HK AVR 635 + Adcom 535...no sound!

Ricardo

Does the MKII also have A/B speakers? Have you tried pushing in the A/B speakers buttons?

heiney9

Ricardo wrote: »

Does the MKII also have A/B speakers? Have you tried pushing in the A/B speakers buttons?

No they don't.

To the OP, if it's an MKII then banana plugs should fit without issue. Your banana plugs must have issues.

H9

P.s. I know the person the OP bought this from and I know the amp. It had no issues that I was aware of. In fact I passed on buying it simply because even though I wanted it, I had no current use for it.

heiney9

Ace944gs wrote: »

Thanks Willow- the amp powers up (when I hit the switch on the left side, the red LED power indictor light turns on); but when both units are powered on (and I'm hearing the sub), the green speaker indicator lights on the right side of the front of the amp are not lighting up.

The green lights on the right side of the amp shouldn't light up unless you are overdriving the amp. They are "distortion" lights that start to flicker when the amp is over driven, so those will not light up upon power-up or normal operation. So if you are expecting those to light up...............they won't unless you are overdriving the amp or something is shorted, etc. Unlit they have a green tint, at the onset of overdriving the amp they will flicker amber, when you overdriving the amp hard they will turn red. They are more for speaker protection than amp protection.

Please don;t take this comment the wrong way, but have you bothered to read the owners manual...........it explains what those lights are for. If you don;t have a copy you can download a copy from the Adcom website. I would suggest you do that.

H9

P.s. For clarification; make sure when you are swappping cables and I/C's etc. you power down everything first. "Hot swapping" (swapping cables while the power is on) can and will damage gear. I hope you haven't been hot swapping stuff. Sharp transients can be sent where a normal signal travels and it can also damage speakers too.

virtualdean

Ace944gs wrote: »

Virtualdean- actually did try to the digital coaxs; they did not work. I was hoping they weren't working since they're digital coaxs.

Willow- no worries- thanks!

heiney9- obviously, I'm trying everything- I want the amp to work. I hooked things up originally using the cheap l/r audio cables, and nothing worked, so now i'm trying to pin-point the problem. Hypothesis testing...you know? I'd rather eliminate all the other non-amp pieces of the hook-up before blaming the amp. Trust me, if I knew why it was an issue, I wouldn't be asking the group.

That means they weren't the problem, not that they don't work.
Copper wire doesnt know the difference between a digital signal and an analog one. Lateron, reread your manual..."only use high quality shielded coaxial cables for interconnects" word for word...They are typically 75 ohm and have been around forever.
Since both speakers have no sound..it highly unlikely that wiring is the problem. How unusual that both sets of wires would be bad at the same time. What is the common denominator? You. Did you get the speakers wires to lock into the binding posts like the manual says? Its says "twist the wire ends..make sure the knob is in the "up" position, insert wire..twist 1/4 turn clockwise. The wire should be secure. If it comes out, it wasn't done right.
Having said that..someone else suggested that you go back to a receiver setup only...Make it work with the reciever and the speakers and source. eliminate everything.. Once you have that working, then work in the amp and speaker wire connections to that amp.
Be methodical..step by step, process of elimination..its all fun.
Good luck.
Did you get the binding posts to lock on the wire yet?

heiney9

http://www.adcom.com/data/manuals/gfa535IImanual.pdf

Page 8 in the owners manual explains (in detail) what the lights are for. How you got "speaker indicator" lights out of it, I have no idea. They are labeled "instantaneous distortion alert", nothing about speaker indicators.

H9

heiney9

virtualdean wrote: »

That means they weren't the problem, not that they don't work.
Copper wire doesnt know the difference between a digital signal and an analog one. Lateron, reread your manual..."only use high quality shielded coaxial cables for interconnects" word for word...They are typically 75 ohm and have been around forever.
Since both speakers have no sound..it highly unlikely that wiring is the problem. How unusual that both sets of wires would be bad at the same time. What is the common denominator? You. Did you get the speakers wires to lock into the binding posts like the manual says? Its says "twist the wire ends..make sure the knob is in the "up" position, insert wire..twist 1/4 turn clockwise. The wire should be secure. If it comes out, it wasn't done right.
Having said that..someone else suggested that you go back to a receiver setup only...Make it work with the reciever and the speakers and source. eliminate everything.. Once you have that working, then work in the amp and speaker wire connections to that amp.
Be methodical..step by step, process of elimination..its all fun.
Good luck.
Did you get the binding posts to lock on the wire yet?

