Help!! My XPA-5 Gen 2 can fry an egg on standby!

[cychua]

Hi,

I just hooked up my XPA-5 last night.

Tested it of a while and was pleased with the improvement it brings.

I left it on standby mode (I.e. orange light) as I always do for my Onkyo receiver. I was shocked when I woke up this morning and go near the amp. It is so hot!

Is there someone wrong with my XPA-5?

Thanks

[garbulky]

Where is your amp stored? Is it on the ground on a carpet? Is there room for it to ventillate? How quickly does the egg cook? Did you add any spices?

[cychua]

I put it in a compartment in my tv console which was designed for my Onkyo receiver. There is 4 inches on top for ventilation.
Even when my Onkyo (in the same place), after playing for hours, does not feel that hot.

I always thought that it should not generate any heat on standby...

My Onkyo is cool on standby.

[stiehl11]

You might have a short somewhere in your speaker cables. Disconnect them and keep it in standby and see if that changes the temperature after an hour or so.

[geebo]

Aug 17, 2013 19:27:57 GMT -5 cychua said:

I put it in a compartment in my tv console which was designed for my Onkyo receiver. There is 4 inches on top for ventilation.
Even when my Onkyo (in the same place), after playing for hours, does not feel that hot.

I always thought that it should not generate any heat on standby...

My Onkyo is cool on standby.

It doesn't sound right. My gen 1 doesn't get that hot after playing for hours. I'd call Emo Monday. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt to do as David suggested.

[cychua]

Thanks!
Will do that and update later.

Can it also has anything to do with the 12v trigger in any way?

[geebo]

Aug 17, 2013 19:43:28 GMT -5 cychua said:

Thanks!
Will do that and update later.

Can it also has anything to do with the 12v trigger in any way?

I don't see how. That just receives a signal that in turn powers up the amp.

[suzyq]

I was having problems with my Oppo when placed on top of my Emo amp. After playing a few discs, the Oppo would "stall out" in the middle of a track. It did this multiple times. I felt the Oppo and the amp they were both pretty warm. So, I placed a fan nearby and also lifted the Oppo up onto some foam blocks to give an airway between it and the amp. They both run much, much cooler now and I'm not having any more stalling issues. And neither of these are in a cabinet.

You may want to consider forcing some air thru the cabinet where the amp is.

Sooz

[geebo]

Aug 17, 2013 20:24:46 GMT -5 suzyq said:

I was having problems with my Oppo when placed on top of my Emo amp. After playing a few discs, the Oppo would "stall out" in the middle of a track. It did this multiple times. I felt the Oppo and the amp they were both pretty warm. So, I placed a fan nearby and also lifted the Oppo up onto some foam blocks to give an airway between it and the amp. They both run much, much cooler now and I'm not having any more stalling issues. And neither of these are in a cabinet.

You may want to consider forcing some air thru the cabinet where the amp is.

Sooz

But his is getting very hot in STANDBY mode with 4" of space above the amp. That shouldn't happen. Standby should draw very little current.

[paintedklown]

I haven't used the gen 2 X series amps, but I had my 3 amps all stacked on top of each other (sitting on carpet to boot) for around 1.5 years with a lot of long/loud sessions, and never experienced any issues.

I would suggest trying stiehl11's advice, and if that nets you no joy, then call Emotiva on Monday.

Good luck!

[suzyq]

"But his is getting very hot in STANDBY mode with 4" of space above the amp. That shouldn't happen. Standby should draw very little current."

That is definitely not right. Check your speaker cables and input cables. Maybe just un-plug all cables and run the amp in standby and see how you fare?

Sooz

[cychua]

Think I'll first leave all cables intact and remove my front speaker cables (br-wired) to see if that is the cause.

Will update the result later.

[cychua]

Removed the front speakers bi-wires and left it on standby for 1 hour.

The amp is cool. Only a little warm, which is very acceptable to me.

