Melos SHA / SHA Gold

[Guru]

I'm considering buying a Melos SHA or SHA Gold to drive my AKG 340s. They usually appear for sale in the U.S. running on 110V. Is there any straightforward way to convert one of these units to work with 220V in Europe? A step-down transformer would probably be pointless from the point of view of audio quality...Any ideas?

I was advised to contact Will Guering at MELOS AUDIO RESTORATION in Las Vegas, but he seems to be out of business / out of contact. Does anybody know how to reach him?

Finally, I'd welcome any opinions on the Melos as a headamp for the K340s as opposed to a Meier Prehead MkIISE or an SFT Dynahi, two other choices I'm considering (I've seen the reviews on head-fi). Of course, the Melos and the Prehead could both additionally serve as a much-needed pre-amp for my speaker system (a 2-channel balanced setup with a Jeff Rowland power amp and Maggies), but are they really good enough for that purpose?

Thanks for your advice!

 

[vpivinylspinner]

According to the manual, the amp did come available wired for 220 so it is possible but you would have to check the schematic which is available free on line if you search on Google to see how to rewire it. I have never heard the Corda Pre-head but I do own the SFT Dynahi and the SHA-Gold. The SHA-Gold is more than capable of driving the K-340 and the tubes in conjunction with the already wonderful midrange of the K-340 is excellent. The Dynahi has better bass and a slightly better soundstage but the sound is a bit more dry.

As a preamp the SHA-Gold is much better than I expected. I have used the balanced outputs into my Audio Research amp and the single ended into a vintage Accuphase amp and found both to sound very clear and detailed. Very lifelike images in both size and texture. It is a bit odd with the volume controls that you cannot turn the volume all the way down with the volume control but instead you would have to use the mute button on the remote. I am getting a bit of tube noise with my current set so I need to do some tube rolling in the near future.

I recently wired the Dynahi for preamp outputs and the 4 inputs it was originally prepared for. It is not as good as a preamp as the SHA-Gold in my system and the inputs tend to bleed together but I am sure some internal changes could fix that.

They are both very good for the K-340 and the Dynahi is especially good for the HD-650 while the Melos is excellent with Grado RS-1.

 

[bozebuttons]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guru I was advised to contact Will Guering at MELOS AUDIO RESTORATION in Las Vegas, but he seems to be out of business / out of contact. Does anybody know how to reach him?

Will passed away Months back from a heart attack I believe,
Melos Restoration is no more as he was the main man.

 

[Guru]

vpivinylspinner and bozebuttons, thank you for your replies.

I'm sorry to hear of Will Guering's passing. From what I read of him on the Internet, he seemed to be a dedicated craftsman.

The Melos SHA Gold looks like it might be a great choice for me. As I am completely unskilled at rewiring / refitting audio equipment, is there any company you could recommend to convert a 110V Melos SHA Gold to 220V? It's not just replacing a fuse, is it?!

 

[vpivinylspinner]

I believe it is more involved than that. As it appears that they came wired from the factory that way it might be that you can find one on local E-bay, etc. already wired for your area. The copy of the schematic I have shows the wiring diagram but only lists 120v and is a really bad copy.

 

[bozebuttons]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guru vpivinylspinner and bozebuttons, thank you for your replies. I'm sorry to hear of Will Guering's passing. From what I read of him on the Internet, he seemed to be a dedicated craftsman. The Melos SHA Gold looks like it might be a great choice for me. As I am completely unskilled at rewiring / refitting audio equipment, is there any company you could recommend to convert a 110V Melos SHA Gold to 220V? It's not just replacing a fuse, is it?!

Maybe Mikhail can Help you out on how to do the conversion,give him a shout,by email or pm.

 

[mulveling]

Hmm, I'll have to try the K340 with my Gold Reference soon. The Melos, as mentoned, is a spectacular preamp. It's also a superb headamp that's worked extremely well with the headphones I've thrown its way: L3000, HP1000, HD600, RS1 (for movies). My SDS is the better headamp by a hair when driving the L3000 or Sennheisers. The Melos has more power for the HP1000, though. Highly recommended.

BTW, I've used a step-down converter (120V -> 100V) with the Audio Technica AT-HA2002/W2002 system, and it didn't really seem to affect the audio quality at all.

 

[Guru]

Thanks to all for your help / advice.

