Rotel RB-1080 power amp keeps blowing fuses, I have B&W Matrix 802 Series 3 speakers

[david cro]

I recently bought a pair of B&W Matrix 802 Series 3 speakers on eBay and powered them with an Yamaha 3090 integrated amp. After a few months I decided to upgrade my Amplifier to Rotel Pre/Power and got RSP-1068, RMB-1075 and the RB-1080 (at Rotel's recommendation to power my B&Ws) I don't particularly play my system at high volumes, but I've had to take the RB-1080 in 3 times to be mended, as the left channel keeps going down even when I swap my B&W speakers around it always the amps left channel. I've just got it back now, Rotel say they have fixed an intermittent fault but I'm just waiting for it to go again. Can someone please help.

[lvhung]

Don't worry to much
1080 fuses are very infamous in this forum
:Z

[DrJRapp]

I don't know where you are but the policy of Rotel in the US is to replace a unit that has failed 3 times. If I were you, I would insist it be replaced.

The 1080 blown fuse is a known issue with a known fix that has already been incorporated into production units.

[Andrew Pratt]

The left fuse problem is well known and has been resolved in new units. There's a fix available for older units that have the problem where a few components are upgraded to remedy the issue. Your dealer should know about it or should know who to call at Rotel to have it fixed. Otherwise insist your dealer get you a new one that's been inspected by Rotel (all new models are and should have a sticker to indicate that)

[marekk]

Yes, it seems that it works like that; When my RB-1080 went down (the Left CH.) after 3 month of being use, Rotel said that the resistor was "opened", and they replaced fuses, resistors and capacitors on both channels, and the amp should be OK.
Does anybody know what is RESISTOR and CAPACITOR: what is it and what does it do?
I'd appreciate to know it.

[soundhound]

It is completely circuit dependant (application) as far as an overview of the mods Rotel made. The short of it is a resistor is used to drop voltage, or limit current. A cap will pass ac, and block dc. The 2 have many uses wich are circuit dependant.

[marekk]

Thank you; it is an important thing, and I wonder why Rotel has a problem with these parts in RB-1080..?

[soundhound]

A possibilty is that consumers can put a machine through tests with different combinations of hookups, speakers, cables, configurations that the engineers could never had dreampt of in the lab, so a weakness may not be discovered until the item is released to the general public. A good example of this is software. Companies usually allways get "bug" reports back from the field, @ which time the unforeseen issues get addressed. The positive being Rotel does a very good job of I.D'ing these issues and adresses them quickly.

[GosonFletchy]

I don't know where you are but the policy of Rotel in the US is to replace a unit that has failed 3 times. If I were you, I would insist it be replaced.

The 1080 blown fuse is a known issue with a known fix that has already been incorporated into production units.

I am not sure if the 3 time failure policy applies to something as simple as fuses. If you check your warranty policy you will see that fuses are not covered under warranty anyways. You would have to check with your dealer but I definitely would not start the conversation by "insisting" anything. You will normally get more help when you are open to an appropriate resolution than when you are just demanding new product. Just my 2 cents.

G.

:assimilate:

[DrJRapp]

I am not sure if the 3 time failure policy applies to something as simple as fuses. If you check your warranty policy you will see that fuses are not covered under warranty anyways.

:assimilate:

Under most circumstances I would agree, however the problem is not simply fuses blowing. This is a known issue and apparent defect causes the fuses to blow with some speakers in some circumstances. Rotel has a fix that when properly applied stops the problem in most corcumstances.

As for the nice guy approach vs demanding approach, I agree that is always the best way, however, my experiences with Rotel tell me that approach may not get you too far. I tried the laid back please, thank you, please help approach for 6 months with both my dealer and Rotel to resolve an issue with absolutely no results. Unfortunatly, I only started getting results when I became the squeaky wheel and put the pressure on. Sad state of affairs, but unfortunatly true.

[Mitchell]

I am not sure if the 3 time failure policy applies to something as simple as fuses. If you check your warranty policy you will see that fuses are not covered under warranty anyways.
:assimilate:

The fuse problem is the symptom of an underlying problem. There is a fix that Rotel claims should solve it once and for all. If my unit was back in for service for the same problem three times however I would be demanding a new unit as per there stated policy.
i hope this is helpful

[GosonFletchy]

I know from my time on this forum that regardless of what I say it is not really going to change how you feel about whether your unit should be swapped or not. That said, I want you to think about this another way. Your amp has blown fuses and you send it in. The Rotel technician replaces the fuses and checks the amp out and everything is fine. You get it back and it happens 6 months later, or however long, and you send it back in. The technician goes through the same steps but this time searches longer for something that may be out of tolerance and can still find nothing wrong. He replaces your fuses and fully tests your amp and everything is fine. This is the point where you are getting frustrated because you have been without it twice for nothing but blown fuses. The technicians are probably pulling their hair out at all the amps that had blown fuses but they can not find anything wrong with them. Now the technicians start trying to think outside the box and come up with theories on why this could be happening and decide to replace some caps and change the fuse values for customers who are having this repeated problem. Finally they find the cure. At this point why would they just say "OK, we will replace your unit with a new one that may or may not have the modification done." From a business point of view would it not make more sense to say exactly what they have said? When I called the technical support department for Rotel they said that they were very sorry for the delay in finding a cure but they would be more than happy to get the amp back in and do the modification. They also said that they would be more than happy to expedite the repair so that it would be repaired as soon as it arrived and would ship back out to me the same day. While I would be frustrated, a little, about having to take my amp out of my system three times since I have owned it I can not argue with the logic behind their decision. I personally do not feel that the situation justifies demanding a replacement. This could just be my personality though. I am not the type of person who is out to get something for nothing. I am not going to threaten a lawsuit on a company just because I am a little upset or because I think I can make a lot of money. That kind of behavior is unreasonable and uncivilized, in my opinion. I can understand that it was a tough problem for them to fix, since they could never verify the issue in the service center. These are just my personal opinions so please just take it for what its worth and do not think that I am attacking you personally because that is not my intention.

G.

:grab:

[rnoble]

Everyone how old would a 1080 be that might still have this bug in it? When were the new units starting to be shipped that had the fix?

Also it appears from this post: http://www.htguide.com/forum/showpos...79&postcount=3 that there is a terminal labelling issue, was this also fixed? Any idea when?