[heckofagator]

Hi group,

For 99% of my listening, I'm at my desk on my PC. my signal chain was

PC/Asus Xonar DX --> Bravo Audio Ocean amp --> JBL Powered monitors

Today when listening, everything went silent. When trying to look around for the cause, I saw the red light on the Bravo Audio Ocean was no longer on. Messed with it a little bit, but it appears dead. Does anyone know if Bravo Audio is still around? I just got this in Feb and already had a problem with the RCA connectors. I emailed them twice and never heard back. Now their domain doesn't even seem to be valid anymore.

So to get back up and rolling, I took the RCA cable from the IN on my Ocean and just plugged it directly into the studio monitors, basically just bypassing the Ocean amp. The thing is...my sound is very low and anemic. I can crank up the amp on the speaker and on my PC to get half decent sound, but its well above what I am comfortable having to turn these dials up to.

The Ocean amp wasn't adding that much power to my signal chain, was it? I'm just stumped why my volume is so low now, not to mention I;m sitting here with a dead headphone amp. Although in all honestly, I didn't listen to my headphones all that much. I'm still searching for a pair I like.

 

[cossix]

How is the sound with your PC volume maxed? And when the PC is at max, what position do you have to turn your speaker amp dials to in order to get a good volume?

 

[heckofagator]

Keep in mind I'm running on 1 speaker now...and maybe that has something to do with it. While the RCA cables from my sound card were fine for the headphone amp, the L and R can't be split far enough apart to get to each of my speakers so I can only hook up 1 at a time.

But I crank the PC volume to about 80-90 and it sounds much better. But with the Ocean amp in the mix, I would keep the PC volume at around 15-20 during normal listening. Have I just forgotten what its like to listing with an amp inbetween the signal chain? Was the headphone amp boosting it that much?

At this point, I'm torn whether to just get some new cables and throw away the Ocean, or maybe go for something like the Schitt Magni 2 Uber.

 

[buke9]

Do you have another tube to try ?

 

[heckofagator]

Do you have another tube to try ?

Unfortunately no. Would the unit simply shut off with no visible signs of life with a bad tube?

 

[buke9]

I don't have one but I would think it would not work without it.

 

[buke9]

Where did you buy the amp from?

 

[heckofagator]

Amp was purchased on Amazon via a 3rd party seller, Shenzhenaudio, which was pretty highly rated.

I actually emailed them last nite and they offered to repair it if I shipped it back to China. Anyone have any experience with that?

I also asked if Bravo Audio was still in business and they said yes.

 

[cossix]

Keep in mind I'm running on 1 speaker now...and maybe that has something to do with it. While the RCA cables from my sound card were fine for the headphone amp, the L and R can't be split far enough apart to get to each of my speakers so I can only hook up 1 at a time.

But I crank the PC volume to about 80-90 and it sounds much better. But with the Ocean amp in the mix, I would keep the PC volume at around 15-20 during normal listening. Have I just forgotten what its like to listing with an amp inbetween the signal chain? Was the headphone amp boosting it that much?

At this point, I'm torn whether to just get some new cables and throw away the Ocean, or maybe go for something like the Schitt Magni 2 Uber.

Youre just used to the amp Just put your Windows volume on max when you use the speakers, problem solved!

 

[buke9]

Amp was purchased on Amazon via a 3rd party seller, Shenzhenaudio, which was pretty highly rated.

I actually emailed them last nite and they offered to repair it if I shipped it back to China. Anyone have any experience with that?

I also asked if Bravo Audio was still in business and they said yes.

I was going to say just get another tube but if you have problems with the rca connectors as well I would send it back to have it repaired myself. They are a well know Chinese company so I don't think they would try to screw you over . I would get a longer cables and use both speakers as one will not sound the same as two that's for sure. If you can't find one long enough I've got a bunch of connectors and wire I could whip one up for you really cheap.

 

[heckofagator]

yeah, I got some longer RCA extension cables ordered today from Amazon. so hopefully by end of week I'll be listening in stereo again.

thanks for the offer on the cable. Now I just need to figure out how best to ship something back to China and figure out if that's going to be cost effective or not. Hopefully it is.

 

[buke9]

Not sure on shipping to China I would go to USPS website they have a shipping calculator that would probably tell you though if it makes sense or not . Good luck with it .