XPA-200 Problems **SOLVED**

[robertbb]

Hi All,

Quick update: Emotiva has shipped the replacement standby power supply. I received a tracking number and it went out via FedEx so I should have it in 8-10 days if not sooner. Will keep updating.

[robertbb]

richardrc: Thanks! I listened to a plethora of speaker brand/models with my own source material before settling on the RF82-ii's. Did all the tests blind with someone switching on-the-fly between the units and was able to reliably pick these out 100% of the time across many genres. The wattage of 150RMS is perfectly matched to the XPA-200, and the set-up with an XDA-2 and Logitech SBT is sublime.

Still... (and this may be due to placement of the speakers, they are only about 10cm from the wall because my room is also about 4.5x4) I feel it could use more punch in the bass department. Something that hits clean and sharp would do - I can live without my couch vibrating out of position ;-)

I read I may have good results leaving the XDA-2 connected via balanced XLR to the amp (then on to the Klipsch) and connecting a powered sub (such as the Xref-12) via unbalanced RCA directly to the XDA-2. My preference is for music - movies are secondary.

[Deleted]

I too recently had an XPA-200 issue. Somewhat close to your description. I used it for about a week or two that I had it. You can forget about decent audio from the Denon3312CI when compared with the XPA-200. My situation was that it worked all night, I turned my equipment off, woke up and it would turn on and do its normal test, and then the sound would come out clean as usual for about a split second, then kick into standby mode (amber). I tried without some cables to no luck. I emailed tech support and wrote on the facebook page, very kindly. They were closed hours wise, I woke up with an email back from tech support, and other staff as well. An issue with the internal parts was the response, a seperate email from a different department which I had not written, stating a replacement amp was being sent to me, with paid shipping back, just to put the failed unit in the box and drop it off at fedex. Not only that, I had a tracking number and they sent it out the next day. Superb. Also, I was looking at going with a higher model 2ch amp before I got the XPA-200, and the guy told me that because of the speaker efficiency and patented tweeter design, go with the XPA-200 instead, the gain might sound a bit harsh with the other models they offer that have 3dB more gain. Emotiva support was not after my money.....I find that very admirable and I was very appreciative. My brand new replacement should arrive in a few days.

[robertbb]

tiwer1: Hmm. Did they say what the exact issue was with your amp? Must have been major if they were willing to replace it so quickly.

Also, are you in Australia or the USA (or elsewhere)? I ask because I'd honestly have also preferred a replacement amp rather than just the replacement part (though Keith reassured me that the damaged standby power supply would not have caused any harm to the rest of the amp... so I guess it's fine. It's still under warranty either way.

[Deleted]

I am in the USA so I have a hunch the shipping was not a big deal for them. I was rather surprised that there was no questions even asked...although I did give an exact description of what was happening. I have no idea what was wrong with it, and the tech support email said that something internal was not working correctly...something like that....it was very vague haha. The half second that it works before going back into standby, sounded like it did before (SUPERB), only it now kicks back to standby. The only thing that I can make out of it, is that there might be a part that makes it stay on after the impedance and grounding test, because after that it would just kick off. I tried removing the trigger cable first, did not make a difference. I then removed speaker cables, and inputs, and it still did the same exact scenario with nothing plugged into it. It is like it passed all checks to run properly, but whatever might keep it on after that...is not working...no idea, just my guess. I am missing the 2 channel amp :S. I am lucky enough that I am running an integrated Denon 3312CI so I could still run my fronts from the Denon in the meantime. The Denon in 2ch mode is quite a joke compared to the XPA-200. The Denon had a lack of bass and the high frequencies were a bit harsh. The biggest thing beyond that...which was still big, was the variance in sound. I can tell the difference in a skype call with just my friend talking. haha. As long as everything pans out to be okay after this, I am saving for the UPA-700 to pair with it. I run at the max 7.1 channels, and am thinking that while the XPA-200 controls the fronts, I will use the UPA-700 vs the UPA-500, due to the bigger transformer and more capacitance, also leaving the possibility to wire speakers into the workout room and use zone 2 preouts from the Denon. I run a 7.1 Infinity Primus setup, which is very clean sound for not too much money, if you do things like stand the speakers on feet, a few feet from the wall, etc.

[Deleted]

The replacement has arrived and is working great, just an update.

[Dan Laufman]

So, maybe we can change the name of this thread to somethng more positive??

Just saying...

[garbulky]

I was thinking the same thing Dan.

[2channon]

Well, tiwer1 isn't the OP, but glad his replacement is working out. I am sure that when robertbb gets his parts and gets them installed that he will change the name of the thread.

[richardrc]

The thread title should have probably read "email support" which a few around here have found lacking, especially for international customers. I am glad Big D is reading this thread as my local FedEx guy told me "we have had heaps of boxes from this company come through lately, not one damaged ". This means two things : Selling great into Australia; Expect more emails to support, not phone calls at 5 am.

[robertbb]

Hi All,

The replacement standby power board arrived mid last week - this means it took around 5 days (2 of which were a weekend) to get from Franklin, TN, USA to Melbourne, VIC, AU with FedEx. Not too shabby at all! It arrived in a paper satchel and was wrapped in a sheet of foam.

I was told over the phone that instructions would be included, however there were none. As I mentioned above, I have a lot of experience working with servers and found it pretty easy to do the job but for a layperson it would have been impossible - particularly as there was actually an issue with the board they sent (one of the components had been pressed onto the PCB incorrectly!!). More on this later.

