Something blew!

[sleepysurf]

Damn, I was sitting in my office this morning, off my main listening room, with my Summits singing sweetly in the background (playing my new Gary Karr Super Double-bass XRCD). All of a sudden I heard a "pop", and the music was barely audible. I rushed out and was met with the telltale smell of burnt electronics. I immediately turned everything off and unplugged it. Couldn't tell exactly where the smell was coming from, but prayed it was not one of my Summits. Fortunately, I still have my (for-sale) Sunfire Cinema Grand sitting around, so I did a quick test by feeding my Benchmark DAC direct to the Sunfire, driving the Summits. Fortunately, they sounded fine, so it's either my Modwright or Belles that went kaput. I doubt if it's a blown Modwright tube, because BOTH channels went out. At least my Summits were spared! Unfortunately, I've got a busy schedule today, and gotta run. Will update y'all when I isolate the problem. Fortunately, both the Modwright and Belles are still under warranty (unlike my pre-owned Summits).

 

[MiTT]

Damn, I was sitting in my office this morning, off my main listening room, with my Summits singing sweetly in the background (playing my new Gary Karr Super Double-bass XRCD). All of a sudden I heard a "pop", and the music was barely audible. I rushed out and was met with the telltale smell of burnt electronics. I immediately turned everything off and unplugged it. Couldn't tell exactly where the smell was coming from, but prayed it was not one of my Summits. Fortunately, I still have my (for-sale) Sunfire Cinema Grand sitting around, so I did a quick test by feeding my Benchmark DAC direct to the Sunfire, driving the Summits. Fortunately, they sounded fine, so it's either my Modwright or Belles that went kaput. I doubt if it's a blown Modwright tube, because BOTH channels went out. At least my Summits were spared! Unfortunately, I've got a busy schedule today, and gotta run. Will update y'all when I isolate the problem. Fortunately, both the Modwright and Belles are still under warranty (unlike my pre-owned Summits).

Bummer! Let's hope it's something simple like a blown fuse or something when you do get a chance to look into it. Are you running any sort of power regenerator or surge protector in your system?

 

[TomDac]

Hey Sleepy,

YIKES!! I can only imagine how you felt when that happened.... that queasy "oh no" feeling... Not a pleasant feeling for sure.

 

[twich54]

"Surfster", bummer indeed, that's exactly what my stomach did while on vacation this past week down your way ! Hopefully for you it is something minor and easily repairable.

 

[ScottG]

Fortunately, both the Modwright and Belles are still under warranty (unlike my pre-owned Summits).

Hopefully easily repaired and on someone else's expense... keep us informed.

 

[Joey_V]

Phew... the Summits were spared! :cheers:

 

[lugano]

the only thing I can think of that smells and makes both channels go down is a transformer, which protected the fuse by blowing himself...

 

[risabet]

One of the themes in science education is "that any complex system, when given enough time, will fail," The unfortunate part is that it had to happen to you, sleepysurf. Just be glad the likely culprits are under warranty.

 

[MotorToad]

the only thing I can think of that smells and makes both channels go down is a transformer, which protected the fuse by blowing himself...

I do love those fuse-protection devices. Money savers!

 

[Brad225]

Hey Dr.Surf,

Any new diagnosis-prognosis on the Belles patient this morning?
Is the Dr. feeling any better?

 

[Kaliar]

Hi sleepysurf,

Hoping everything under control ! Best wishes for a speedy recovery of your system.

Take care,

 

[sleepysurf]

OK, here's the scoop!

First off, in response to MiTT's question, my components were all plugged into a Monster HTS 3500 MKII power conditioner/surge protector, and the Summits were plugged into their own individual Panamax surge protectors.

This morning I've been swapping components in and out. Both the Modwright Pre and Belles 350A Ref Amp seem to be working fine, as are the Summits. No tubes or fuses blown, no "smoking guns."

Yesterday, when I heard the "pop", and the sound went kaput, I turned everything off pretty fast, but in retrospect, the sound was very "thin" as if the woofers were not playing at all. To test this theory, I disconnected my jumpers (DH Labs Q-10) and that pretty much re-creates the sound. Apparently, for some reason, both of my Summit ice-power modules protection circuitry kicked in, and shut down the woofers. According to the Summit owners manual, this can happen from "overheating", and unplugging/replugging the power forces a "reset." A similar situation happened to me when I first got the Summits, but only with ONE of them. The fact that both SIMULTANEOUSLY did this has me thinking that there was a spike of some sort upstream, most likely from my Belles amp (some EARLIER models of the Belles 350A have been reported to have shorted out or blown downstream speakers, but the latest model supposedly has better protection against this). As for the "smoke" smell, I definitely smelled it, but perhaps it was just from the Summit's protection circuitry kicking in, or an "ozone" effect.

For the time being, I'm going to CAREFULLY listen, look (and smell), while I cautiously fire everything up today. First sign of trouble, I'll turn everything off, and go back to square one.

Has anybody else ever experienced a sudden "tripping" of the Summits protection circuitry? I'm certainly open to other ideas as to what might have happened.

 

[Kaliar]

Well, I'm glad for you that protection kicked in and that nothing appears to have been destroyed ! Must be quite a relief !

Take care,

 

[sleepysurf]

Well, it's a relief, but now I'm sitting here on pins and needles, wondering if/when it will happen again, and whether I'll be as lucky next time!

 

[discocarp]

Scary stuff. When stuff goes, I'd rather the problem be obvious than nebulous. Good luck!

 

[Gordon Gray]

Was it the CD?

Sleepy,

Just a wild guess but I suspect that, given the title, the label, and the amount of bass energy being played through the system, the XRCD may have been the culprit. Have you played this disc before and how loud was the system playing? Seems like a strange coincidence.

I've had a similar experience with my Classe CA150 amp with certain bass heavy material and volume levels. No smoke but the amp protection circuitry did kick in.

Good luck in trouble shooting the problem.

GG

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Sleepysurf,
Things to ask oneself
• What else was going on in the house at the time this happened?
• Microwave running?
• Washer or dryer?
• Someone ironing shirts on the same circuit as the Summits?
• I would question the Panamax and give it the "evil eye" on why this happened.
• Does the Panamax smell too?
• Is the design of the Panamax one which users MOV’s (metal oxide varistor) in their design and if so maybe it has blown and there by giving you no protection.

Just some thoughts on a Sunday morning.

Jeff

 

[sleepysurf]

Gordon, interesting thought about the XRCD. I usually play the ripped version via my Squeezebox, but was playing the actual XRCD at the time. It does have LOTS of bass energy (some tracks have organ, in addition to the double-bass). I'll play it again and see what happens.

As for Jeffs ideas (all good), I don't think any of them are the culprit. I was alone in the house, without any other appliance power drains. Neither of the panamax surge protectors tripped, and the "green lights" are still on.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Sleepysurf,

They were just ideas. I guess we could call it "FM" because this does happen too.

Jeff

 

[sleepysurf]

Well, I played the Double-bass XRCD all the way through without difficulty. Guess this will remain a mystery until it happens again.

Anybody know HOW the Summit's "protection" circuitry works. Is it part of the ice-power switching PSU, or a proprietary ML design? Since it automatically "resets" it's apparently NOT fuse-based.