Looking around on the internet for info about Melos, I find a disturbingly high number of negative feedbacks about the company's service and the quality of their products:

http://ecoustics.audioreview.com/cat...6_1591crx.aspx

The service doesn't matter any more, I guess, as they are no longer in business, but the quality of the amps worries me. I have zero experience in repairing or maintaining hifi equipment, and such skills are hard to find or prohibitively expensive in Switzerland (I end up sending things to the U.S. for re-cabling, etc.).

The feedback seems to be that these amps are like vintage Ferraris - brilliant when they work, but they rarely work. The amp I'm considering buying is a Melos SHA Gold, updated in 2004 to Reference level by Will Guering in Las Vegas, so it has been looked at recently, but I'm still concerned that a high-maintenance Melos may not be right for me after all.

Any opinions from Melos owners out there?

 

[vpivinylspinner]

Yeah I saw those reviews as well. I have not had mine long enough to comment on reliability but I can tell you that my Dynahi has been considerably more fragile and problematic than the Melos so far.

 

[bozebuttons]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guru Thanks to all for your help / advice. Looking around on the internet for info about Melos, I find a disturbingly high number of negative feedbacks about the company's service and the quality of their products: http://ecoustics.audioreview.com/cat...6_1591crx.aspx The service doesn't matter any more, I guess, as they are no longer in business, but the quality of the amps worries me. I have zero experience in repairing or maintaining hifi equipment, and such skills are hard to find or prohibitively expensive in Switzerland (I end up sending things to the U.S. for re-cabling, etc.). The feedback seems to be that these amps are like vintage Ferraris - brilliant when they work, but they rarely work. The amp I'm considering buying is a Melos SHA Gold, updated in 2004 to Reference level by Will Guering in Las Vegas, so it has been looked at recently, but I'm still concerned that a high-maintenance Melos may not be right for me after all. Any opinions from Melos owners out there?

I have owned 5 differant Melos,The one I currently own I bought not working & had carlo upgrade it to the max & repair it, I have used it for the last 4 years on & off with no problems.Carlo dissapeared from Head-fi so he is no longer a option.
The other 4 never gave me a Hiccup.Yes Melos did have some problems,so you do have to keep that in mind.

 

[mulveling]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guru Any opinions from Melos owners out there?

Yep. I've been through a lot of gear. I've been surpised to see pure SS (non-Melos) gear malfunction in various ways - and it's not limited to one manufacturer. The Melos amps may have a higher incidence of failure than other brands, but the majority of problems *might* be localized to specific (later?) production runs - there are still a number of these aging amps running without issue. Only had mine a month but haven't had a problem yet (crosses fingers)

You buy anything in hifi electronics and there is going to be a chance of failure.

Too bad to see all those disgruntled owners on audioreview, though. I feel for them.

 

[Hirsch]

The later SHA-Golds are in theory the most problematical. By that time, Melos was already in financial trouble, and substituting cheaper parts that did not meet spec. The Pho-tentiometer has also been reported to be a source of trouble. The earlier SHA-1's are likelier to have been built to spec, and probably less likely to break down (although a friend's recently blew the power transformer, so who knows?). You do get better sonics on the SHA-Gold, however.

My Carlo-modded SHA-1 has been a tank, and never given me any trouble at all. I sold an earlier one that I owned to a friend, who is still using it with no problems.

 

[mattigol]

I lately tried to convert my US spec 110V PPX3 SLAM that displayed audible hum ever since I got it to 230V by buying a new 120VA toroidal transformer from a highly respected German transformer company (a Plitron sort of company).

The hum had never appeared at 60Hz when I had it at SP last fall, only here at 50 Hz AC. Mikhail had no other idea as to where the problem might lie, suspecting my stepdown transformer or problematic mains line to be the culprit. So I decided against having a conversion done by Mikhail and did it myself.

Despite getting great service from knowledgeable engineers of the company that did my new transformer, I am still getting hum. Only, now I realize it is a part inside the amp that's actually humming, not the transformer. Aargh!!

So my advice to you is - don't do anything stupid like myself. In your case you don't have the manufacturer or Will to fall back to, making things even more complicated. Don't assume you will find someone who can work it out for you later, try to find a person with extensive knowledge of the circuitry before buying the amplifier.

My 2c

 

[Guru]

Thanks for the valuable advice!

 

[greatwl]

My Melos Ma-333 preamp has one channel (left) not coming our from stand-by mode (LED turn to green for a while then turn back to red and mute the channel). Since Carlo & Will Guering are no longer available, is there anyone else who can repair Melos?

Thanks for any feed back!