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Post by dean70 on Jun 28, 2012 17:49:27 GMT -5
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Post by thebird on Jun 28, 2012 18:56:33 GMT -5
I have two years warranty left and hopefully this fix doesn't affect it. I am one of the people who wish they could dim the blue light as it is annoying when watching in the dark. My cable box has a blue light that comes on when you watch an hd channel that is just as bad. On the subject of bright blue lights how about in the car nigh driving and you have your high beams on and the bright blue icon that lets you know you have them on. Lol... Complain complain.... Lol
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Post by Bonzo on Jun 29, 2012 15:12:40 GMT -5
Well, bad news on those who care about their warrantee. i got an e-mail back from Emotiva and it voids the warrantee.
Here was my e-mail.... My Issue, the Blue Power Light
For home theater viewing with the house lights turned down, the overly bright blue power light is very distracting, almost to the point of being obnoxious. I really wish it were connected to the on/off switches on the back of the unit. But since it's not, my options are limited.
At first I had thought my only option might be some black tape, but I wasn't happy with that idea due to appearance. Then I thought about round stickers etc. Yesterday I started a thread on the Emotiva forum to see if anyone else had some ideas on what to do with this problem. Today someone made a post with a link to another forum where someone had made a DIY thread on how to remove the light (which I have attached below). After reviewing the procedure, this appears to be a very easy thing any competent person can do, so I'm strongly considering it.
But I am left with 3 questions.
#1. Is there anyway this could adversely affect the amplifier in performance and reliability?
#2. Can I use this same procedure for the XPA-2 amp?
#3. Will doing this procedure void the 5 year warrantee?
Thanks for your help with this matter.
And here is the reply I got....
"The standby status lamp is a fixed value illumination because as the LED status panel lamps are turned off, the Standby status lamp acts as a power normal operation indicator and a fault indicator hence its fixed brightness. Using colored films over the switch will dim the intensity of the blue halo without hindering the operation XPA-2. The procedure you see below would apply to the XPA-2. Please note you will void the warranty if any modifications such as below is performed.Thank you for your support."
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Post by Bonzo on Jun 29, 2012 15:19:28 GMT -5
So now I have a questions for those who HAVE done this procedure. Perhaps instead of putting black tape or film on the OUTSIDE of the button, I wonder if we could put it on the back of the button from the INSIDE of the unit, or even directly on the whitish LED "board"? Anyone think this might be possible?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2012 16:20:46 GMT -5
You *gotta* love this:
"Using colored films over the switch will dim the intensity of the blue halo without hindering the operation XPA-2. The procedure you see below would apply to the XPA-2. Please note you will void the warranty if any modifications such as below is performed."
So, the modification they describe will in no way hinder the operation of the unit. And yet, THEY WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY IF YOU DO WHAT THEY DESCRIBE!!"
C'mon, Emo, don't be so obtuse. *Everyone* complains about the ridiculous brightness of these LEDs and have done so for years. And your solution? Threaten your loyal customers with warranty invalidation. Way to go, Big Dan...
-RW-
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jamrock
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Post by jamrock on Jun 29, 2012 16:33:53 GMT -5
"Today someone made a post with a link to another forum where someone had made a DIY thread on how to remove the light (which I have attached below). After reviewing the procedure, this appears to be a very easy thing any competent person can do, so I'm strongly considering it"
I think that is what the Emno representative was referring to that will void the warranty. BTW, there are many audiophiles who are not adversely affected by these blue lights ;D
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Post by bobbyt on Jun 29, 2012 19:30:34 GMT -5
So now I have a questions for those who HAVE done this procedure. Perhaps instead of putting black tape or film on the OUTSIDE of the button, I wonder if we could put it on the back of the button from the INSIDE of the unit, or even directly on the whitish LED "board"? Anyone think this might be possible? Here's what I did to my XDA-1 in March 2011. No complaints since, but I do wish that instead of 5 levels of brightness we could have 2-3 plus OFF. Red boxes are where I put electrical tape; the thread below has pictures at each step plus results: emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=preampdac&action=display&thread=17121
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Post by Bonzo on Jul 1, 2012 11:00:29 GMT -5
So now I have a questions for those who HAVE done this procedure. Perhaps instead of putting black tape or film on the OUTSIDE of the button, I wonder if we could put it on the back of the button from the INSIDE of the unit, or even directly on the whitish LED "board"? Anyone think this might be possible? Here's what I did to my XDA-1 in March 2011. No complaints since, but I do wish that instead of 5 levels of brightness we could have 2-3 plus OFF. Red boxes are where I put electrical tape; the thread below has pictures at each step plus results: emotivalounge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=preampdac&action=display&thread=17121Okay, so cool, you did essentially what I was asking. Take the font apart and put the tape on the INSIDE. Perfect. Thanks for the post.
