[Galimero]

What do you guys recommend for the capacitors in the pre amp, instead of the 0.22uF K73-16. And do I need 0.22uf capacitors or 0.47uf capacitors? A bit confused. And any good recommendations as a substitute for the main elna capacitors?

 

[Nevron]

Hello again all,

After i changed the two 50v 10KμF capacitor i am having a weird effect. Everything sounds better indeed in terms of bass frequencies that the speakers earlier did not have.
The optical and the digital cable plays fine through out all speakers. However when i use the 3.5mm analogue 5.1 channel jacks, i get sounds from center, sub, rear left and rear right, except the front left and front right channel. I have measured the control pod supply lines and i get the following measurement, for the +8v i get 7.94, for the +18 i get 18.34 and for the -18 i get -17.43. What i changed in the sub so far is the LM217T voltage regulator, the 25V 47KμF capacitor and the two big one capacitor that does the power filtering and R21 AND R22 resistor that looked like it were burned but had 36Ohms on both however i decided to change them with new ones just in case. The actual measurement on the big capacitor pins are both 34.3V. The voltage regulators for the big capacitor read input 34.3, same as the capacitor pin measurement and the output reads -17.43 and +18.34, same as the control pod pins. The digital cable does send signal from all 3 3.5mm jacks, so the issue is related from the control pod down to the sub since all the speakers play fine using the optical or digital input, therefore the problem only resides in the 5.1 sound input (speakers are good and their cabling to the sub).

I am not sure what else to think off about fixing it. I have measured the LM217D2 voltage regulators on the control pod, the one near the volume potentiometer reads 5 to 7 volts output, the one on top which i think is for the lcd screen reads 3.3V output and the one in the middle which i think is for the cirrus logic decoded chip reads 2.5V output.

First, i would like to ask what should be the nominal volt value coming from the toroidal rectifier to the capacitors, should it be around 50V or is 34.3 a good value? I can read on the toroidal capacitor that the two lines going to the rectifier should be 26.4V respectivly, but there is only 34.3 coming out from there going to the big caps.

Secondly, is the LM217D2 voltage regulator on the control panel, the one in the middle, good with 2.5V? I think i read somewhere that it's output should be around 5V, 2.5 for each chip out of two that controls the speakers amp.

Finally, could it be that it is just a short circuit in the 3.5mm jack receiver on the control panel for the two speakers (right and left) in the front? There is not hiss or ground like noise coming out of them, totally silent.

I am trying to look at the percentage of a) faulty toroidal capacitor, b) faulty toroidal rectifier, c) faulty voltage regulators on the sub that produce the -18 and +18 volts, d) faulty LM217D2 regulator that powers the cirrus logic chip, e) faulty 3.5mm jack input on the control pod.

Any ideas what to look for that would allow me to pin point something that might be out of order?

Thank you,
Alex.

 

[pikokk]

Hi guys,
I solved the noise problems in the right front speaker by changing the 2 large filter capacitors! I'm happy!

i ordered all the material for the first step mod, while waiting i changed the satellites, i replaced them with jbl scs 200 and it already sounds a thousand times better

now I am getting the unhealthy idea, but if I take the cone of the original speakers and replace them with those of the jbl, does it sound better or worse?

 

[snaxez]

Does anyone know values for following components on PID R621 control pod:
C308
C740
R725
R726

 

[Nevron]

Hello,

I have no sound from the control panel side input and no sound from the stereo1 channel. I have tested the audio socket connections on the pcb and no rpoblem there. Speakers are playing fine when i connect to stereo2 and stereo3 (pink and black audio sockets).

Does anyone know what parts on the pcb are responsible for the sound of the green socket?.

Measured the 3 op amps on the bottom, two of them measure at 32 volta, one of the 16v. Is the side input related with the green jack in any way?

 

[twist3d]

new tweeters. new mod. more of a finished product. i didn't have a stepping bit. so its a tiny bit unfinished. i will get the bit before i do the rest so they look perfect. still have to put it back together. and solder the capacitor

Hey there, I'm interested in doing the same thing. I bought a set of satellites for the system super cheap like 70-80$ with shipping. I didn't want to modify the original ones.
So could you help me with a schematic and some parts you used ?

thanks

 

[Recorder86]

Greetings everyone.

I was having problems with my Z5500 sound system since a year ago and i have decided to open it up and have a look. After reading plenty of topics in forums and stuff that usually breaks down i was convinced i could fix it on my own. My problem was that it kept shutting down on its own and it would never come back on. The power button was off instead of read. I have contacted Logitech for a probable control pod supply but to no availability.

