XPA-200 Problems **SOLVED**

[robertbb]

Hi All,

As my first foray into quality audio, I recently purchased the following items from Emotiva:
1 x XDA-2 DAC
1 x XPA-200 Amplifier
2 x Optical Toslink Cables
2 x X-series Balanced XLR interconnects
2 x X-series Unbalanced Coax interconnects
2 x X-series speaker cables
2 x X-series optical TOSlink cables

This is all hooked up to a pair of Klipsch RF82-ii loudspeakers. The two sound sources currently connected to the XDA-2 are a Samsung LED television, and a Logitech squeezebox touch (both via TOSlink).

The equipment arrived mid-December, and worked flawlessly (incredible sound!) for about 2 weeks. A few days ago, however, the XPA-200 started to "switch itself off" after 10-20 seconds (sometimes a bit longer) for no apparent reason. By "off", I don't mean it goes into standby, I mean it switches right off. All LED's off - nobody's home.

This occurs both when the unit is in standby (orange LED around the silver "E" logo) and when switched on (blue LED around the silver "E" logo). If I push music through it *immediately* after powering it on, it does actually work (and in the few seconds I get to listen, I can't perceive any noticeable sound quality degradation) but then it completely switches itself off and is unresponsive at the front panel.

The only way to "reset" it is to turn off the power at the rear of the unit, wait a few seconds and turn the power back on. The standby orange LED appears but again disappears within seconds.

I have an engineering background, and have removed/isolated other items that may be causing this (i.e. speaker cables, interconnects, etc.). This occurs when the only connection to the unit is the power cord itself, and I am confident that the problem is "inside" the unit, and not caused by anything external. Power to my apartment is clean and reliable - never have an issue with surges or brownouts and yes everything is connected to a quality power board with protection.

One thing to note is that we've recently had a major heatwave here in Victoria (actually, all around the country). The day this happened, it topped 42 celcius. And to answer the obvious question, no - I didn't power the unit on at all that day. Is it possible the thermal regulation in the unit could have malfunctioned even when just sitting there idly in standby?

I submitted a support call to Emotiva via the website about 4 days ago, and after not hearing back after 48 hours sent an email to [e-mail]. Another 48 hours has passed and I still haven't heard back. I keep reading great reviews about Emo's customer support so I'm wondering whether there's a public holiday in TN?

I am hoping not to have to ship this amplifier back to Emotiva within a month of purchase, as shipping from Australia to the US will cost almost as much as the unit itself. I suspect that if it's the power supply, Emotiva could send me a replacement unit and I could put it in myself (I've been building servers for 10 years and know my way around in a box of circuits) or if necessary have a local technician do it. If it's the mainboard, I don't know whether Emotiva would allow me or someone else to replace it.

Don't regret buying the unit at all, it's a solid piece of kit and sounds great. Just (obviously) want to get it working again ASAP.

Rob.

[klinemj]

Use the phone...they are great w/phone support, but I have heard some say e-mail is not the way to go for support.

Mark

[robertbb]

That was my next step. It's late night here at the moment, and early morning in Tennessee. If I wake up tomorrow morning and there's still no reply, I'll give them a buzz.

Cheers.

[GreenKiwi]

I have heard that they are willing to ship replacement boards, if the problem can be solved that way and the owners are comfortable installing them.

Once you guys connect on the phone you should get it sorted quickly.

Good luck sorting it out. It's never fun to have to deal with.

[richardrc]

Jan 9, 2013 6:05:27 GMT -5 klinemj said:

Use the phone...they are great w/phone support, but I have heard some say e-mail is not the way to go for support.

