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Post by garbulky on Jan 8, 2021 15:40:37 GMT -5
As someone that owns Stealth 8's that are out of warranty, I thought I'd offer some possible solutions to either fix or repair dead Stealth 8's. If you have scratchy sounds from your Stealth 8's then, as you know, the amp is on the way out. Unfortunately if one of the amp's fails then there is a risk of getting pure DC rail voltage to one of your speakers. If it's the amp that powers the woofer it might survive but if it's the amp that powers the tweeter, it will most likely melt the tweeter. If you ask Emotiva, they will send you the schematics for the Stealth 8. There is a good chance that one of the output transistors is failing. There is a PNP and NPN output transistor for each of the amps. These are readily available from many sources. If you are proficient with soldering, you can replace these yourself. If you're lucky this will solve your problems. In my case it did not help. If replacing the output transistors does not fix the issue, then things become much more complicated. You could start moving upstream replacing components as you go but without the right test equipment this procedure is hit or miss and certainly not for the faint of heart. After doing a post mortem on my amp, it became clear that the row of power transistors on the underside of the amp were no longer making good mechanical contact with the heat sink on the backside of the Stealth 8. The thermal paste that conducts the heat between the transistors and the heatsink had turned to a white dust and the amp slowly cooked itself over time. Until my amp failed, I was happy with my Stealth 8's. Since I was unwilling to scrap a monitor with one dead amp, my solution was to order a 2 channel 125 watt per channel class D plate amplifier with an integrated DSP. Specifically I used a miniDSP PWR-ICE125 from Parts Express. I had considered going with a 250 watt per channel amp but I discovered that the existing Stealth 8 tweeters are only rated for 80 watts. Replacing the amps and power supply with a plate amplifier is a straightforward procedure. In a nutshell, you remove the back of your Stealth 8. You disconnect the power LED, and the 4 wires that go to the speakers. Then you remove and discard all the amp components including the power supply and the rear heat sink. When you're done you have an empty back plate. Next you cut a really large hole in the back plate of the amp and bolt the plate amplifier in its place. After hooking up the speakers, you're mostly good to go. The only task that remains is to program the DSP. My DSP required a router and windows PC. All the programming is done via a P.C. From a functional point of view, the signal first goes to the DSP. The DSP processes the signal then sends the output to a dedicated amp for the woofer and a dedicated amp for the tweeter. The only downside is that programming the DSP takes some effort if you want your newly fixed monitor to exactly match the characteristics of your un-doctored Stealth 8. I used a reference microphone to ascertain the frequency response of my remaining good Steath 8. Then I was able to program the DSP to set the crossover frequency and set gain to match. And finally, the last option would be to purchase a passive crossover and simply use the dead Stealth 8 with an external amp. If both my Stealth 8's had died, I might have considered this option. I hope this helps someone. Bruce So you literally have to rebuild the electronics and related software from scratch?! Wow. Wouldn't it have been better to send the amp to a local repair store to replace the faild transistors and apply better thermal paste? |
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Post by bcollins on Jan 8, 2021 16:36:41 GMT -5
Do you remember the scene in Planes, Trains & Automobiles where Steve Martin is trying to check into a motel with a credit card that has been burned to a crisp? My amp wasn't that bad but it was close. I could have invested the time and money to fix the amp but it's really just a judgement call. The amps in the Stealth 8's are high quality but they are complex. Replacing multiple components on a dense circuit board gets expensive in a hurry. My local repair shop will only warranty the components that are physically replaced. I simply elected to take the easy route and replace the existing amps with an integrated plate amplifier. On the plus side, I have a warranty on the new amps, far more options than the standard rotary switches Stealth 8 as well as digital inputs.
