RSP-1068 repair cost

[BilGe]

A few hours ago a big thunderstorm moved through. I took a couple of power blinks. When it was all over, the digital decoder in my RSP-1068 is toast.

When decoding any multi-channel format, both the center and sub outputs have no signal. The center channel has a light buzz. It may also be in the sub channel, but inaudible due to restricted frequency response in the subwoofer. As soon as I switch to a non-digital input, the center channel buzz goes away.

The problem also exists when running test tones. The test tone generator produces no output on the sub and only a light buzz on the center channel. The front and rear pairs work correctly.

All analog inputs work. The multi-channel input works for all channels including center and sub. Decoding 2-channel PCM such as from a CD player works.

There is another annoyance I have been living with. When I turn the volume control, it randomly picks whether to increase or decrease the volume. Sometimes I go two complete turns and have not changed the volume at all! It seems to work a bit better when turning slow. Changing volume on the remote works correctly. This is probably nothing more than some dirty contacts and could be fixed with a shot of de-oxit.

Does anyone have any idea what kind of ballpark a repair will cost? I strongly suspect it will be cheaper for me to buy another unit.

Thanks - Bill Gee

[madmac]

You can expect it to cost from $300-500 bucks or so to fix it. As well, it will take a good month at Rotel for them to fix it before you get it back. It's a good idea to get Rotel to do it because it will at least come with a repair guarantee.

Quick question......Was your Rotel connected to a good surge/ spike conditioning power bar??

[BilGe]

Hi Madmac -

Yeah, that's about what I was thinking. For that price I can buy another unit off eBay.

Regarding surge supressors - Yes, I have several in the system. The primary suppressor is a Rotel RLC-900. I also have a power strip suppressor rated for something like 2000 joules. Some equipment, mainly the home theater PC, is connected to a UPS. In a previous thread I talked about getting a true sine wave UPS to feed the RSP-1068 and some other devices. I have not done that yet.

The newest Rotel processors will not work for me. I have no need of video switching (I do video switching on the display) or HDMI, and they do not have a tape monitor loop. Reading through owner's manuals - An RSP-1066, 1068 or 1098 has the right kinds of inputs. The 1098 is physically too large for my rack.

For now I am working around the problem by using the DAC in my DVD player. It does all of A/C-3, DTS, DVD-Audio and multi-channel SACD. It has analog outputs, so by feeding it to the multi-input on the 1068 I can still play almost everything. What I lose is AC/3 decoding from the ATSC tuner and the HTPC.

In the absolute worst case - I can just go back to my RTC-980. That will require adjusting outputs from the HTPC.

Thanks - Bill Gee

[srb]

While it's certainly a fair possibility that the digital board is damaged, because you can still decode 2 channel PCM I was wondering if a Factory Reset or a Firmware Software Update (if not already at the latest version, v1.31) might help?

Steve

[BilGe]

Hi Steve -

I already tried resetting to factory defaults. No luck. I also turned it off, unplugged it and let it sit for an hour. That should ensure a cold boot on the computer. No change.

The firmware is 1.1.7. I thought that was the latest version for the 1068. Maybe not ... I'll poke around and see if there is something newer.

Bill Gee

[srb]

According to the B&W Group Service and Support page

http://bwgroupsupport.com/ > Downloads > Software Updates > Rotel > RSP-1068 > Main Software - the current version is v1.31 ( 07/02/2008 )

http://bwgroupsupport.com/downloads/software/rotel/data/X1067v131_20080702_UB_13CB.bin

Steve

[BilGe]

Hi Steve -

No luck. I upgraded to 1.3.1. The problem did not change.

Getting the upgrade done was an adventure all by itself! I do not own a Windows computer, so the documented process is of no use. Fortunately Rotel uses a rather primitive communications method. I was able to get it done with the Linux minicom application.

Bill Gee