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Post by Bonzo on Jul 1, 2012 11:05:38 GMT -5
BTW, there are many audiophiles who are not adversely affected by these blue lights ;D Yeah, true, but I'd be willing to bet there are more audiophile / movie buffs with surround sound systems that would prefer their equipment without the lights. I'm sure someone here knows the stats, but I'd bet the XPA-5 is the most popular amp in the XPA series, and that would prove my point. Would you turn a flashlight on in a theater room while you were watching a movie? Same thing. These power buttons are 5 times brighter than they need to be.
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Post by Bonzo on Jul 1, 2012 11:18:44 GMT -5
On the subject of bright blue lights how about in the car nigh driving and you have your high beams on and the bright blue icon that lets you know you have them on. Lol... Complain complain.... Lol Those high beam light indicators are seriously distracting, yes. What drives me nuts is people who have their gauge lights turned on full blast when driving at night. Those people are either numb to it, blind, or just plain ignorant. With those lights turned up, their own eyes never fully "adjust down" to the lower levels of light outside. Basically, their pupils don't dilate fully. So in essence, they aren't seeing as well in the darker conditions. The gauge lights in cars should be turned way down at night, if not to their minimum settings. This way their eyes will adjust, they will still be able to see your gauges, and they will be able to see your surroundings outside MUCH better. For those who think I'm exagerating, try putting on the cruise control on the highway, then turn your interior gauge lights completely off. You will be able to see outside much better. Do this for about 5 minutes, then just turn the gauge lights back on to their minimum setting. I guarentee you will see the negative difference, and wish you could drive all the time with the gauge lights completely off all the time.
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Post by Entity on Jul 1, 2012 11:36:18 GMT -5
I refuse to dim my gauge lights, and I had my share of night driving with zero lights in the military. Many gauge lights in vehicles are colors are chosen to not have negative effects on vision. You don't think they picked some of the ugly colors they use on gauges at random do you? ;D Similar to using the red lenses in flashlights that we used in the military, certain spectrum let you see things but still help to retain natural night vision.
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Post by Bonzo on Jul 1, 2012 11:36:48 GMT -5
You *gotta* love this: "Using colored films over the switch will dim the intensity of the blue halo without hindering the operation XPA-2. The procedure you see below would apply to the XPA-2. Please note you will void the warranty if any modifications such as below is performed." So, the modification they describe will in no way hinder the operation of the unit. And yet, THEY WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY IF YOU DO WHAT THEY DESCRIBE!!" C'mon, Emo, don't be so obtuse. *Everyone* complains about the ridiculous brightness of these LEDs and have done so for years. And your solution? Threaten your loyal customers with warranty invalidation. Way to go, Big Dan... -RW- I wouldn't be so harsh on them myself. I'm not going to bite the hand that feeds me. As it is right now, Emotiva has no competition in the amp performance to price ratio world. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Outlaw the only next competition, and they cost twice as much and offer less options. The fact that Emotiva even got back with me, within 24 hours no less, and spent the time to answer me with a complete thought out reply, giving a full answer as to WHY this button even has a light, and answer ALL my questions, says a great deal to me. Give Emotiva 2 big thumbs up and one small finger down for this issue. No, I understand the Emotiva position. They can't have every Tom, bleep & Harry out there opening up their stuff and making physical electronic changes. Some people know what they are doing, and some do not. Where would Emotiva draw the line as to what is legal and what is not? Hence, any physical change and it's void. Heck, some companies call void if you even take one screw out, let alone open it up and mess with things. So I think a real solution here would be to open it up, then either cover the inside of the button with black electrical tape, or cover the white light panel itself with tape. Placing electrical tape on something surely can't hurt anything. You can always remove it later and use a little bestine to remove any sticky residue. This will probably be my plan of attack.
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Post by Entity on Jul 1, 2012 11:45:18 GMT -5
Throwing electrical tape on everything (and the subsequent cleaning involved) is more likely to cause harm than disconnecting a wire that has the pins that allow it to be disconnected. Unpinning a wire requires less handling of the electronics than tape+cleaning will. I would check into warranty on that if you were so inclined.
