XPA-5 Balanced Output issues..............can anyone help?

[teaman]

Hi guys, you are always helpful in the forum so I thought I would ask you a question in concern to my PT7020C4 and XPA-5 set up. I just received the amp Friday after a purchase here in the Emporium from the original owner.

When I shut down the system which is linked by a trigger cable everything shuts off and a few seconds after both pre/pro and amp shut down there is a weird but loud and startling zipper type noise heard through the right rear speaker. It actually sounds like a needle scratching across a record. I am running it PCM five channel via balanced inputs. Everything seems to function correctly while the music or tv sound is playing and no irregular sounds are coming from anything.

When the set up is going to shutdown mode and the power button goes through it's three blinks before shutting down, I can hear a faint buzzing and crackling, sort of like a signal is trying to make it to the right rear speaker. After the unit and amp actually shut down there is a slight hiss from the rear speaker and then about ten seconds after shutting down completely the weird zipper noise is heard at a pretty loud level.

For starters I swapped out different speakers, speaker wires and different XLR cables....plus I varied the inputs and outputs used to make sure it was not a cable. Next, I unplugged the amp from the Belkin power surge protector and went straight to the wall outlet. I tried removing the trigger cable too....the noise followed which ever speaker is plugged into the Right Surround channel when using the XLR cable to the amp no matter what else is going on.

I tried switching the XLR cables out and went to RCA's and everything works without a hitch. Seems to have narrowed itself down to that XLR output so that is a relief.

Sucks though that the amp has a problem with a channel via a balanced output...the amp is said to have just over a year left on warranty but I am not sure if it is worth sending it in to Emotiva to be fixed or not. I guess there probably isn't much difference from XLR to RCA as far as quality, especially since it is only about a three foot run. After spending $600 on an amp not sure if I want to fork over another $75 to ship it to Emotiva.

What is your take as far as getting it fixed? Should I just leave it with the unbalanced and call it good?

Any help is appreciated. I sent a PM to KeithL in hopes he will input also.........Thanks.

Tim

PS.........after contacting the seller with the idea of us splitting shipping to Emotiva to get it checked out, he told me I was on my own. He will not contribute anything toward the repair so I am SOL on that front. Not much I can do since I paid Paypal "gift"....let that be a lesson to us all...

[novisnick]

Im so sorry to hear this, yes,,,,,FF is just that, id rather pay the difference with an unknown seller. You now know it would have been cheap insurance.
That said, id ship it in and ask that they give it a good look over and fix it, ask to see if they're any sighns of pending trouble,,,, id even offer to pay a modest fee to make sure they do more then just glance at the unit, besides fixing the obvious of whats wrong with it.

Good luck, let us know what you do.

[Gary Cook]

"....the noise followed which ever speaker is plugged into the Right Surround XLR output on the amp no matter what else if going on"
Sorry I'm confused, there is no "XLR output on the amp", the XLR's are inputs and the outputs are + and - speaker connections (not XLR).

Moving on, could it be the Right Surround XLR output from the pre amp? Have you tied a different XLR cable? Have you tied a different speaker cable?


Cheers
Gary

[AudioHTIT]

Just to clarify terms, the 7020 would have the balanced output, and the XPA-5 would have a balanced input. You're saying whenever you use the balanced input (XLR) on a specific channel on the XPA-5, you hear the noise at shutdown, but not if you use the RCA input on the same channel? If that's the case it at least narrows things down pretty specifically. So for instance if the other 4 channels were using XLR connections, and the one channel was RCA then everything would be fine (except possibly some channel imbalance).

If the RCA's are working fine then I'd use them until you decide what to do, no loss of fidelity if there's no noise problems. It sounds like possibly a bad capacitor in the balanced input circuit, but it could be something else. If it were me I'd want to get it fixed while it's still in warranty, but only because someday I might want or need the XLR input, or I might want to sell the amp in perfect working order.

[creimes]

Sounds to me like an issue with that XLR output from the 7020, if unbalanced works without a hitch I would just go that route.

Chad

[geebo]

Sept 21, 2015 0:54:31 GMT -5 creimes said:

Sounds to me like an issue with that XLR output from the 7020, if unbalanced works without a hitch I would just go that route.

Chad

But if he swaps the XLR connections, the noise stays on the right rear speaker. Sounds more like the amp's XLR input.

[creimes]

Sept 21, 2015 6:56:05 GMT -5 geebo said:

Sept 21, 2015 0:54:31 GMT -5 creimes said:

Sounds to me like an issue with that XLR output from the 7020, if unbalanced works without a hitch I would just go that route.

Chad

But if he swaps the XLR connections, the noise stays on the right rear speaker. Sounds more like the amp's XLR input.

Didn't realize that, so if using that amp channel for multiple outputs from the 7020 it still does it, weird but yeah anything is possible haha, seems like the XLR on the XPA-5 seems to be retaining some signal even after it's powered down ?

[geebo]

Sept 21, 2015 9:58:58 GMT -5 creimes said:

Sept 21, 2015 6:56:05 GMT -5 geebo said:

But if he swaps the XLR connections, the noise stays on the right rear speaker. Sounds more like the amp's XLR input.

Didn't realize that, so if using that amp channel for multiple outputs from the 7020 it still does it, weird but yeah anything is possible haha, seems like the XLR on the XPA-5 seems to be retaining some signal even after it's powered down ?

Yeah, but only if from an XLR input. Something in the balanced to unbalanced conversion circuitry?

[teaman]

Here is what KeithL just told me in regards to the issue.

Sometimes, depending on the source connection and things like that, some of the early XPA-5's will do that.

It's nothing to worry about. (If you really want to send it in, there's a modification that can stop it from happening, but it isn't a problem and won't hurt anything.)

Keith

[teaman]

Also, sorry for the misinterpretations of the inputs and such. I knew what I was trying to get across but it didn't quite translate that way on the final drafts...