RB1080 / RMB 1095 - Channel Outage

[Adz]

Okay, one thing I purposely failed to mention in my first posting in order to give Rotel the benefit of the doubt, was that when I got my RB1080 it was dead out of the box so obviously I was given a new one. The 1095 worked fine for about 3 months, then the left channel died. Last night, the left channel, but this time on the RB1080, just died. It was working normally through one DVD, I then put in another movie right after and it didn't work. I trobuleshot it and its clearly the left channel on the amp. What's up with that?? While its still under warranty, the sucky part is lugging that thing back to my dealer and then sending off to Rotel which last time on the 1095 took about 2 weeks. At this point, I'd rather pay someone in my area to open it up and fix it. Any thoughts, suggestions on why this keeps happening (3 separate occurrences) and could an experienced professional open it up and fix (I know I shouldn't bypass the warranty and it could make it invalid, but this is ridiculous). Has anyone experienced this on their Rotel amps.?




Adz

[ht_addict]

Your best bet is to contact Rotel or have your dealer do it for you to find out if you have a service center in your area. I don't think Rotel would want to allow any other repair shop to do the work. Billing could be a problem. One thing your dealer should be doing for you is loaning you an amp while yours is being fixed. At the same time I'd contact your dealer before you take it in and have him get you a new one so you can just do an exchange. 3 times is just too many.

ht_addict

[Adz]

Thanks ht-addict. I doubt they will give me a new one since although this is the third time, it hasn't happened more than once to the same piece of equipment (1. Completely Dead RB1080 out of the box, 2. Dead left channel on RMB 1095, and 3. Now a dead left channel on RB1080). Maybe on a customer relations basis, Rotel will do something for me, but I seriously doubt it. The place I bought it from won't give me a loaner (I tried that before) since their amps on display are in complicated set-ups which they don't want to take apart just to give me a loaner. I'm striking out everywhere..




Adz

[will1066]

To me at least, I find it odd that on both occasions, it was the left channel that went dead. Maybe there's something wrong electrically somewhere in the electronics chain on the left side. I don't claim to know anything, though.

[Adz]

I'll admit it is strange. Maybe its my speaker cable or interconnects - is that possible that the cables can cause a surge or something??

Aussie Geoff - help!!




Adz

[Aussie Geoff]

Adz,

It is odd that its the left channel. Check the fuses in side the amp on the back left and right cuircuit boards on their sides. if the two on the left are blown:
1) That's good news - there's nothing much wrong with the amp - its been overloaded by something.
2) The immediate fix is easy 2 new identical slow blow fuses.

Now as to why - that's harder. We have posts from people all over the world with similar issues. For some it's been their speaker (we had one where the dealer replaced the speaker cross over in the affected channel with a new one and problem gone). For others it was the 12v trigger - so they leave their amps on. For me it (so far) seems to be a combination of the speaker cable and the 12V trigger - I've changed both and the problem is gone The dealer occasionally gets people who blow them with shorting the cable while plugging speakers in while turning them on - or with a stray wire crossing from one binding post (amp or speaker) to the other when bannana plugs are not used.

You should also check when it blows - is it on turn on OR during normal use. The turn on problems seem to be addressable with cables / 12V triggers etc. If durig normal use - are you playing very very loud?

I hope some of this helps with your diagnosis....

Geoff

[Adz]

Thanks for the advice
1. I'm almost certain its the internal fuses. Do you think Rotel would be okay with the dealer opening up the unit and replacing the fuses if they are blown?
2. I did notice on the back of my 1080 that it was set to balanced not unbalanced - maybe that did it? Funny that the 1095 does not have the identical switch - at least I couldn't find it. I don't use the 12 volt trigger. I have the HTPS7000 which turns the amp on and off automatically. Maybe I'll set it so that amp connected to my front left speaker is always on?? I do play movies loud.




Adz

[Aussie Geoff]

Adz,

Some further thoughts:

If you're using the RCA unbalanced inputs you should defnitely set the RB-1080 to unbalanced.

Only your dealer can tell you if they are happy to replace the fuses - but I suspect they are - it is way easer than shipping back to Rotel.

I think you should not turn your amps on and off with the power controller - the amps have a start up sequence they like to go through when powered up by the front switch or 12V trigger and turning them on and off from the mains cord may interfere with this.

If they are still blowing on the left channel fuses after all of this then check your speaker crossover - years ago I have some transmission line monitors and one of the crossover capacitors started to go, creating a direct short but only at high voltages (= high volume). Blew several fuses in my then amps unil I sent the speaker in for repair

Geoff Costello