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Post by Bonzo on Jul 1, 2012 11:51:21 GMT -5
I refuse to dim my gauge lights, and I had my share of night driving with zero lights in the military. Many gauge lights in vehicles are colors are chosen to not have negative effects on vision. You don't think they picked some of the ugly colors they use on gauges at random do you? ;D Similar to using the red lenses in flashlights that we used in the military, certain spectrum let you see things but still help to retain natural night vision. I'd say there are 2 reasons why the military makes you drive without lights on; to not be seen by others (stealth), and to be able to see better yourself (higher performance). Even though cars use colors like reds and ambers to help minimize this, they do still have a negative effect. Many cars even use white, where being bright absolutely has a negative effect. Not all gauges must be seen all the time. For example, some cars allow the radio / climate control section to be dimmed independantly of the driver control gauges. This is smart engineering. Taking it one step farther, I would argue that in many situations, the only gauge you really need on is the speedometer.
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Post by Bonzo on Jul 1, 2012 12:04:03 GMT -5
Throwing electrical tape on everything (and the subsequent cleaning involved) is more likely to cause harm than disconnecting a wire that has the pins that allow it to be disconnected. Unpinning a wire requires less handling of the electronics than tape+cleaning will. I would check into warranty on that if you were so inclined. It's one piece of tape on one thing. I think you are over exagerating the ill effects. One of the tape options is putting it on the back of the physical button, a piece of plastic, which would not involve fussing with the electronics at all. Please read my post on why Emotiva considers the wire thing void. And you can't be serious about it being less invasive? Hard, no, but it's phsycally more invasive than one piece of tape. You are also forgeting that for the wire removal method, you have to put tape on the end connector anyway. To remove it would be doubley invasive. Regarding tape removal, the one and only time I would ever need to remove the tape is to send the unit to Emotiva for repair within the 5 year warrantee period. I will never want it removed myself, and I would not have to remove it for selling purposes. And after the 5 year warrantee is up, who cares.
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Post by Entity on Jul 1, 2012 12:09:33 GMT -5
Right, it's a minimal effect. Dimming gauges down also changes the ambient lighting in the vehicle, adding to drowsiness. When trying to go to sleep at night, lights get minimized, not brightened. Reducing drowsiness is a major goal in the same situations where the benefits of extra visual acuity are noticeable, open highways without outside light sources that would have otherwise disrupted night vision anyway. I'm sure the studies have been done and the experts in the auto industry are far more knowledgeable than either of us though. Sorry for the thread derail, but you brought it up and it's your thread...we can go wherever you want. ;D
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Post by Entity on Jul 1, 2012 12:24:02 GMT -5
No over exaggerating. Do you know how secure the white colored light distribution panel is? I don't. The force of pulling tape off of it may or may not be enough force to damage it depending on how, and how securely it's attached. That was my point as far as being more invasive...unplugging a wire is less physical manipulation of it. If tape was your preferred method, I would recommend the behind the button approach instead.
Obviously it's your product, you can do what you want with it. It was just an observation based off of your concern for the warranty.
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Pauly
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Post by Pauly on Jul 1, 2012 12:31:28 GMT -5
I refuse to dim my gauge lights, and I had my share of night driving with zero lights in the military. Many gauge lights in vehicles are colors are chosen to not have negative effects on vision. You don't think they picked some of the ugly colors they use on gauges at random do you? ;D Similar to using the red lenses in flashlights that we used in the military, certain spectrum let you see things but still help to retain natural night vision. Oh man, me too. Driving a 12,000 pound up-armored Humvee down a dirt side road in Iraq with no lights is scary stuff! Even with NODs.
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Post by Entity on Jul 1, 2012 12:40:27 GMT -5
Hated NVG's, they gave me headaches that made me wish someone was rolling over my head with a deuce. When I could get away with it, I just did peripheral vision driving since human peripheral vision is so much stronger at night vision than our straight on vision.
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Post by dean70 on Jul 1, 2012 18:00:58 GMT -5
I have come up with a non technical solution - the 2 x XPAs are at the bottom of the equipment shelf below the screen on each side - if I recline the couch and place my feet to block the blue lights on each side- problem solved. Now that I have dimmed the lights on the HTPC in the center, I dont have to position my feet to block the blue lights from it.
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