Adam's Theater

[Adam]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. I'm not sitting around all bummed about it. I got the trigger to work about an hour ago - it was just the cable that I was using. Plus, I have my fancy new speaker cables to keep me warm.

The popping isn't like a 90dB thing. It's certainly loud enough to notice, though. It doesn't do it all of the time, and sometimes when it does, it's quieter than other times. At least at the moment, when it's turned on and off by the trigger, the pops are very quiet. When I push the power button on the front, it tends to pop louder. Odd to me, because the power button and trigger both put it into and out of standby mode.

I will contact the seller. He may or may not have sold it without divulging the pops - he might never have noticed. For all I know, he never used the amp. However, I will mention this to him and work something out.

 

[ImcLoud]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. I'm not sitting around all bummed about it. I got the trigger to work about an hour ago - it was just the cable that I was using. Plus, I have my fancy new speaker cables to keep me warm.

The popping isn't like a 90dB thing. It's certainly loud enough to notice, though. It doesn't do it all of the time, and sometimes when it does, it's quieter than other times. At least at the moment, when it's turned on and off by the trigger, the pops are very quiet. When I push the power button on the front, it tends to pop louder. Odd to me, because the power button and trigger both put it into and out of standby mode.

I will contact the seller. He may or may not have sold it without divulging the pops - he might never have noticed. For all I know, he never used the amp. However, I will mention this to him and work something out.

Have you tried taking the cover off, shutting all of the lights and cycling the amp on and off while watching for sparks or flashes??? This may just be a cracked solder joint... Or there is always cold spray technique..

 

[slipperybidness]

Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. I'm not sitting around all bummed about it. I got the trigger to work about an hour ago - it was just the cable that I was using. Plus, I have my fancy new speaker cables to keep me warm.

The popping isn't like a 90dB thing. It's certainly loud enough to notice, though. It doesn't do it all of the time, and sometimes when it does, it's quieter than other times. At least at the moment, when it's turned on and off by the trigger, the pops are very quiet. When I push the power button on the front, it tends to pop louder. Odd to me, because the power button and trigger both put it into and out of standby mode.

I will contact the seller. He may or may not have sold it without divulging the pops - he might never have noticed. For all I know, he never used the amp. However, I will mention this to him and work something out.

You can save yourself some time and possible damage if you check 12V trigger signal with a DMM before using it. I always hook up and double check everything before I switch power to it. It can get complicated, even for someone that has been doing this for a while. At work it's common for me to have a $300K Lab Equipment apart and a small mistake could easily be $10K, that's usually when I get someone to check my work before we power up.

And yeah, if amp is not satisfactory then ship it back. Talk with him first, be sure he understands situation. He may offer to pay for repair service to avoid total loss on shipping the thing.

The arcing sounds reasonable. I could put out a theory that it might be in the soft-start circuits. That difference in whether you use trigger or manual switch might point me that direction.

 

[Adam]

Have you tried taking the cover off, shutting all of the lights and cycling the amp on and off while watching for sparks or flashes??? This may just be a cracked solder joint... Or there is always cold spray technique..

I haven't taken the cover off, yet. I won't do that until it's finalized that I'm keeping it. Good thoughts, though, thanks.

You can save yourself some time and possible damage if you check 12V trigger signal with a DMM before using it. I always hook up and double check everything before I switch power to it.

Thanks. I used a multimeter to quickly check the continuity of the cable, but my multimeter started having problems (I use it rarely, and one of the batteries was leaking) so I wasn't able to thoroughly check it out. I knew that the cable that I picked might lose signal depending on how it was bent, but I rolled the dice because it's all I could find that day. I was finally able to find the cable that I wanted to use from the beginning, and it's working great.

And yeah, if amp is not satisfactory then ship it back. Talk with him first, be sure he understands situation. He may offer to pay for repair service to avoid total loss on shipping the thing.

That's a good suggestion on the repairs. It's very rare for me to buy used or from a non-business, so I'm a bit out of my element. I'm used to being able to just send things back. This guy clearly took care of this (if he used it), and packed it up as nicely as I would have (i.e. darn near new), so I think we're very similar. I'd hate to do that and have it sent back in a not-as-new-looking condition, and so I'm very reluctant to do that to someone else. In my case, that would involve at most dog hair inside of the unit, but that's still worse than when it arrived.

The arcing sounds reasonable. I could put out a theory that it might be in the soft-start circuits. That difference in whether you use trigger or manual switch might point me that direction.

I'd have to find it, but I'm pretty sure that when I was researching this Friday night that I read that the Power 5 doesn't have soft-start circuits. I just don't know why it sometimes pops and sometimes doesn't, and why some people report it happening while others say they don't experience it.

 

[Adam]

A gentlemen from NHT responded to my e-mail. He instructed me to disconnect all of the input cables and check if the speakers still pop when I turn the amp on and off. The same sort of troubleshooting advice that we'd give here - which is a good thing!

