Help with Arcam Solo Neo DAB Tuner??

[RichB]

Can anyone familiar with the quirks of DAB tuners help me out here.

Yesterday the DAB tuner on my Arcam Solo Neo stopped working, it tunes into 1 channel (Metro FM) a local rubbish station and is totally unresponsive to any commands from either the remote control or the front panel. Dont know why this happened, the Neo has not been moved out the rack since i put it in 6 months ago, I've tried clearing out the pre-sets and rescanning for stations which seems to work ok but then I'm still stuck with the same station which i cant change, all other functions on the Neo (Net Radio, Media CD etc seem to work fine).

I'm just using the T type aerial provided with with the unit, which has worked fine since i got it. Does require some careful positioning, otherwise it can make a horrible bubbling squelchy kind of noise.

Fortunately the Neo is still under warranty, I've had it for 6 months and its the second unit I've had, the first had a funny problem with the CD mechanism where it wouldn't release a disc when the drawer opened causing a disc to get stuck inside the unit on the day i bought it. The dealer was fine and changed it for a new unit immediately and I've had no problems since (until now!). I traded in a load of old gear to acquire the 'one box' type solution and quite enjoy the arcam sound. I do listen to quite a bit of DAB and net radio when working and the fact the Arcam handles these harsh sources in a nice warm way was a big deciding factor for me, and i still buy the occasional cd too so its a nice functionality to have.

Anyway, just wondering if there is a quick fix for what seems to be the stuck DAB tuner before i take another trip back to the dealer.

All help and advice appreciated (and dont say 'should have bought a naim uniti' or I'll be upset as i couldnt afford it!)

Cheers

[StanleyB]

Has your tuner got a traffic info feature? If it has, then that function is being triggered by a transmission from Metro FM. This will cause the tuner to lock onto Metro FM no matter what other radio station you are trying to select.
One way to bypass the 1st preset station is to unplug the aerial to the tuner and then change the channel to say preset 2. Then plug the aerial back in.

But I would also program in a different station on the channel preset that Metro is found on your tuner. That way you won't be running into Metro FM again .

[RichB]

Has your tuner got a traffic info feature? If it has, then that function is being triggered by a transmission from Metro FM. This will cause the tuner to lock onto Metro FM no matter what other radio station you are trying to select.
One way to bypass the 1st preset station is to unplug the aerial to the tuner and then change the channel to say preset 2. Then plug the aerial back in.

But I would also program in a different station on the channel preset that Metro is found on your tuner. That way you won't be running into Metro FM again .

Thanks for that, I'll try it tonight. Not sure if the tuner has a 'traffic' function, never heard of this in home gear before. Had a chat with the dealer today who advised trying a software update for the Arcam and said it may be down to being in a poor DAB reception area. Advised trying a stronger aerial. I cant see what it will achieve since i was receiving DAB ok with good signal strength until the fault happened. We have agreed if i cant get it sorted I'll take the unit into the shop for the guys to have a look at.

Many thanks for the recent TC-7520 by the way, arrived within 2 days of my order and now resides between a cruddy hp desktop pc and my pioneer a400/mission 760se. Very impressed with the sound from the start, like a shot of steriods to an ageing system. Just gets better the more i use it. Noticed there is no stock of Caiman available at the moment on your website, will you be selling any more as I quite fancy putting one between the laptop/tivo and arcam/rega system. The Solo Neo is a great unit but has no digital input

[StanleyB]

Try unplugging the aerial and then change the station on the DAB tuner to see if that gets you out of the Metro FM station lock. The tuner might not display Traffic Info, but the activation signal for the traffic info update can be used to lock a station. Pirate stations make great use of that.

The existing Gatorized Caiman is finished. All sold out. Not even Gator boards left. So this is forcing my hands to speed up the launch of the Bushmaster to replace the TC-7510/Caiman+.
The replacement for the TC-7520 (Bushmaster with USB) and the new Caiman are further down the line. This time next year is a provisional date. So if you must have a Caiman, you have a long wait still unfortunately.

[RichB]

All sorted now, unplugged aerial, reconnected it, switched into tuner rather than preset mode then rescanned for stations. Thanks for the advice, I was unaware of the 'station lock' that can occur from the traffic announcements.

Look forward to hearing more about the bushmaster dac in the future, in the meantime I'll keep my eyes peeled for a used Caiman, cant wait to hear one if the 7520 is anything to go by.

cheers