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Post by garbulky on Jan 8, 2021 18:02:20 GMT -5
Do you remember the scene in Planes, Trains & Automobiles where Steve Martin is trying to check into a motel with a credit card that has been burned to a crisp? My amp wasn't that bad but it was close. I could have invested the time and money to fix the amp but it's really just a judgement call. The amps in the Stealth 8's are high quality but they are complex. Replacing multiple components on a dense circuit board gets expensive in a hurry. My local repair shop will only warranty the components that are physically replaced. I simply elected to take the easy route and replace the existing amps with an integrated plate amplifier. On the plus side, I have a warranty on the new amps, far more options than the standard rotary switches Stealth 8 as well as digital inputs. More power to ya! Glad you have it back up and running. Question - do you notice any sonic differences? |
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Post by audiobill on Jan 8, 2021 18:02:54 GMT -5
Cheap to buy, expensive to own longterm?
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Post by chicagorspec on Jan 8, 2021 20:53:39 GMT -5
This seems the case with too many Emo products of late. Fully-covered under warranty one day, “Sorry, you’re on your own.” the next.
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Post by Perpendicular on Jan 8, 2021 22:47:49 GMT -5
I used to own five Stealth 6. I sold them all and thought I wouldn’t look back. Then, after a couple of years of trying a couple of different passive speakers, I yearned for the Stealth 6 again and got the itch. Problem was, Emotiva had discontinued the Stealth (and Airmotiv) Pro Audio line. I did manage to acquire a customer return of a pair of Stealth 8 which, to me, are not the same speaker but I have been enjoying them. A couple of months ago, I finally found a used pair (in great condition) of the Stealth 6. I’ve been trying to find another pair or two of the Stealth 6 but they are not for sale too often and, when they are, they’re usually beat up. So, I take a pass. About three months ago, I acquired a pair of Airmotiv 4s as a backup to my original pair Airmotiv 4s. Now that I’ve read this thread, I’m hoping I don’t require service after my warranty on my pair of Stealth 8. My other monitors have no warranty or are out of warranty. This has me rethinking any further purchases of used or new Emotiva Pro Monitors, or other products, they sell.
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Lsc
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Post by Lsc on Jan 8, 2021 23:30:31 GMT -5
Yes this disposable product model isn’t very encouraging. Luckily I’ve sold all my Emotiva products before the warranty expired or before they had any issues.
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Post by bcollins on Jan 9, 2021 11:49:36 GMT -5
I do notice that at very high volume levels when there is no signal, I get a little hiss from the tweeter of the Stealth 8 that has not been modified. The modified Stealth 8 with the new plate amplifier has no audible hiss. Other that, both sound identical.
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Post by garbulky on Jan 9, 2021 12:45:10 GMT -5
This seems the case with too many Emo products of late. Fully-covered under warranty one day, “Sorry, you’re on your own.” the next. The tag line "re-think high end" implies that Emotiva is high end. However, if they want to be considered as such, they have to provide the long term product support expected by high end companies. |
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Jan 9, 2021 14:21:23 GMT -5
This seems the case with too many Emo products of late. Fully-covered under warranty one day, “Sorry, you’re on your own.” the next. The tag line "re-think high end" implies that Emotiva is high end. However, if they want to be considered as such, they have to provide the long term product support expected by high end companies. Not to make excuses for them, but part of the issue is lack of parts. Example would be the ERC-1 CD player. The slot load disc loader could not be sourced, so they went to tray load. Not sure what the answer is. |
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Post by conmoto on Jan 16, 2021 8:39:09 GMT -5
Excellent contribution. Than you!
Regarding the power transistors making contact; is this something a novice could identify and fix? I’ve replaced capacitors before, but that is the extent of my soldering skills.
I found it interesting that you found the tweeter was only rated for 80 watts. I had always believed the hype of 400 watts total in each monitor, 200 watts per driver...
