SVS Pb10-NSD Blows fuses when powered on...

[jeremylee31]

Hi all,

I just moved, and I just unpacked my home theater gear and hooked it all up. When I powered on my Sub, it blew the fuse immediately. I bought this sub back in the summer of 2010, and it's the first time a fuse was ever blown. I though nothing of it and went and bought a pack of more fuses. I unplugged the cable to the receiver and just plugged the power in the sub. when i turn it on the fuse blows immediately. Blew 2 new fuses and stopped trying. Any ideas? I did the move myself and used a UHaul- the sub was never dropped and was handled like a baby (as all my stuff since it was a self move). I'm at a loss. These subs are supposed to last longer than 4 years right? I am trained in electronic repair (did this in the Army for 8 years) but I'm nervous about opening the box since I know Subs usually have large capacitors. Please help if someone has similar experience or has an idea to fix this.

 

[afterlife2]

Jeremy I'd call SVS. Great customer service. If you can ask for Ed. Not sure if they are open for the holiday, but give it a try.
1.877.626.5623
Hours: 9AM-9PM Eastern Monday-Friday, 12PM-6PM Saturday & 12PM-4PM Sunday.

 

[j_garcia]

+1. I'd contact SVS. Most likely something fried in the amp that is shorting and tripping the fuse so I would not continue to try to get it to work with additional fuses.

 

[TLS Guy]

Jeremy I'd call SVS. Great customer service. If you can ask for Ed. Not sure if they are open for the holiday, but give it a try.
1.877.626.5623
Hours: 9AM-9PM Eastern Monday-Friday, 12PM-6PM Saturday & 12PM-4PM Sunday.

How to you know he has an SVS sub?

 

[afterlife2]

Hi TLS its in the title of the thread. Regards.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hi all,

I just moved, and I just unpacked my home theater gear and hooked it all up. When I powered on my Sub, it blew the fuse immediately. I bought this sub back in the summer of 2010, and it's the first time a fuse was ever blown. I though nothing of it and went and bought a pack of more fuses. I unplugged the cable to the receiver and just plugged the power in the sub. when i turn it on the fuse blows immediately. Blew 2 new fuses and stopped trying. Any ideas? I did the move myself and used a UHaul- the sub was never dropped and was handled like a baby (as all my stuff since it was a self move). I'm at a loss. These subs are supposed to last longer than 4 years right? I am trained in electronic repair (did this in the Army for 8 years) but I'm nervous about opening the box since I know Subs usually have large capacitors. Please help if someone has similar experience or has an idea to fix this.

I suspect your problem is related to the move.

As you are experienced in electronic repair, I would open up the amp. Mechanical damage may well be obvious. Caps usually have bleeder resistors, so they don't retain charge long. In any event you can easily ground them out and discharge them if you are worried.

If there is no mechanical damage you will have to trouble shoot it.

In sub amps, the power supplies are usually switching type power supplies, and they give no end of trouble in subs. I just hate having to tangle with those.

So the two follow up questions, are: -

1). Do you have experience servicing switching power supplies?

2). Do you have access to a pretty comprehensive array of test equipment?

That amp does indeed have one of those miserable switching power supplies.

SVS have a replacement available.

I would open it up and see if something is disconnected. If there is not mechanical damage obvious, I suspect you will have to purchase the new amp. Generally those types of units are not serviceable.

 

[TLS Guy]

How to you know he has an SVS sub?

I now see it is an SVS sub from the title!

 

[jeremylee31]

I suspect your problem is related to the move.

As you are experienced in electronic repair, I would open up the amp. Mechanical damage may well be obvious. Caps usually have bleeder resistors, so they don't retain charge long. In any event you can easily ground them out and discharge them if you are worried.

If there is no mechanical damage you will have to trouble shoot it.

In sub amps, the power supplies are usually switching type power supplies, and they give no end of trouble in subs. I just hate having to tangle with those.

So the two follow up questions, are: -

1). Do you have experience servicing switching power supplies?

2). Do you have access to a pretty comprehensive array of test equipment?

That amp does indeed have one of those miserable switching power supplies.

SVS have a replacement available.

I would open it up and see if something is disconnected. If there is not mechanical damage obvious, I suspect you will have to purchase the new amp. Generally those types of units are not serviceable.

I moved to a different state and now I'm going to school full time to finish my degree- so I no longer have access to an o-scope from work. I do have a standard multi-meter at home, but that's it. I guess i can pop her open and see what I see. Most of my experience with electronic repair is: 1. pop open box. 2. look for blown component. 3. Desolder/resolder blown component. We did a LOT of this in Iraq from the dopes that would plug their stuff into the 220 sources instead of 110. So my power supply experience with replacing blown caps is extensive, but never on a sub/amp. Over there it was mostly radios, tvs, playstations/xboxs, microwaves, printers/cpu's, multiplexers/demuxs, etc. I was going to call SVS today after class, but after reading the responses here I think I'll open it up and take a gander. Besides, I'm pretty sure my warranty is expired at 4+ years of ownership. If the amp is bad I would have to buy a new one at $250 (thanks for the link whoever that was).

Thanks for the responses. I'll follow up later after I pop it open.

-Jeremy

 

[j_garcia]

Warranty expired or not, SVS is well known for taking very good care of their customers, which is why it is a good idea to check with them. Does yours have the SLEDGE amp or the previous version? I bought my PB-10 before the SLEDGE amps came out and I don't think they have those amps anymore, and I believe there was a driver change as well when they moved to the SLEDGE amps.

 

[jeremylee31]

I opened it up and took a look at the amp. Looks like I have 4 burned resistors. I went ahead and called SVS and spoke with Sonnie. He gave me a $50 discount on the new amp. I had the old one (Bash) so I'm getting the Sledge amp to replace it. I ultimately decided to just bite the bullet and buy a new one. I figured if there was a big enough problem with these amps that they switched to a different one; if I end up being able to fix it it'll probably just break again. Didn't feel it was worth the time. Maybe I'm getting old and lazy

Thanks for your time and advice everyone!