Right channel on Luxman M-117 amp comes out of both speakers

headrott

OK, I will try to make this as clear as I can. I recieved a Luxman M-117 amp today that I won on ebay 3 days ago. In the description the seller said it "worked fine". When I recieved the amp it was well packed, and when I pulled it out it appeared in better shape than I expected. I unhooked my tube amp (which was working perfectly along with all other equipment doing the same) and proceeded to hook up the Luxman in its place. Let me point out that I absolutely 100% hooked up the Luxman correctly in all aspects of wire hookups. I.e: speaker polarity, IC left-right on both CD to Pre, pre to amp. Hooked up the power to the Monster cable 3500 MKII power conditioner (which is hooked up to the Monster voltage conditioner).

Anyway, I turned everthing on and the first thing I noticed was that there was very high impedence on the left channel when I switch the pre-amp from the "headphones" setting to the speaker output setting, as was evident with a loud "thud". I was immediately not liking what I heard. I proceeded to turn the volume knob up and down a few times and then set the volume knob to about 1/8 of the way up. I pressed play on the CD player and heard "Always crashing in the same car" start. I noticed something was wierd immediately as some of the instruments were missing. There was audio comming out of both speakers, but it was only being produced by the right channel. My question is, does anyone know what (in the amp) would cause this problem?

As I stated before I know it's not my other equipment (such as CD player, Pre-amp, cables, power conditioner, voltage regulator) as I hooked up my tube amp again and everything worked fine. It has to be something with the amp, (it's not the RCA inputs as I hooked up the inputs to the "fixed" and then the "variable" with the same results. The variable I turned down both variable knobs all the way and turned them up individually, resulting in sound coming from the right channel with the balance equal, but when I u=turned the right variable down and the left up, nothing. If someone could help me out in diagnosing the problem (without opening the amp) I'd appreciate it. Thanks for your time and help.

tonyb

Sorry to hear about your trouble,but You were warned about buying stuff on e-bay. Contact the seller for a refund.

DAGLJAM6

A long shot, but is the amp possibly bridged to mono? I can't pull up the manual but do see that that amp can be bridged....

George Grand

I was thinking the same thing Dave.

heiney9

It is a long shot as bridged would just come out 1 channel, but perhaps the bridging portion is having issues. I'd certainly check it out so you can eliminate that being an issue.

bluecomet

It's possible. There is a switch on the back that needs to be turned back to 2 channel if it is. You will need a phillips screwdriver to loosen the screw that locks it into mono. Sorry to hear about your troubles. If the amp is not right then ask to return it. If he does not accept returns file a dispute with pay pal. I hope it is a simple fix.

bluecomet

There are also volume controls on the back of the amp for the left and right channel. Make sure they are both in the max position. Same thing happended to me with one of the amps I received on ebay. I thought something was wrong until I figured it out using the manual.

heiney9

^^^also make sure those controls are not dirty. Perhaps they need a good cleaning, even the smallest amount of crud build up can cause issues like you describe.

H9

Systems

Aren't manuals great? Informative bathroom reading material.

Face

187CAM wrote: »

Aren't manuals great? Informative bathroom reading material.

You mean, RTFM.

headrott

Thanks for everyones' replies. I did check the mono/stereo switch on the back of the reciever. It is in the stereo setting with the locking piece still in place. However, it may be a problem with the wiring or switch itself. I'll have to open it up. I just didn't want to until I get a response from the seller about a refund. The seller did respond a little while ago and said he would refund the money (including shipping) and if I figure out what's wrong I'll pay him back (minus the parts and/or labor) from the amount he refunded.

At least the seller is being reasonable about this. As the seller has said he will refund the money, I can now open it up and see if anything is going on inside the amp. One thing I did notice is that the amp case is dented in about 1/8 inch where the left speaker terminal is attached. But, I 'll have to open it up and see if anything is wierd on the inside. I'll let you know.

headrott

heiney9 wrote: »

^^^also make sure those controls are not dirty. Perhaps they need a good cleaning, even the smallest amount of crud build up can cause issues like you describe.

H9

Bluecomet and heiney9 I will try to mess with the bridged switch today (it is absolutely set to stereo as far as the switch position goes) and the BTL light is not on on the front. The gain knobs could be dirty, but there is absolutely no oudio output from the left channel when you turn the knob all the way up and down. In contrast, the right channel gain control knob does increase and decrease the gain (audio from both speakers) but only producing sound for the right channel of course. Maybe the gain controls are dirty, but it does exactly the same thing using the "fixed" RCA inputs. So, I don't think that is the problem. Seems more likely it's the bridged/stereo switch or or wiring internally. Or something to do with the speaker terminals? There is a 1/8 inch dent in the chassie where the left speaker terminal is located. Possible problem with the internal wiring?

headrott

The seller pf the amp just sent a full refund (including shipping) for the amp. I promised him that if I figure out what is wrong with it I will pay him back for the amp minus the parts and/or labor (if I need to take it to a repair shop). At least the seller is reasonable and has taken responsibility for the items he sells.

heiney9

Just send it back and enjoy the Aragon you bought. The Aragon is a sweet amp.

Face

Send it back!

headrott

heiney9 wrote: »

Just send it back and enjoy the Aragon you bought. The Aragon is a sweet amp.

Face and heiney9, he did not want to pay for the shipping back to him, so he going to let me keep it with the promise that if I get it to work, I will pay him back for the amp minus the repair costs. Seems like a good deal to me. I can only win. As I said I already have full refund, plus the amp. But I am a man of my word and will pay him if I get it to work correctly with some of the money taken out for labor and parts. That said, I would still like peoples' thought and ideas on what might be wrong.