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Post by audiobill on Jan 16, 2021 9:38:33 GMT -5
This seems the case with too many Emo products of late. Fully-covered under warranty one day, “Sorry, you’re on your own.” the next. The tag line "re-think high end" implies that Emotiva is high end. However, if they want to be considered as such, they have to provide the long term product support expected by high end companies. But there’s the rub. Mid or Long-term reliability and product support costs, and rock bottom price purveyors simply can’t afford it. Maybe cheap to buy, but perhaps expensive to own with limited resale value. Maybe that lunch isn’t so free after all. |
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Post by Cogito on Jan 16, 2021 14:26:22 GMT -5
That's a typical response from a lot of companies. Out of warranty service is a hit or miss proposition and especially for products no longer manufactured. I agree with the above suggestions about looking for an electronics repair shop in your area. Just buy McIntosh gear... |
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Jan 16, 2021 14:34:34 GMT -5
That's a typical response from a lot of companies. Out of warranty service is a hit or miss proposition and especially for products no longer manufactured. I agree with the above suggestions about looking for an electronics repair shop in your area. Just buy McIntosh gear... Mcintosh doesn’t have any parts for my 1900....however I did get a shipping box from them. To be fair, it was built in the 70’s. |
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Post by Soup on Jan 16, 2021 16:03:34 GMT -5
Anthem from Canada is great about repairing out of warranty machines... Worked great for me!
My personal MRX 510 is running awesome!
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Post by garbulky on Jan 16, 2021 16:19:35 GMT -5
The tag line "re-think high end" implies that Emotiva is high end. However, if they want to be considered as such, they have to provide the long term product support expected by high end companies. But there’s the rub. Mid or Long-term reliability and product support costs, and rock bottom price purveyors simply can’t afford it. Maybe cheap to buy, but perhaps expensive to own with limited resale value. Maybe that lunch isn’t so free after all. Emotiva used to have parts for their stuff... like their amps. |
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Post by drunkskeeterpilot on Feb 23, 2022 13:10:02 GMT -5
Hello!
DFW TX area here.
I also own a pair of precious Emotiva Stealth 8 monitors!
One of them developed a crackle just barely still in the 5 yr warranty period or however long it is, and I was able to send it to Emotiva at my shipping expense.
They re-capped the speaker (replaced all the capacitors) and shipped it back and it's good as new again. I forget what it cost me... probably between $150-400. The shipping
for a 40lb speaker was not cheap, as I recall.
Capacitor life can be shortened if the unit stays on a long time and or gets very hot inside.
I make sure to power them off (along with my JBL LSR 5 and 8" monitors that sit on top of them) via an APC G5 power filter PDU that has a staggered power cycle feature,
which means it powers the mixing board up first (PV10AT) before the monitors, to avoid popping.
If Emotiva got rid of or used up all their capacitors for the Stealth 8, I guess it makes sense they would, since basically all warranties would be expired by now.
As others said, you can probably find a general electronics repair shop, one that has good experience with audio electronics and capacitor re-capping, and get your unit serviced there.
Just remember:
You cannot buy or replace your Stealth 8 if your soul depended on it!
Search on e-bay and the internet all you want -- you will find NOTHING.. maybe the manual and a few reviews, that's about it.
These speakers are essentially priceless!
Find a good shop and pay them whatever they need in order to get it back to new condition!
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Post by Soup on Feb 23, 2022 16:38:27 GMT -5
Another brutal response... Anthem will repair their ourt of warranty gear. They brought my MRX 510 back to life a couple of years ago. |
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Post by leonski on Mar 3, 2022 15:22:46 GMT -5
The chance of the problem being a PROPRIETARY part is Near-Zero......EMO uses few such parts....if any.Except for circuit boards.
Will EMO part with a schematic? If not, JUNK THEM ALL OUT.....and go buy soemthing else, but only after audition.
Buying speakers unheard / online is one of the silliest ideas I've ever heard floated....
If the problem is JUST capacitors, as with Mr. Drunk, above, than a local tech should be able to do the job in a weekend.......
Caps going bad? Spend a NICKEL more each at time of manufacture and they'll last a LONG time....
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Post by paintpolisher on Aug 17, 2023 15:52:49 GMT -5
I never updated but back when I posted this local electronics shop wanted $600 to full repair 1 speaker. I think that was more than I paid at Emotiva fest back in 2014? I decided to pass on the repair and actually told them to dispose of the speaker since the place was 90 mins away. 😢
I still have one speaker that I’m using as a center channel but it sounds “not good.” Guess I need to do some investigating. I also have another stealth 8 that’s has a blown out tweeter.
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