JHC, this thread is a CF..............it's been indicated several times now he has the MKII version not the MKI version which means they have std. speaker binding posts. . It helps to read all the posts in a thread

My guess is 1) the receiver setting are incorrect for the pre-outs

2) by all his monkeying around he may have possibly damaged a perfectly good working amp. I know this amp and it was working fine when it left.

Good luck to the OP..............I've done all I can do.

H9

virtualdean

[QUOTE
H9
P.s. For clarification; make sure when you are swappping cables and I/C's etc. you power down everything first. "Hot swapping" (swapping cables while the power is on) can and will damage gear. I hope you haven't been hot swapping stuff. Sharp transients can be sent where a normal signal travels and it can also damage speakers too.[/QUOTE]

What H9 said...power down before changing anything.:eek:

Kex

This is getting ridiculous. It just isn't this hard!

My suggestion: RTFM, for both the h/k and the Adcom. Make sure you checked what Erik Tracy suggested (that you connected the amplifier to the pre-outs, not to the multi-channel analog audio inputs). There isn't even anything to do to make pre-outs active AFIK (they're always on IME). Make sure you did not try to connect the Adcom directly to the back of the h/k (those outlets are limited to low power accessories, such as a CD player). Make sure you did not mix up the +ve and -ve connections on the speakers ...

If it doesn't work, then, as others have suggested: try the same amplifier with a different receiver, then try the same receiver with a different amplifier. Beg, steal or borrow if you have to (well ... I would not suggest stealing, or you might have other problems to resolve). Either way, after that, you WILL know whether or not the receiver and amplifier are working correctly.

Ace944gs

Sorry guys; didn't mean to make this more complicated than it is.

1) I did not hot swap anything- not sure where that came from.

2) I'm unable to easily beg/borrow other equipment to test the weak link...just moved to a new area, so trying different ways to eliminate variables.

3) I'm also trying to learn a few things while troubleshooting....so what may seem remedial and 'not that complicated' is me just trying to learn something along the way, trying to understand whether there are alternative reasons for things not working.
For instance, I didn't know all RCA cables were NOT 75 ohm (I'm not an EE, and only getting started in this hobby because I like good sounding music). Sorry if anything came across as though I'm making this more complicated than it is...

Thanks for all the help....

heiney9

Keep pluggin away and let us know what you find. I still think it's a setting on the receiver or perhaps you are using something other than the pre-outs. If all else fails disconnect everything and start from scratch.

First I'd see if you can get it running in 2 channel only. Forget the sub at this point just to see if things work. Once you get it running in 2 ch then try and add the sub.

H9

heiney9

Never mind is see the lower left of the AVR has a bank of pre-outs. Which set of pre-out are you using for the Adcom?

H9

P.s. The resolution is poor in the photo but I believe you should be using the left most pre-outs colored white and red.

Willow

Send me a PM if you want a pair of Acoustic research Master series dig coax for free. They are 6ft.

heiney9

Ace944gs wrote: »

Sorry guys; didn't mean to make this more complicated than it is.

1) I did not hot swap anything- not sure where that came from.

2) I'm unable to easily beg/borrow other equipment to test the weak link...just moved to a new area, so trying different ways to eliminate variables.

3) I'm also trying to learn a few things while troubleshooting....so what may seem remedial and 'not that complicated' is me just trying to learn something along the way, trying to understand whether there are alternative reasons for things not working.
For instance, I didn't know all RCA cables were NOT 75 ohm (I'm not an EE, and only getting started in this hobby because I like good sounding music). Sorry if anything came across as though I'm making this more complicated than it is...

Thanks for all the help....

Did you dl'd the owners manual and read it yet? I provided a link. Also have you read the HK's owners manual?

heiney9

Willow wrote: »

Send me a PM if you want a pair of Acoustic research Master series dig coax for free. They are 6ft.

You are going to confuse people again. Digital Coax to me means a 75 ohm cable. Are these just premium RCA's or are they true 75 ohm?

