MicroLab SOLO 9C - Suddenly stopped working? *HELP REQUIRED*

[JFV]

I own a pair of SOLO 9C's (a 2.0 active stereo floorstanding speakers with a built in AMP)

I woke up during the night to a sleight humming sound coming from the left (passive speaker).

I reached around the back and ensured the speaker wire (w/ B-clips) was securely fitted.
When pulling them out and pushing them back in again the 2 banana clips met and both speakers responded with a rapid succession of "popping" for around 3 seconds.

I thought nothing of it, (perhaps stupidly.) I re-inserted the B-clips into the left (passive speaker) and attempted to play some music lightly for me to fall asleep to.

Nothing worked at all, without changing a single wire set up - just by them meeting the speakers no long produce any output. No matter which source I change to manually and use they do not work. I did the battery test on the passive, the speaker gives back the expected response.

As the right speaker is active - as far as I know it's not possible to test it with a battery (as the amplifier is built into the back with 2 RCA inputs + HDMI and Optical.

They haven't worked in 3 or 4 days, I feel like I've tried everything but I'll list it below for you:

I have:

Removed from mains power for 20 mins+ to see if there was any charge held within the amp preventing it from running.

Tried a separate speaker wire (I borrowed it from a housemate so I'm not 100% sure it was a working cable but it most likely was)

Symptoms:

Powered on - indicated by volume and input channel being shown
No audio input on any channel - different cables tried.
Passive speaker responded to the battery test.
They don't seem to hum at all like the left one did the night before.

I am aware it could be a ground loop issue but from what I could tell these speakers do not need to be grounded (having read the manual for the little brother to this speaker the SOLO 7C as I couldn't find the SOLO 9C manual online.

I am really stuck, Amazon are due to collect on September 5th but I love these speakers, they have more than doubled in price since I bought them in March 2015.

I'd really appreciate any help as I can't find speakers like these in budget as far as I'm aware.

I would greatly appreciate any help, advice and humour that you guys can give.
I'm an audio newbie but I can appreciate good sound and these produce a fantastic, dynamic sound.

The Irony is I live with a Professional Sound Engineer but he's always on tour and would be lucky to see him once a month.

Thanks for looking in advanced.

 

[americanaudiophile]

Sounds like when you shorted the leads to the passive speaker you blew the amplifier. There might be an internal fuse that blew but you would have to remove the amp from the speaker to tell. You could try contacting the manufacturer to see if there is a fuse.

 

[JFV]

Sounds like when you shorted the leads to the passive speaker you blew the amplifier. There might be an internal fuse that blew but you would have to remove the amp from the speaker to tell. You could try contacting the manufacturer to see if there is a fuse.

Thank you for the response firstly,

Microlab are an odd company in the sense they produced really good speakers and imported them to different locations across Europe but don't actually have any UK office and only cover other European countries.

Because of the good quality sound they produce they have been taken apart by reviews to see the design of the amplifier and quality of the components. Perhaps this would help?

This review does actually look at the amplifier in some detail: http/gadget-help.com/quick-review-2-0-multimedia-system-microlab-solo-9c/

I am unable (after much research) to get a full manual from Microlab for this model.

Would you be able to tell me from the amplifier section whether or not it is repairable?

I have limited knowledge in this area so appreciate any advice. I do live with a professional sound engineer and I am friends with an electronics specialist but I wanted to learn as much as possible myself before asking them to take a look.

In short, are you suggesting that if I had a friend handy with soldering iron and electronics that they could extract the blown fuse present in the amplifier and then install a new compatible fuse?

Again, thanks for your response.

 

[americanaudiophile]

If there is a fuse at all it may not require a soldering iron to remove. They usually are a cylindrical glass tube with metal caps at both ends. There may be a speaker level fuse for each speaker, an AC input fuse and power supply fuses for the amp. If there is a blown speaker fuse that would be the best outcome as it blew to protect the amp. Replacing it would be more successful than if one of the other fuses is blown.
If it is blown you could try getting a replacement of the same value and try it. Get your friend to check it for you. He might be able to repair the amp it it is more than than. A tech would probably charge more than would be reasonable since it can be labor intensive.