BUT, I will enjoy that Aragon 8008bb amp and look forward to recieving and listen to it.

tonyb

If he refunded your money,send it back to him the way you received it. He may have issues with you opening it up and playing around inside. Don't open a can of worms if you don't have to.

headrott

tonyb wrote: »

If he refunded your money,send it back to him the way you received it. He may have issues with you opening it up and playing around inside. Don't open a can of worms if you don't have to.

Do you think if i start to mess with it he will try to tell ebay that I screwed it up when I opened it up? The only way I could send the amp back to him is if I pay the shipping as he doesn't want to pay for it. I'm not willing to spend my money to ship it back to him, so I will keep it and the money, unless I get it fixed, then I will pay him for the amp (minus parts/labor?). At this point without spending my money that is the only option I have.

tonyb

Uh...yeah !! Either way,you have to ship it back since he refunded your money. The only way to get the amp fixed is to take it to a qualified repair shop,which means you spend even more money. Dude,get a grip,that amp is not worth it,send it back.

WilliamM2

Do you think if i start to mess with it he will try to tell ebay that I screwed it up when I opened it up?

I doubt it, if he told you to keep it, why would he care if you opened it? Besides, I don't think there is any way to dispute a refund.

WilliamM2

tonyb wrote: »

Uh...yeah !! Either way,you have to ship it back since he refunded your money. The only way to get the amp fixed is to take it to a qualified repair shop,which means you spend even more money. Dude,get a grip,that amp is not worth it,send it back.

The seller told him he could keep it. Why waste the money on shipping it back? It's probably worthless to the seller if it's not working.

tonyb

WilliamM2 wrote: »

The seller told him he could keep it. Why waste the money on shipping it back? It's probably worthless to the seller if it's not working.

A can of worms dude. All I'm going to say is I told ya so,and leave it at that.

WilliamM2

tonyb wrote: »

A can of worms dude. All I'm going to say is I told ya so,and leave it at that.

He already has a refund, and the guy told him to keep it. What possible can of worms could he be opening? You can't dispute a refund.

Sounds like he got an honest seller, it's rare, but it does happen, even on Ebay.

bluecomet

I have a feeling the dent on the left terminal may be the problem. Something apparently happened to the amp. It sounds like it may have to be serviced. The seller seems to be a stand up guy which is good to hear. Hopefully when you open it up something got knocked loose where it was dented. It may be something simple. Good luck.

Ron Temple

Something's definitely wrong with the amp and I suspiciously feel that since the seller let it go so cheap, he was aware. The fact that he immediately refunded headrott also has an aroma to it.

headrott

OK, it's definately not in bridged mode.

Get this, the gain adjustment for the right channel affects the output while the "fixed" inputs are being used. The left does nothing, but the right gain adjustment affects the fixed output. So, I was incorrect I think about only the right channel being output to both speakers. It's almost like it's in mono, but the right channel is a little louder than the left. I don't know if that means it is grounding out or cross-wired between the variable and fixed inputs? It makes sense why it would be doing that, but my brain is not working well enough think of why it's doing that right now. Please help me out if you can. Thanks again.

sucks2beme

headrott wrote: »

OK, it's definately not in bridged mode.

Get this, the gain adjustment for the right channel affects the output while the "fixed" inputs are being used. The left does nothing, but the right gain adjustment affects the fixed output. So, I was incorrect I think about only the right channel being output to both speakers. It's almost like it's in mono, but the right channel is a little louder than the left. I don't know if that means it is grounding out or cross-wired between the variable and fixed inputs? It makes sense why it would be doing that, but my brain is not working well enough think of why it's doing that right now. Please help me out if you can. Thanks again.

Time to work some switches back and forth with some cleaner.
On older gear it works wonders.

headrott

sucks2beme wrote: »

Time to work some switches back and forth with some cleaner.
On older gear it works wonders.

I'm on them with some deoxit. We'll see the results, but I think it's something besides just being dirty.

headrott

headrott wrote: »

OK, it's definately not in bridged mode.

Get this, the gain adjustment for the right channel affects the output while the "fixed" inputs are being used. The left does nothing, but the right gain adjustment affects the fixed output. So, I was incorrect I think about only the right channel being output to both speakers. It's almost like it's in mono, but the right channel is a little louder than the left. I don't know if that means it is grounding out or cross-wired between the variable and fixed inputs? It makes sense why it would be doing that, but my brain is not working well enough think of why it's doing that right now. Please help me out if you can. Thanks again.

Actually, I shouldn't say it is definately not in bridged mode, but the switch is definately not in bridged mode if that makes sense.

headrott

It still doesn't make sense that the gain adjustment would affect the output lever when the fixed RCA jacks are hooked up. Even if it is in bridged mode, this shouldn't happen should it?

I did notice on the back that the left gain "knob" controls the gain in bridged mode. But, the left gain knob does nothing when the variable and the fixed RCA jacks are hooked up. On the other hand, the right gain knob affects the gain through BOTH the fixed AND variable RCA inputs.

Still need to figure out why this would happen.

I will try to switch the bridged/stereo switch to the other setting though and will report back.

F1nut

DO NOT switch your amp to bridged mode!

The left channel in the Luxman is dead. Since you own SDA's, even though the left amp channel is dead with the SDA cable connected the left speaker will still produce some sound because of the crosstalk signal from the right speaker.

Check for a bad external or internal left channel fuse. If the fuse is good, it may have a bad left channel relay. Anything more than that and it's not worth messing with. Since you already got a refund, throw it out with the trash.