Mark

Which is very unfortunate for an international Internet based company. I too have had a bad experience with email support, with the "did you try turning it off then on again" response, even after sending very detailed emails describing the problem. Ended up getting a little bit "short" with my words after several emails back and forth simply because no one could be bothered to read correctly. (It is not just emo. I have found this common with US email support where you say one thing and you get a question back which has already been answered if the person could be bothered to read!!!! /end rant)

But in support of emo they will send you parts, such as when one of my new ERD-1's had a sticking voice coil (sounded dreadful).

robertbb It was darn hot here the other day, but doubt that it caused your problem. Emo amps run cool, it is their processors that run hot. Sounds like the front panel board or a loose wire, as it has a micro that controls all of the switching/protection. If it is a board then emo will send you one for a simple swap, althought, like all things take your time and do it with the power off!!!!

You could open the amp up (power off) and double check the wiring connections. Intermitent faults are likely to be caused by something loose/not seated properly, I have even seen wires where the insulation has been crimped instead of the wire thus very slight movement would make/break the circuit.

Oh, did I say check those fuses out of circuit with a mulitmeter you should have some spares in the box, also is the 230v light illuminated? Try a diferent power cable I have seen some that are very loose and plug it straight into the GPO?

[garbulky]

Dosen't aussie run on 220V? A previous person found out that his 220V dipped too low and even though it was not noticeable to light bubls etc, it caused the autodetect setting on emo to go into protect mode. If you have a way of measuring this then you can confirm if it is the voltage. Because if it is, a replacement unit will not do it.

[richardrc]

We have 240vac in Victoria although officially it is 230vac. (Plenty if juice to run a ref amp ).

[Gary Cook]

Under voltage is unlikely as we run 230 to 240 volts. May be over though, I'd suggest a quick check with the multimeter.


Cheers
Gary

[richardrc]

Over is not a problem and I have discussed this with emo before. My mains often hits 260 vac!!

[robertbb]

Hi All,

Well, I woke up this morning and still no response to my original web ticket or subsequent email, so I called Emotiva. In short, Mark was right, their phone service was brilliant. Below is a recount of the conversation:

The person that first took the call routed me to technical support immediately, and the call was picked up by Keith within a minute. I explained the issue to him, after which he asked where I was located. He said ideally I'd ship the whole amp back, but that was obviously a last resort given the distance. He advised that he was 99% sure he knew what the problem was and that he wanted to discuss it with someone (I like that, peer review is good). He asked for my phone number and said he'd call me back. Not wanting to get lost in the ether again I told him I was happy to stay on the line. He returned a few minutes later and said the person he wanted to speak with was in a meeting and that he would need to call me back, so I gave him my number.

In less than an hour, my phone rang and Keith advised that they believe the problem to be a faulty standby power supply which they were going to ship to me. He said it will be really easy for me to replace, but mentioned that some parts may not be in stock because the XPA-200 is relatively new. He mentioned that they had my address details on file, and asked whether to ship to the same address as the original order. As there isn't always someone at home, I instead emailed him my work address in Melbourne's CBD and asked whether the replacement part was actually in stock. He replied within an hour again, and said that they are out of stock but that he has the last one sitting on his desk - just for me :-)

It will be shipped tomorrow (TN time), and I will respond to Keith shortly asking for a tracking number. I hope they use FedEx again - it's *much* faster to Australia than with USPS.

I'll update the thread when the part arrives and with my experiences changing it and - hopefully - will report a working amp once again!

Cheers all.

[klinemj]

Great news! Hopefully that works out fine for you.

As they are growing worldwide, I hope they can get their e-mail support as solid as their phone support it.

Mark

[Gary Cook]

Jan 9, 2013 17:02:44 GMT -5 richardrc said:

Over is not a problem and I have discussed this with emo before. My mains often hits 260 vac!!

Handy to know that Emo's don't mind a few extra volts. I'm close to a sub station with underground power, although I don't measure it often, mine has been ~250 volts on the few occasions that I have. It is comforting to know that if I ever went to an XPR that I wouldn't need any more than a typical Aussie domestic power circuit can supply, 3,750 watts is plenty.


