Programmable outputs are dying one by one..

[Kingdaddy]

I don’t know what’s going on, first I lost #3, now #4 is gone as well, no output from them at all. Now I’m down to two. I don’t know what could be causing them to go out, the last one has worked for about two months and the first one was good for almost a year. If its an internal error by either software or hardware I’m not going to be so happy with the reliability so far, this unit is barley over a year old and the first one I had was returned. The idea of sending this unit back to the factory is killing me, I’ve never had a good experience sending any unit in for repair, its my firm opinion that no bench tech in the industrial electronics world has a clue of what they are doing and I would be better off trying to fix it myself. However, this seems like a possible software problem or a DSP chip going bad, one output at a time, so no chance for me to fix such proprietary things. :cry:

Anybody else have any problems with their Programmable outputs?

[Chris D]

No, no problems, and I've been using my programmable outs for a couple years now.

Definitely something to be fixed by Parasound techs. To put your mind at ease, the few people here in the Club that have had to use tech support/repair have all reported excellent experiences. I still think the story about Parasound's president carrying an owner's unit out to the car is best...

[Kingdaddy]

Now my Zone B output died, so lets sum up.

No component switching
No Zone B
No Pro 3 & 4 outputs.

I'm ready to call this unit a turd, if I wait long enough I'll bet it just explodes and shoots flames out of it.

Very depressing since it is the heart of my entire entertainment system, when I send it off I wont be able to watch HDTV, movies or music, I'd be better off if some took my car.

I have a mind to demand a whole new unit, this one seems possessed and all the failures are not connected so its not like one bad card is causing this.

[slayer]

Your first post was in December. What have you done about this to get it fixed? If you have done nothing, then it's on you. Fill us in so we know what Parasound is doing about the problem.

[Kingdaddy]

I'm not sending this thing back until I have to, and good thing or I would have to send it right back after another function failed, I know enough about electronics and digital design to know that they are not connected, that’s what scares me. Each time something breaks I just find a work around like for the Zone B I just jumpered the cables together and use the wall plate volume instead of the Halo internal volume and On/Off.

[slayer]

That doesn't make any sense to me. They have a 10 year warranty. Get the thing fixed. Why should you spend that kind of money and have a lemon? Let them take care of you. They have a good track record for customer service, find out for yourself. I would have sent it in with the first sign of trouble. Who knows, you might get a new one.
Good luck with it.

[Peter Nielsen]

:agree: My first C2 apparently was a lemon. When I did the firmware upgrade to v5.80 the left and right surround channels went dead. Weird, huh?

The unit was ~6 months old. I overnighted it back to Parasound. After having it for 3 days, the Parasound service techs had not figured out what was wrong with it, so they decided to not have me waiting and sent me a BRAND NEW unit to replace it... (Maybe I have Brent Huskins to thank for the excellent service. I think he might have influenced them to fix the problem quickly. The quickest fix was obviously a new unit :B :T )

Peter

[Chris D]

Parasound customer service is top notch. For me, when I first got my C1, the LCD screen would not work. They took it back and sent me a new unit right away. Very cool.

I agree, a 10 year warranty is guaranteed to take care of all these problems.

[nicholtl]

:agree: My first C2 apparently was a lemon. When I did the firmware upgrade to v5.80 the left and right surround channels went dead. Weird, huh?

The unit was ~6 months old. I overnighted it back to Parasound. After having it for 3 days, the Parasound service techs had not figured out what was wrong with it, so they decided to not have me waiting and sent me a BRAND NEW unit to replace it... (Maybe I have Brent Huskins to thank for the excellent service. I think he might have influenced them to fix the problem quickly. The quickest fix was obviously a new unit :B :T )

Peter

That meant another wild week of break-in, eh?

[Chetk]

No offense KingDaddy, but maybe your "customizations" that you call work-arounds are causing the other problems. Is that why you're scared to send it in? You've opened it up one to many times maybe?

If I were Parasound, I wouldn't warranty it if the customer opened up the box and "jumpered" anything at all.

I'm not doubting your ability, but Parasound knows best when it comes to Parasound equipment.

[Kingdaddy]

No offense KingDaddy, but maybe your "customizations" that you call work-arounds are causing the other problems. Is that why you're scared to send it in? You've opened it up one to many times maybe?

If I were Parasound, I wouldn't warranty it if the customer opened up the box and "jumpered" anything at all.

I'm not doubting your ability, but Parasound knows best when it comes to Parasound equipment.

No, I've never opened it or customized the Halo in any way, what I'm talking about is all done outboard. I don’t want to return it for the simple reason that it will shut down my entire entertainment system including HDTV, I use this stuff everyday and it's a big part of my life, doing without it for any length of time is like pulling teeth without Novocain. As long as I can find another way to do what I want, I don’t want to send this thing back. What’s discouraging is the fact that ever 3 months some other unrelated input or output will break which Leeds me to believe that if I send it back for repair something else will break soon after I get it back. Guess I need to contact Brent Huskins and see if he can expedite the repair like he did for Peter.

[Kingdaddy]

Strang, my Zone B came back to life, at least for now.