What i did so far is to change the 25V 4700mF capacitor to a new Nichicon and the LM217T voltage regulator, new mica pads on the TDA'S with thermal paste and to the LM217T. However it keeps shutting down. I have yet to change the two 50v 10.000mF power filter capacitors since the problem is not fixed, i haven't done that because my solder iron got burned and i am going to get a new one. Also, i have measured all the surrounding resistor R21,R20,R16 and so on and all seems to be okey. I have checked the speaker connections to the subwoofer and they all work fine, the control pod cable is good, the fuse in the back of the sub is good too.

After trial and error i have discovered two ways to bring it back in life. The first is if while the power button in the back of the sub is on and i short the adjustment and input pin of the LM217T, the red light on the control pod lights up and when i press it, it comes on. The second method i discovered to bring it back on, because i was tired unscrewing the sub every time, was on the control pod, if i short the +8V pin on the PCB with the +18V pin. This leads me to believe that in both methods the +8V line is given more voltage and that brings it back online. The actuall read out using my voltmeter for the +8V line is 7,95V, which i think is good for it to stop failing. The +18V and -18V is actually +18,23 and -17,34 at times, which leads me to believe that one of the main power line capacitor may have reached it's end of life.

I just wanted to share my finding to anyone who might have been having this pesky shutdown issue and haven't found a way to at least short term bring it back on. I am also eager to ask anyone that might know what would the actual problem might be. I haven't yet changed the 50V capacitor and i will do so in due time, but would there may be something else i am missing? Why does the control pod comes back when i supply more voltage on the +8V line instantaneously and what may cause the shut down? Is this some kind of power drain through the main processor that requires more voltage?

Thanks in advance.

Hi, I'm Francesco and I'm a new user from Italy.
I'm writing because I have the same problem as you.
The pod remains on standby with the red LED for hours, then when I turn it on, it turns off completely and stays off. Then I switch off the power for a few minutes and the red LED starts again but remains off. With another POD, however, everything works perfectly.

The problem looks similar to yours. Did you find out which component is causing the problem?

Many thanks!

Francesco

 

[Nevron]

Hi, I'm Francesco and I'm a new user from Italy.
I'm writing because I have the same problem as you.
The pod remains on standby with the red LED for hours, then when I turn it on, it turns off completely and stays off. Then I switch off the power for a few minutes and the red LED starts again but remains off. With another POD, however, everything works perfectly.

The problem looks similar to yours. Did you find out which component is causing the problem?

Many thanks!

Francesco

Hello dear Francesco,

My issue was that it turned off all of the sudden and while i was turning it back on, at some point the red led would sieze to operate and it would never come back on, until i unplugged the sub, turning the sub back on sometimes it would come alive, but at some point it never came back on.

What i did was to change a couple of resitors in the sub that looked like they were burned, near the main powerfilter caps, i also changed the two big caps, the smaller one that supplies current to the pod and the near by voltage regulator. Then i changed to pod monitor and some capacitor on the top of the pod, i sprayed some w5 cleaning liquid on it and i heated up the whole pcb with hot air just in case there were some broken connections.

It worked for 4 months, now the original problem happened again. I haven't tested any other pod on the same sub to be sure what would cause malfunction, but testing the pins on the pod pcb i get proper values regarding the current that is supplied it. I have a feeling that some component in the pcb fails or gets disconnected somehow after the pod is wokring for some time and it gets heated up by the logic processor. I have to mention that i also added a heatsink on top of the decoder chip by using some silicon based solution just in case it have some internal failover that was sutting the system down when i certain temperature was achieved.

Now i think i have to reopen the sub to look at the same two resistor i changed in the past, just in case they are fried again.

I can send you more specifics regarding the components i changed if you feel you want to go down the same road i went.

 

[Recorder86]

Hello dear Francesco,

My issue was that it turned off all of the sudden and while i was turning it back on, at some point the red led would sieze to operate and it would never come back on, until i unplugged the sub, turning the sub back on sometimes it would come alive, but at some point it never came back on.

What i did was to change a couple of resitors in the sub that looked like they were burned, near the main powerfilter caps, i also changed the two big caps, the smaller one that supplies current to the pod and the near by voltage regulator. Then i changed to pod monitor and some capacitor on the top of the pod, i sprayed some w5 cleaning liquid on it and i heated up the whole pcb with hot air just in case there were some broken connections.

It worked for 4 months, now the original problem happened again. I haven't tested any other pod on the same sub to be sure what would cause malfunction, but testing the pins on the pod pcb i get proper values regarding the current that is supplied it. I have a feeling that some component in the pcb fails or gets disconnected somehow after the pod is wokring for some time and it gets heated up by the logic processor. I have to mention that i also added a heatsink on top of the decoder chip by using some silicon based solution just in case it have some internal failover that was sutting the system down when i certain temperature was achieved.