Cheers
Gary

[paradigmE]

Hope you have your XPA-200 rocking again shortly

[dmraupp]

Jan 9, 2013 6:05:27 GMT -5 klinemj said:

Use the phone...they are great w/phone support, but I have heard some say e-mail is not the way to go for support.

Mark

I never get email replies using customer service.I do however always get really fast email replies using [e-mail] usually from Nick within a couple hours.

[richardrc]

Glad they're looking after you. Hopefully no soldering required. Fedex and usps can both get here in 6-8 days. I am waiting on a board for my x-ref 12.

[robertbb]

dmraupp: Me too. For the buying experience I dealt with Sarah and emails were always prompt.

As has been mentioned above, it's surprising that a growing company that ships internationally would have poor "online" support since the purchasing is done online.

Keith mentioned that they recently "lost a guy" from support, and I was willing to accept that my messages may have been lost. Seems like this is the norm though.

Can't fault the support service I've received since calling them though.

[robertbb]

richardrc: he said no soldering required - just screws and plugs. I havn't opened the amp yet to have a good look inside. You have a lot of emo equipment, and I think your tagline says it all!

Hope you get that board soon - what do you think of the X-Ref 12? I'm wondering whether or not to get a sub. The XDA-2 has no sub out, and I don't have another amp, so I would need something powered with bass management that doesn't suck.

[richardrc]

I really like the Xref-12 for its musical quality, it is very tight and a bass drum will really snap when it is played. I was originally looking at an Epic Empire but was quoted $1000 shipping!@!!!! Plus you loose your warranty.

My room is about 4x4.5m so not large, so not big to pressurize. The PEQ is great but with everything you can't EQ your way out of trouble. I have a room mode at 52Hz in the listening position which is 10dB down (ouch) so rather than boost which is impossible because it would require 100 time the power, I use the EQ to flatten everything around it. I am going to use the second sub to try and further flatten the response. The phase control works well. Waiting for the XMC-1 with dual EQ'ed subs, although I will use REW first to set the PEQs.

Don't expect miracles with bass extension, although room placement will help. It will shake the house don't' get me wrong, but it is no 15" or 18" monster!!! Plus they are small (big box approx $250 shipping)

For the price I don't see any competition coming close in both sound quality and feature set.


Richard

Edit: just noticed your speakers, not sure that the x-ref would add anything to your setup, as the roll off looks very similar to your speakers, which are very nice BTW.

[bootman]

So is the title of this thread still accurate?

[monkumonku]

Jan 10, 2013 5:23:35 GMT -5 richardrc said:

I really like the Xref-12 for its musical quality, it is very tight and a bass drum will really snap when it is played. I was originally looking at an Epic Empire but was quoted $1000 shipping!@!!!! Plus you loose your warranty.

My room is about 4x4.5m so not large, so not big to pressurize. The PEQ is great but with everything you can't EQ your way out of trouble. I have a room mode at 52Hz in the listening position which is 10dB down (ouch) so rather than boost which is impossible because it would require 100 time the power, I use the EQ to flatten everything around it. I am going to use the second sub to try and further flatten the response. The phase control works well. Waiting for the XMC-1 with dual EQ'ed subs, although I will use REW first to set the PEQs.

Don't expect miracles with bass extension, although room placement will help. It will shake the house don't' get me wrong, but it is no 15" or 18" monster!!! Plus they are small (big box approx $250 shipping)

For the price I don't see any competition coming close in both sound quality and feature set.


Richard

Edit: just noticed your speakers, not sure that the x-ref would add anything to your setup, as the roll off looks very similar to your speakers, which are very nice BTW.

I also like the Xref-12 very much. I find it to be a very musical sub and as the above says, while it doesn't shake the room as much as a 15" or larger sub would do, it still shakes the room and shakes it accurately. The PEQ is helpful but nothing beats putting it in the right location in the room to begin with - that's better than any EQ system. The small size of the Xref makes that a lot easier to do.