I didn't have a chance to get my hands dirty until last night (Sunday). After the transplant, I left the amp on standby and hit the hay. This morning, I practically ran into the living room to see if I'd be met with an orange light (success) or blankness (failure)...

Orange baby! The amp's working again :-) I watched a few minutes of the Atlanta Falcons vs San Francisco 49'ers over breakfast as a tribute to an American brand :-P

I'll write a longer post tonight after work, including pics (with a comparison of the original board and its replacement, showing the part that was pressed incorrectly).

Also as suggested above I'll also look at changing the title of the thread to *email* support AWOL.

Cheers,
Rob.

[KeithL]

You may be surprised to know that it isn't all that easy to locate a qualified support person who is familiar with *our* entire product line, and lives (or wants to move to) Tennessee. It would be a lot easier if we just needed to add another line to a support center in Bombay, or a new voice to read stuff out of a book that they didn't have to know anything about, but you know we don't work that way

Jan 20, 2013 19:02:10 GMT -5 robertbb said:

Hi All,

The replacement standby power board arrived mid last week - this means it took around 5 days (2 of which were a weekend) to get from Franklin, TN, USA to Melbourne, VIC, AU with FedEx. Not too shabby at all! It arrived in a paper satchel and was wrapped in a sheet of foam.

I was told over the phone that instructions would be included, however there were none. As I mentioned above, I have a lot of experience working with servers and found it pretty easy to do the job but for a layperson it would have been impossible - particularly as there was actually an issue with the board they sent (one of the components had been pressed onto the PCB incorrectly!!). More on this later.

I didn't have a chance to get my hands dirty until last night (Sunday). After the transplant, I left the amp on standby and hit the hay. This morning, I practically ran into the living room to see if I'd be met with an orange light (success) or blankness (failure)...

Orange baby! The amp's working again :-) I watched a few minutes of the Atlanta Falcons vs San Francisco 49'ers over breakfast as a tribute to an American brand :-P

I'll write a longer post tonight after work, including pics (with a comparison of the original board and its replacement, showing the part that was pressed incorrectly).

Also as suggested above I'll also look at changing the title of the thread to *email* support AWOL.

Cheers,
Rob.

[klinemj]

Given the results...might I suggest you change the name to something reflecting that emo support worked out?

[robertbb]

klinemj: Short answer, yes :-)

Before I do though, I'm interested to see what Emo says about the component I mentioned earlier being stamped the wrong way around on the replacement PCB. I'm not 100% sure, but I suspect if I hadn't re-oriented that component before installing, some damage could have been done to other parts of the amp (we're talking about a power supply here). I could be wrong - of course - but I *did* re-orient the component and the amp *does* work with it oriented differently to how it shipped...

That may sound vague, but it will make more sense when I post pics tonight.

[richardrc]

Just received my replacement part today USPS lost the race but in all fairness my speaker still works just won't switch on unless given a nudge.

Although I am not convinced that the part will fix the problem, I have sent Keith an email expressing my concerns.

[robertbb]

Hi All,

Apologies for the delay, I didn't get a chance to do this last night and am now on my lunch break so please excuse the poor formatting as I'm in a rush.

Here's a pic inside the amplifier:


The faulty board is at the top. There were two cables to unplug:
1) The connection to AC power (yellow box on the right).
2) Connection to the "mainboard" with the six large capacitors (yellow box on the left). The middle yellow box shows that when I unplugged the connection to the mainboard, the plastic mounting bracket came right off!

Here's a pic of the mounting bracket, which I then had to file off the mainboard cable and remove with pliers (it was glued on pretty good!):


Here's a comparison of the two boards:


The black board is the original, and the green is the replacement. The green box shows how the mounting bracket came off the old board when I pulled the mainboard cable (it's still where it should be on the replacement board). The red box shows that the mounting bracket on the replacement board was actually mounted the wrong way (the "clip" on the old board is under the pins, whereas on the replacement board the clip is above the pins). It's hard to make out on this pic, but the "L" and "N" stamped onto both boards were oriented identically (I've drawn a faint blue box to show this), which means the mounting bracket was indeed on backwards on the replacement board. I considered plugging in the AC cable as-is, but I thought that might do damage, so I decided to remove, rotate and re-seat the bracket - a newbie could easily overlooked this!

Here's a pic of the mounting bracket after I'd removed it (and just prior to re-seating):

This pic captures that the "L" and "N" are indeed stamped the same way as on the old board (see faint red boxes).

Here's the new board, installed and plugged in:


The amplifier is working again now, but can someone at Emo please advise what would've happened if I'd plugged the AC cable into the board the way it was shipped to me (i.e. not reversed the mounting bracket)? Could that have done some damage?

Cheers,
Robert

[garbulky]

So how does the amp sound? Do you like it?

[robertbb]

garbulky: It sounds as good as it did before it broke... awesome :-)

[richardrc]

IMO the L and N wouldn't matter as it is ac, but the U+ U- could have been catastrophic as it is clearly polarized

[sharkman]

It certainly wouldn't have worked either, after all that. Looks like QC is always a challenge. Also, I noticed that on the original board, it's dated the end of 2010. An amp that is a new model from the fall of 2012 has parts that are 20 months old? Seems a little odd.