I had previously disconnected the inputs to the speakers one at a time, but I don't think that I ever tried it without any inputs connected. So, I took them all out, turned the amp on, and...it still pops the speakers. However, now the almost inaudible hiss/hum in the speakers turned into an audible high pitched whine (at least in my center speaker which was nearest to me). When I reconnected just the input for the center channel, that speaker stopped whining and began to quietly hiss again. Hmmm.

 

[Alex2507]

A gentlemen from NHT responded to my e-mail. He instructed me to disconnect all of the input cables and check if the speakers still pop when I turn the amp on and off. The same sort of troubleshooting advice that we'd give here - which is a good thing!

I had previously disconnected the inputs to the speakers one at a time, but I don't think that I ever tried it without any inputs connected. So, I took them all out, turned the amp on, and...it still pops the speakers. However, now the almost inaudible hiss/hum in the speakers turned into an audible high pitched whine (at least in my center speaker which was nearest to me). When I reconnected just the input for the center channel, that speaker stopped whining and began to quietly hiss again. Hmmm.

Send that sh!t back.

 

[fuzz092888]

Send that sh!t back.

I concur or at least contact the guy and voice your concerns and see what he has to say.

This is way more than you should have to deal with for something that was rated that highly.

 

[ImcLoud]

send that sh!t back.

x2.........

 

[STRONGBADF1]

Yep, I'd send it back if possible.

 

[Irvrobinson]

I've been way too slow getting a picture up. So, here are two quick snapshots.


The amp (pulled out so that I can reroute some wires and work on the trigger).

I hope that's not one of those audiophile pillows that supposed to improve the sound by reducing resonance, or something silly like that? Maybe that pillow is causing the popping.

 

[Adam]

I hope that's not one of those audiophile pillows that supposed to improve the sound by reducing resonance, or something silly like that? Maybe that pillow is causing the popping.

Come on, I don't fall for that stupid resonance hocus pocus. I spent $500 on that pillow, but they had solid scientific testing to back up their claims of its "ventilation inhibiting design." Oh, wait a second...

On a serious note, it pops whether on the pillow or on the glass shelf in my center. I had wondered that myself.

 

[ImcLoud]

Did you try soaking it in a warm tub, when ever my knee starts popping I soak it in the tub, warm water not too hot, and then I'm good for a while, maybe it just needs a soak? Maybe it has an old football injury too...

 

[brianedm]

Did you try soaking it in a warm tub, when ever my knee starts popping I soak it in the tub, warm water not too hot, and then I'm good for a while, maybe it just needs a soak? Maybe it has an old football injury too...

Well played, haha.

 

[Adam]

Did you try soaking it in a warm tub, when ever my knee starts popping I soak it in the tub, warm water not too hot, and then I'm good for a while, maybe it just needs a soak?

If I can't stop the popping and can't return it, I might try a common remedy for a jellyfish sting.

 

[ImcLoud]

If I can't stop the popping and can't return it, I might try a common remedy for a jellyfish sting.

Why cant you return it???? How did you pay for it? Anything bought with a credit card is returnable, I promise, simple call to the cc company will fix that..

 

[Adam]

Why cant you return it???? How did you pay for it? Anything bought with a credit card is returnable, I promise, simple call to the cc company will fix that..

I don't know that I can't...I was just making a joke, man.

I just contacted the seller.

 

[ImcLoud]

I don't know that I can't...I was just making a joke, man.

I just contacted the seller.

I know, I was joking too no sa, I thought you were serious, inturn triggering a serious response, and an uncomfortable silence {on my end of course, your side is full of popping noises}

I would imagine the seller is the devil and not going to go down with out a fight, so buckle up green badger of courage, we are in it for the long haul, we will not take "NO" for an answer, and will follow up said "NO" with unwarranted threats, and strategically placed explosives........ uhhh, or just unwarranted threats, and strongly worded emails... You know why? Because the Honey Badger don't CARE!!! The Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger (original narration by Randall) - YouTube

 

[slipperybidness]

My guess, if it was packed really nice, he will be likely to work with you on a reasonable solution.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Sell that POS to Rick....

 

[Adam]

The seller claims that the amp was in perfect working condition when he shipped it. Awesome.

I have two final things to do to troubleshoot it, then I'll be certain:
(1) Disconnect all of the new speaker cables and only have my center channel hooked up. I've used that wire and that speakers for 14 years, and I know that there are no shorts anywhere.
(2) Use a different power outlet. Both NHT and the seller suggested this. I'm going to go out on a limb and say it won't make any difference, but I'll try it.

The seller also said that my Pioneer might be the problem, but I get a louder, worse whine the speakers when the only thing connected is the amp to the outlet, and the speaker to the amp.