuddering noise through the speaker.
I have swapped the op amps from the right side to the left side with the same results, but can't fo much farther without some sort of schematic.
Does anyone here have one, know where I could get one or know of a reasonable repair shop that knows Melos equipment? I love the sound from the one operating channel and would really like to get this unit repaired.
Thanks for any help you might offer!
Bill

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Re: Melos Audio Restoration (MAR) [message #9943 is a reply to message #9842]

Fri, 06 April 2007 05:22

blazter
Messages: 2
Registered: May 2009

Esquire

I own a Melos preamp and LOVE the nasty-lookin' old thing. Have sent it back for repair and upgrades to Melos Audio Restoration in Vegas a few times. The upgrades were both of their design (all-tube design), and sometimes of mine (replaced all Solen caps w/ Auricaps one day for some reason)They were employees at one time that bought the company name when the chief designer and audio genius/guru decided to go do something else. They REALLY GUARD all schematics from Melos and are VERY hard to find online even. Their repair work is very reasonable and of good quality though. Havew not been in contact for a few years but I'd start there by seeing if thery are still around first.

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Re: Melos Audio Restoration (MAR) [message #9944 is a reply to message #9943]

Fri, 06 April 2007 22:23

fxbill
Messages: 8
Registered: May 2009

Esquire

Hi,
I got my Melos for $200 from a dealer who took it in on trade with a bad channel. The auto bias was not working.
I was able to find a repair shop in Atlanta with a wonderful tch there who was happy to share his knowledge about the unit with me. It took changing one resistor, resoldering some cold joints and replacing one 50 cent op amp. The amp was phenominal sounding. My biggest problem with it was the depth which required pulling my stereo cabinet out from the wall about a foot and a half!
I sold it to a fellow in South Korea for better than $1200. A tidy profit for an hours work.
I still have 2 McShane modded Citation 2s and 2 Goden Tube SE-40s and an AR d-115 to play with so I'm not completetly without.
Thanks for your reply!
Regards,
Bill

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Re: Melos Audio Restoration (MAR) [message #9945 is a reply to message #9943]

Fri, 06 April 2007 22:35

fxbill
Messages: 8
Registered: May 2009

Esquire

Hi,
I got my Melos for $200 from a dealer who took it in on trade with a bad channel. The auto bias was not working.
I was able to find a repair shop in Atlanta with a wonderful tech there who was happy to share his knowledge about the unit with me. It took changing one resistor, resoldering some cold joints and replacing one 50 cent op amp. The amp was phenominal sounding. My biggest problem with it was the depth which required pulling my stereo cabinet out from the wall about a foot and a half!
I sold it to a fellow in South Korea for better than $1200. A tidy profit for an hours work.
I still have 2 McShane modded Citation 2s and 2 Golden Tube SE-40s and an AR d-115 to play with so I'm not completetly without.
Thanks for your reply!
Regards,
Bill

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Re: Melos Audio Restoration (MAR) [message #9946 is a reply to message #9944]

Sat, 07 April 2007 17:14

blazter
Messages: 2
Registered: May 2009

Esquire

Yes, Melos is still good gear. The designer from Melos is back at it now w/ some spiffy new technology for playing CD's. Very expensive stuff I guess.

I got my preamp which was a Sha Gold that had been upgraded to Meastro status for $400 b/c it had a bad channel. I sent it to MAR and for a couple hundred they got her working fine. Since then I've sent it back for a few upgrades andhave been pretty happy w/ it. I'll always keep it b/c they are such great headphone amps, but what made me really appreciate the old thing was getting a new BAT preamp in here. The VK-32SE goes for $8000 MSRP and you know, that old Melos holds it's own against it here.

Anyway, the people at MAR are great folks so anytime you see any classic Melos stuff don't be scared of it. I may pick up there three piece preamp, Music Director 333, one day if a good deal comes along. It'll keep up w/ anything up to 10K still that is made today.

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