So what does it mean? Faulty cables or faulty speakers?

I'm new to exporing these HT stuff. Through this episode, I came to pay attention to the binding posts of my speakers.
As mentioned, my front speakers are running on bi-wires.
My surround and front high speakers are also having 2 pairs of binding posts each. But they are running on normal single cables.
I just noticed that there is no short bar to connect the high and low frequency binding post.

Will that affect the sound quality?

Thanks

[GreenKiwi]

I would note that even still, if the amp is in Standby mode, it shouldn't really generate much heat. I'd give emo a call on the phone and chat with them a bit.

[stiehl11]

Aug 17, 2013 22:18:52 GMT -5 cychua said:

Removed the front speakers bi-wires and left it on standby for 1 hour.

The amp is cool. Only a little warm, which is very acceptable to me.

So what does it mean? Faulty cables or faulty speakers?

I'm new to exporing these HT stuff. Through this episode, I came to pay attention to the binding posts of my speakers.
As mentioned, my front speakers are running on bi-wires.
My surround and front high speakers are also having 2 pairs of binding posts each. But they are running on normal single cables.
I just noticed that there is no short bar to connect the high and low frequency binding post.

Will that affect the sound quality?

Thanks

The heat is likely residual from how hot it got with your cables plugged in. This means you likely have a short somewhere either in your cables or your speakers. Keep the cables disconnected over night and see how the amp feels in the morning. If there's still residual heat then call Emotiva on Monday morning (don't send an email).

[wizardofoz]

While singapore is hot, of the emo amps I have had (I've had and still have a lot) the xpa-1's are the only ones that have ever needed any help being cooled...and that is only during operation. On standby they are all sitting at room temperature, no more than that. I've owned 2 xpa-5's in the past and never even really hot while running, much less standby.

Anyway I have contact CY directly as he is just up the rd from me. So all good....I am guessing either the amp is not going into full standby ie amps are sitting at idle with no signal and perhaps in class A mode due to this idle state.

[ossif]

Aug 17, 2013 22:18:52 GMT -5 cychua said:

Removed the front speakers bi-wires and left it on standby for 1 hour.

The amp is cool. Only a little warm, which is very acceptable to me.

So what does it mean? Faulty cables or faulty speakers?

I'm new to exporing these HT stuff. Through this episode, I came to pay attention to the binding posts of my speakers.
As mentioned, my front speakers are running on bi-wires.
My surround and front high speakers are also having 2 pairs of binding posts each. But they are running on normal single cables.
I just noticed that there is no short bar to connect the high and low frequency binding post.

Will that affect the sound quality?

Thanks

That sounds like you have messed up with your Speaker cables and produced a short. Check polarity of your cables. Have you got rid of the Speaker brakets if biamping?

[cychua]

You guys are right!
It was the residual heat.
The amp is now cool after 7 hours in standby mode.

The question now is hat do I do next win my for t speakers?
I'm thinking of changing them to normal cables just like my surround and cut a short piece from the speaker cables to use as the short bar.
That should work right?

[Deleted]

Never bi-wire speakers. Bi-amping (big difference) is OK to try, but bi-wiring is alien audiophile hocus-pocus and has no audible effect.

Maybe your description is fuzzy to me but your speakers should have a connection  (jumper bar --- two for each speaker) linking the woofer and tweeter speaker posts, both + and -.   If you don't have one then maybe a short piece of your main speaker wire would due to connect the two sets of speaker posts if you can't find the jumper bar.








With link (or substitute speaker wire, no bare strands) back in place you only use one speaker wire (+ plus -) per speaker.  See below the correct way to wire and link your speakers unless you choose to bi-amp (different story).

[cychua]

Thanks for all your advices, Bros!
I managed to find the jumper bars for my speakers and removed the bi-wires.
The amp is cool after 1 night in standby mode.

Special thanks to Paul (wizardofoz) who made the trip to my house and provided some useful tips.