Cairn Aria HE

[istari knight]

Anyone familiar with this amplifier ?

I have one thats a little bit poorly... It works as it should most of the time however the sound will drop out at low volumes, sometimes just one channel sometimes both. This can be corrected by turning it up to 10 'oclock then it comes back to life... I have cleaned both volume pot & selector switch twice & checked for dry joints but its still not right.

Also, the remote control doesnt work at all - I checked the remote was working with a camera & it is so there must be a fault inside the amplifier.

If anyone has schematics/service manual or even ideas what these faults are caused by please get in touch.

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[istari knight]

I think I've pinned down the dropout problem to a dirty protection relay.

All of the electrolytics are branded "Jamicon 85c" It runs hot so they must be near end of lifespan... I think I'll replace them with some 105c rated ones then see how it runs.

 

[Ian Finch]

It's sure difficult finding schematics for Cairn equipment - did you locate one?

 

[istari knight]

Hi Ian, not yet but I'm still looking !

I'll post if I find one.

 

[istari knight]

I contacted Cairn in France & although unwilling to provide a schematic they did confirm bias should be set to 2mv measured across the emitter resistors. They also suggested a couple of things to test on the RC circuit.... Nice people.