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Post by red5ive on Nov 6, 2024 4:01:21 GMT -5
So I have a Gen 1 XPA-5 that just passed the 15 year old mark, and in the past year channels 3 and 4 have randomly triggered the blinking red light protect mode. It only appears to trigger when receiving a signal from my processor (Yamaha CX-A5200) as it otherwise doesn't happen after disconnecting the cables to just channels 3 and 4 and playing a source to the other channels, or letting the amp sit idle with no cables, or cables connected to channels 1, 2, and 5 only and sitting idle.
I was originally running RCA and tried swapping to several different interconnects, which didn't help. As my processor does not have balanced connections, I tried unbalanced to balanced interconnects for all channels. This seemed to have fixed things for the last 6 months or so. However, channel 3 started once again randomly going into protect mode about a week ago. The biggest change I made to my setup was getting new speakers summer of 2022 (B&W 705 S2 series), and the problem started maybe a little over a year after. However that upgrade only affects channel 3 as channel 4 is still connected to the same Emotiva in-walls I got back in 2010.
All that said, I'm ready to buy a new amp, likely another XPA-5, current model. But before I do that, I thought I'd post here and see if anyone has any input/advice that might help resolve my XPA-5 issues before I plunk down $1899 for a new one? And ouch, my Gen 1 was $799 back in 2009.
Edit: I'm an idiot, I forgot my processor does have balanced connections. I'll give that a try if everything looks good under the hood per the recommendation from ttocs.
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Post by geebo on Nov 6, 2024 9:32:00 GMT -5
So I have a Gen 1 XPA-5 that just passed the 15 year old mark, and in the past year channels 3 and 4 have randomly triggered the blinking red light protect mode. It only appears to trigger when receiving a signal from my processor (Yamaha CX-A5200) as it otherwise doesn't happen after disconnecting the cables to just channels 3 and 4 and playing a source to the other channels, or letting the amp sit idle with no cables, or cables connected to channels 1, 2, and 5 only and sitting idle. I was originally running RCA and tried swapping to several different interconnects, which didn't help. As my processor does not have balanced connections, I tried unbalanced to balanced interconnects for all channels. This seemed to have fixed things for the last 6 months or so. However, channel 3 started once again randomly going into protect mode about a week ago. The biggest change I made to my setup was getting new speakers summer of 2022 (B&W 705 S2 series), and the problem started maybe a little over a year after. However that upgrade only affects channel 3 as channel 4 is still connected to the same Emotiva in-walls I got back in 2010. All that said, I'm ready to buy a new amp, likely another XPA-5, current model. But before I do that, I thought I'd post here and see if anyone has any input/advice before I plunk down $1899? And ouch, my Gen 1 was $799 back in 2009. I had an original XPA-5 that I bought in 2010 and it served me well. It was my first standalone power amp and man, it did impress. I now have an XPA-5 Gen 3 that I am very pleased with as well. It began life as an XPA-3 and I later had two mono blades added to make it a 5. I may have another 2 stereo blades added to make it a 9 and get rid of my 2 stereo amps that I use for Atmos speakers. So the versatility of the current gen products cannot be matched by the previous models. As for sound, I can't tell the difference and the fact that it's lighter and runs cooler are both bonuses in my book. |
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Post by red5ive on Nov 6, 2024 18:16:46 GMT -5
So no input from anyone on the XPA-5 going into fault/protect mode? I'd like to keep it if I can. It happened again last night. I changed to a higher crossover point and so far that seemed to help, but I'd prefer to have it at the defacto 80 Hz.
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ttocs
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Post by ttocs on Nov 6, 2024 18:44:53 GMT -5
So no input from anyone on the XPA-5 going into fault/protect mode? High on the list of probables would be capacitors going bad. Pop the top and take some photos to post. Be sure to include enough area of circuit board which may show discoloration of one type or another. |
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Post by red5ive on Nov 6, 2024 19:06:49 GMT -5
So no input from anyone on the XPA-5 going into fault/protect mode? High on the list of probables would be capacitors going bad. Pop the top and take some photos to post. Be sure to include enough area of circuit board which may show discoloration of one type or another. Thanks, I'll give that a go this weekend. I know what to look for once I'm told what to look for  . I'll post pics if I don't notice anything. |
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Lsc
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Post by Lsc on Nov 7, 2024 1:20:58 GMT -5
So no input from anyone on the XPA-5 going into fault/protect mode? I'd like to keep it if I can. It happened again last night. I changed to a higher crossover point and so far that seemed to help, but I'd prefer to have it at the defacto 80 Hz. I wonder how many still have an XPA-5 gen1. That was my first amp as well back in 2011 but I sold it about 3 years later when one of the amp modules blew (big smoke) and I got it repaired under warranty. Looks like the amp served you well - what a bargain Emotiva amps were back then! I’d suggest calling Emotiva’s service department - maybe they have some remedy options including getting it repaired. Depending on the cost effectiveness, then you can decide what’s best. Good to know that it lasted 15 years! |
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Post by red5ive on Nov 7, 2024 12:28:28 GMT -5
Updated the main post. I forgot my processor does have XLR , which I plan to try next if everything looks good under the hood.
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Post by red5ive on Nov 7, 2024 12:42:05 GMT -5
So no input from anyone on the XPA-5 going into fault/protect mode? I'd like to keep it if I can. It happened again last night. I changed to a higher crossover point and so far that seemed to help, but I'd prefer to have it at the defacto 80 Hz. I wonder how many still have an XPA-5 gen1. That was my first amp as well back in 2011 but I sold it about 3 years later when one of the amp modules blew (big smoke) and I got it repaired under warranty. Looks like the amp served you well - what a bargain Emotiva amps were back then! I’d suggest calling Emotiva’s service department - maybe they have some remedy options including getting it repaired. Depending on the cost effectiveness, then you can decide what’s best. Good to know that it lasted 15 years! It has been an awesome amp! The dynamics/openness, wow! The only thing I don't like is the 32 db gain. It seems like everything releasing on disc the last 5 years has had a significant bump in volume/eq, and I rarely find myself setting the volume above -30 db on my processor, whereas older titles I'm setting to -20 (and even higher when nobody's home  ). Might just be my perception of volume, but things don't seem as dynamic at the lower volume level and I find myself turning on loudness features, which I don't normally like to do. I've already manually dropped the speaker level trims to compensate and I'm getting close to the min levels. If I end up running XLR, I'll likely have to manually calibrate at 70 db as I think the auto-calibration is 75 db. So I am somewhat motivated to get a newer gen model since they're 29 db gain, which will also match the good ol' RPA-2 that's running my mains. |
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. I'll post pics if I don't notice anything.
). Might just be my perception of volume, but things don't seem as dynamic at the lower volume level and I find myself turning on loudness features, which I don't normally like to do. I've already manually dropped the speaker level trims to compensate and I'm getting close to the min levels. If I end up running XLR, I'll likely have to manually calibrate at 70 db as I think the auto-calibration is 75 db.