Now i think i have to reopen the sub to look at the same two resistor i changed in the past, just in case they are fried again.

I can send you more specifics regarding the components i changed if you feel you want to go down the same road i went.

Hi, many thanks for your reply, my issue is practically identical to yours.
I have a brand new POD and connecting that to the sub everything worked perfectly, so I guess the problem is not inside the sub.
Yesterday opening the old pod and blowing then it started again. Tomorrow I'll get the WD 40 spray and I'll see what happens, IMHO it's just some bad solder.
I was hoping there was some specific problem / component to fix. My z5500 is 15 years old, but Is sad to throw it away, also because at the moment there is nothing better that is worth replacing.

 

[Galimero]

Hi, many thanks for your reply, my issue is practically identical to yours.
I have a brand new POD and connecting that to the sub everything worked perfectly, so I guess the problem is not inside the sub.
Yesterday opening the old pod and blowing then it started again. Tomorrow I'll get the WD 40 spray and I'll see what happens, IMHO it's just some bad solder.
I was hoping there was some specific problem / component to fix. My z5500 is 15 years old, but Is sad to throw it away, also because at the moment there is nothing better that is worth replacing.

Z906 my dear friend. I have had both systems and used them both for over 3 months and I can say that the z906 isnt less powerfull than the z5500 (some people say its soo bad compared to z5500 etc, well its not). Ofcourse the sub has less power but logitech has compensated this with a more punchy sub. The satellites are almost the same when it comes to sound. The amplifier have had a slightly upgrade when it comes to sound, the mids are a little brighter than the z5500. The z906 costs a little, but you get a good replacement for the z5500. My last words, z906 is very very identical to the z5500 and a perfect choice for a replacement.

 

[Galimero]

By the way I have replaced 5 chips in the sub with the opa1602. After replacing, I tested the system and everything worked fine. So I hooked everything up and listened for some time that day. The next day I wanted to listen to some music, but to my surprise the sound didnt come from the front right sattelite and the rears were bad too. I opened the sub to look what happened but couldnt find anything... So I retested the system but this time it worked again.. What could the problem be?

 

[pikokk]

Hi,
i suggest you change all the capacitors in the sub, if the problem recurs, change the ones in the pod as well

 

[Galimero]

Hi,
i suggest you change all the capacitors in the sub, if the problem recurs, change the ones in the pod as well

Thanks for your assistance m8. I checked everything, from the main filters to the preamp. After some testing etc I figured out, the problem was caused by the aux cable... So to everyone that has the same problem, you dont have to resolder every damn chip and capacitor.

 

[Recorder86]

Thanks for your assistance m8. I checked everything, from the main filters to the preamp. After some testing etc I figured out, the problem was caused by the aux cable... So to everyone that has the same problem, you dont have to resolder every damn chip and capacitor.

I was sure that the problem was the pod, because with an other one works perfectly.
Today I knocked the control unit and it started again. So it's definitely a damaged weld, probably the aux cable as you say.

 

[scratje]

Hi all.

I haven't been active on this forum for a while now but still own three Z5500 units, two older types and one new type.

For those of you who want to completely modify the older type Z5500 and want to get rid of the big thump/boom/pop when switching other devices in the house, hereby a few pics from the preamp board with Wima MKP10 film capacitors to replace the green ceramic capacitors and the axial 220nF film capacitors to replace the SMD caps.

By sodering the Wima film caps on the backside of the board, you will have enough space to place them properly and it looks more organised too.

The axial 220nF film capacitors can be soldered by first removing the SMD capacitors on the backside of the preamp board and use jumper wire to connect the solder leads.
Then remove the resistor on the other side and put the axial 220nF capacitor in series with the removed resistor. Look carefully how the signal path goes so the capacitor comes first and the resistor second!

Furthermore i soldered two 100nF 275V X2 suppression caps between the AC leads of both the rectifier and placed a big ferrite ring over the AC main power wires with 3x twist trough the ferrite core.
Secure the ferrite with tie wraps and hot glue to prevent opening and hanging lose inside the amplifier case.
With the two suppression caps and the ferrite ring, the big tump/boom/pops will be almost gone!
In the newer Z5500 systems they did the same thing.

For the other modding on this older type, search my name 'scratje' and you will find how to do the rest with older systems.

I will try to do another mod but it will be experimental.
I want to completely rotate the mainboard 180 deg. so the big caps come near the rectifiers with shorter dc wires so the signal wires wil be more separated and hopefully pick up less noise. There will be some desoldering involved and new wires must be made but maybe the unit will be less humming on the subwoofer driver and hiss on the satellites but this is still a guess.
Maybe a metal cap over the torodial transformer can have an effect too, so there are more experiments to do.

have fun modding