My cat ran off.....

[sleddogg]

about five month ago, but sometime before that he happened to leave me a goodbye present. I was unpacking my HT gear for the basement after a year in storage elsewhere in the basement and find my RSP985 which was in its box and under a blanket on a top shelf of a utility shelf now uncovered with the box flaps up and none other than a large cat vomit stain across the top of the unit. Son of a ..... Well it only got through the ventilation holes slightly on the right side and the rest stayed on the top without penetration. No rust or corrossion on the chassis, only discoloration.

Inside I found only three small puddles of the stuff dried up on various components on the main board and secondary board above it on the right side. I cleaned first with a bamboo skewer, then a cotton swab wetted slightly with electronic cleaning spray. Inspection didn't show anything abnormal and only a mounting screw showed corrossion. I plugged it in and turned it on and all appears normal. I will test it with an older RB850 2 channel amp and a cheap dvd player and have one cheap center and sub from radio shack still sitting around so I don't have to sacrifice my new 600 series B&W's. Any advice before I hook all this up? I really don't want to go get another processor right now and this one always sounded really good.

If worse comes to worse, how does this unit stack up against some of rotels newer processors or even something from the 10xx stuff? Aside from HDMI, (which for me picture is second to sound) would a newer processor show me gains in sound quality? Anyone here with experience with the RSP985?

Once I'm convinced I'm out of danger I will hook up the RMB1095.

[ClosetSciFiGeek]

Cat Puke Fix

Sounds like you did the right things. I have always used isopropyl alcohol and lint free rags to clean up electronics. Make sure you wipe up the alcohol you can't just let it dry it puts the contaminant in solution and you have to mop it up effectively. Make sure you are wearing a wrist mounted grounding strap(so you don't zap anything inside with static electricity, can be a problem in winter especially because the air is so dry. And don't be petting your dog or cat while performing this operation as the static buildup can destroy your chips) or at the very least hold onto the bare metal of the grounded chassis. As long as the cat puke didn't get through the conformal coating on the foil runs of the board and short anything and the components leads are not shorted together by conductive cat puke you should be fine. Good luck.

[wb2fcr]

...conductive cat puke...

How do you test the puke to see if it's conductive....on second thought never mind. 8O


Like ClosetSciFiGeek says, sound like you did all the right things.

[wz2p7j]

Did you ever get your kitty back?
Poor little guy

Chris

[sleddogg]

If you saw what he had done to my basement you wouldn't want him back. After several trips to the vet only to be told to feed him grass, (hairballs) I started letting him outside which stopped the puking. Sometimes he would be gone for days, neighbors would say he would just walk into their house and make himself at home. Someone probably "adopted" him. That's how I got him. One day he will probably mosey in like nothing happened.

Meanwhile I have tested my processor with older amps and speakers and let the unit stay on for a couple days. I think I'm safe, and now have my RMB1095 and B&W 683 fronts hooked up together for the first time and all I can say is "Yes". I thought I had something special for the last 20 years with my Rotel 850 gear and a pair of DM220i, but I'm in a new and wonderful place now. I doubt I'll ever win the lottery, so the upgrades in speakers (800 series) are probably a long time away. Barring any real need for a processor that handles HDMI and I could live out my life with this as my sound and die happy. Just listened to Johnnie Johnson's "Tangeuray" and heard an all new song. Yum! I think it's best if I stay out of the path of the upgrade train. Besides, one of these days my hearing is going to drop below the threshold of being worth the upgrade.

Just in case cat puke is conductive, I got it all out, no worries.