XPA-5 sparking/malfunctioning on power on

[xylon]

Hi everyone,

I purchased an XPA-5 (Gen 1) back in 2010 and have been enjoying it a great deal.



A few weeks ago while watching a movie (not even loud!) the XPA-5 popped, and the front LEDs started flashing red. I cycled the power, and it worked again for a little while, before shorting out the power in the apartment.



The next morning I did some further testing. The amp is fine in standby mode - not very useful! However, when turning it on, with the cover off, I noticed a bright flash in the front left of the machine. One of the 10A fuses blew up (literally blew up - the glass shattered), however the front LEDs continued to work and turned blue like nothing was wrong - I understand the front LEDs are on a different circuit.



I replaced the fuse and just to be sure tested one more time while taking a video, and the same thing occurred. This time however the fuse did not blow, but I see a small black piece of plastic seems to have come off the component (the top circular black one - I think the thermistor) just to the left of the 250mA fuse.
The video is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpLhKcCwCSo

I have been trying to contact Emotiva on this - because I live in Australia calling their support line is difficult, and they are very slow to respond via email (despite the advertised 48 hour window). I am quite disappointed at the response time, to be honest, however I still love the amp (and the company) so I'd like to have it repaired (locally!).

Emotiva finally got back to me saying they were able to provide information to a qualified tech, whom I've identified. However I'm concerned it will take another fortnight to actually get this information to my tech.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, and has access to the repair information? 

Thanks everyone!
Julian

[Gary Cook]

Hi Julian, I've done a couple of circuit board replacements and Emotiva are very quick to respond. They, like the rest of us, are of course in the hands of international couriers, it can take 4 days door to door, but I did have one that took 11 days. Not Emotiva's fault, it was a FedEx mistake. And please don't be afraid to call them, they will take your phone number and call you back so they pay the international call costs.

Email is not an effective communication medium for service calls, they may need to ask you questions, you may need to look at the equipment and respond with what you see. That could take 10 or 20 emails, it's a waste of your time and theirs.   Call them and they will sort it out for you, they may be American's but they speak English (well sort of English).

If you get stuck with the board swap please let me know, I'm here (in Sydney) to help, which is a bit closer than Tennessee.

I wouldn't try calling them now, it's around midnight (Thursday night) there.

Cheers

Gary