I haven't taken any storm hits. I know that I have power issues on ocassion because I can see the lights do their "dim - bright, dim - bright, dim - bright" thing on rare ocassions. It's happened about 3 times in the last several months. When the lights start doing that the amp really goes nuts! It buzzes loud in step with the dimming lights! "BUZZZZZZ" quite "BUZZZZZZ" quite and so on.


No. I haven't tried this yet becuase that damn amp is heavy! 75 lbs! I thought I would wait until after I take it to the dealer to see if they can get it to buzz. If it doesn't buzz at the dealer then I will try that when I bring it back home.

Thanks for all the input and suggestions. I really appreciate it.

That right there says it all to me. During those "dim bright" moments your amp was making the buzz along with the lighting. There fore the amp sounds like it received a surge some time before it. And there fore it buzzes. Also, since you said the dimming has happened more than three times in the last couple of months. I would buy a UPS that will be able to handle your load. Or you may need to buy more than one of them. Then check to see at what range you can set up UPS to turn on during a brown out, "dim bright" moments. Brown outs can be more damaging than a surge, because there are more of them.

Rob

I'll throw in a word or two.

First of all, there are no speakers in the receiver, so the noise must be mechanical. That means a power transformer is vibrating. I say "a" because some receivers have a second transformer for the allways-on circuitry.

In my opinion, the problem is wholly within the receiver, and is not related to the incoming power.


As for the "same-phase" issue, I'm not a big believer in it. However, there are some things to keep in mind:

If you have a pair of circuits that share a neutral (easy to spot if the two breakers have a red and a black wire instead of each having a black), they must NOT be placed on the same phase; that would overload the shared neutral.


As for breaker number vs. phase, it works like this:

The top pair (left and right) of breakers are on (let's call it:)"A" phase, the second one down on each side are on "B" phase, the third ones on "A", etc. This way, a two-pole breaker will always pick up both hots.

With normal breaker numbering (odd numbers on the left, even on the right), 1 & 2 are on "A", 3 and 4 are on "B", and so forth.


As for the hum increasing during voltage sags, it could be that the receiver has a voltage regulator that draws more current to compensate for the low voltage. That's my guess.

Larry,
Thanks for the clarifications...
Do you believe in the higher the better?? or are you a fan of the "there is no voltage drop on the bus, and all spots are equal" theory??

Mitch,
Sorry to say that it is looking more and more like this is due for a trip to the service center...

Best of luck.

That's where I'm headed either this weekend or next.

Larry,

What do you think about "King of Typos" suggestion of purchasing UPSs to connect my gear to? I already have almost $1500.00 invested in my Richard Grays. What do you use in your system?

Thanks again everyone for all the input and suggestions.

most ups have a wideoltage window before 'kicking in' I dont think this wold help. You need voltage regulation to remove slight voltage anomolies - something thats spec'd for +-1 or 2%. most ups have +- 10+%.

And what does Richard Gray have to say about this? You should email the whole thread to them and ask for their opinion! I would say you have paid for it, wouldn't you?

Yes indeed! That's what I think.