H9

Willow

I'd have to Check to be sure

heiney9

Willow wrote: »

I'd have to Check to be sure

I was just wondering because there has already been some confusion about RCA vs. 75 ohm cables in this thread. This thread is confusing enough

Willow

heiney9 wrote: »

I was just wondering because there has already been some confusion about RCA vs. 75 ohm cables in this thread. This thread is confusing enough

They are older and all I can find is this
http://www.zdnet.com/reviews/product/av-cables/acoustic-research-pro-series-ii-pr172n-digital-audio-cable-coaxial-12-ft/33779136?tag=mantle_skin;content

this is much better:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=181-866

they are 75ohm cables apparently

They are the pro series II not master series. But if they will work and the OP wants them they are yours

Kex

I've never heard of so much trouble connecting an amplifier. If I didn't have a bunch of old Monster Crapola lying around I would have just tried the paper thin red and white a/v cables that come with any DVD or CD player. Wouldn't they work long enough to figure out if it's functional or not?

heiney9

Kex wrote: »

I've never heard of so much trouble connecting an amplifier. If I didn't have a bunch of old Monster Crapola lying around I would have just tried the paper thin red and white a/v cables that come with any DVD or CD player. Wouldn't they work long enough to figure out if it's functional or not?

Absolutely. All this dicking around for a pair of RCA/patch cables. Any common variety will work for testing the amp. Problem is the OP hasn't given any specific information at all about how he is hooking things up, and apparently in the beginning didn't read either owners manual as evidenced by him thinking the distortion lights are speaker indicator lights that should light up when speakers are connected.

H9

daboyz

I was the seller of the 535. I've been trying to stay out of this bthread and taking the high road but now I'm in. The amp was in perfect working order when it left me. It was shipped bomb proof via FedEx.

I have pm's from the buyer on things that would tell me that it was damaged while it was in his possession so I let him know that I have washed my hands and it is his. I will keep the pm's private unless I need to bring them out to protect my good name around here.

I offered to take it back once and he wanted to keep trying to play with it. My conscience is clear on this one and I'm leaving it at that.

Dave

Ace944gs

This is getting out of control....

Please note I NEVER blamed the seller for a bad amp, and refused an offer from the seller to take it back since I'm pretty sure a) it was me that damaged it, or b) it's my HK. The amp came packaged like it was going to the moon, and looks pristine...

On the other hand, the HK receiver was bought used 6 years ago, and never hooked up to an amp; hence my questions around testing the pre-outs, etc. It's going to a shop on Thursday, since one of the optical jacks hasn't worked for 2 years now, and thus it's a good time for testing the pre-outs.

I'll stop updating this thread after this since it somehow descended into a weird place for some reason.

Two departing points-

1) daboyz is an excellent seller, and did nothing that requires him to protect his seller name, and shouldn't feel like he even needs to. He was responsive, shipped very quickly, gave good & prompt feedback, and helped troubleshoot.

2) I'm a good buyer- I'm just getting started in this hobby, and am excited about it. I do not blame anyone/thing other than myself for anything...I started this thread so I could find out what I alone could do to fix the problem, and have never indicated or meant otherwise.

I'm sorry for all the trouble.

heiney9

Ace, I think daboyz was just making a statement and not accusing anyone of wrong doing, just making a comment since he was involved. You have handled things very well and I truly hope you can get things worked out.

I would be extremely helpful to us if you could either write a very detailed description of what you have done or even better would be some photo's. Your responses as well as others are all over the place and spread out amongst this thread and by the threads nature is hard to follow.

If you could take some time in the next few days and in a single post outline in detail how and what you have tried in order to get this to work, we (especially me) might be able to help you out and get it working properly so you can start enjoying this hobby now and for years to come.

H9

Ace944gs

All, An update to this epic thread, as some requested...

As I mentioned, I took the HK to the shop on Thursday, and got it back last night. Turns out the pre-outs on the HK were not working (nothing to do with the Adcom....as I suspected). I had bought the HK used about 6 years ago, and never used the pre-outs, so I never noticed. Now, finally, everything sounds great.

Thanks for all the help along the way....thought I was losing my mind for a little bit there.

Willow

Glad to hear everything is working.

Kex

Job well done Ace! That's probably not a very common complaint (pre-outs that don't work), but at least you got it fixed, and now everything makes sense.

LessisNevermore

Great news, now you can get on with actually enjoying your new purchase.:D

Let us know what you think of the amp.

Ricardo

That's Great!!

Dave, see????? Troublemaker!!!

heiney9

Glad you are up and running with sweet tunes.

H9

Knucklehead

Just a thought.....I have the 535 {first ver} the only light that comes on is the power light indicator, if your left or right green lights are coming on it means the AMP is in distortion or clipping. Hope that helps.