[rhizome]

there was a pretty intense storm here last night. hail almost as big as your fist. one of my roommates nearly got struck by lightning. yea, it was fun

i wasn't at home, but i didn't think twice, as everything was plugged into a surge protector. famous last words...

i got home a few hours later, sat down at the computer, put on my sr225s, and... WTH?? it sounds like a little piece of the storm got stuck in my headphones. there is a constant crackling, especially on bass notes. a layer of static seems to hang over everything. uuuuggghh. tested the phones straight out of the computer, no noise. tried a different amp with the same ic's, no static. switched back to the perreaux and tried a different power cable, static remains. sigh...

i popped open the case, and nothing is visibly damaged. the odd thing is, if i leave the amp off for a while, when i first fire it up again, it's fine. however, after a minute or so, the noise returns, little by little. this leads me to believe it's power-related, but i really have no idea how these things work. fwiw, nothing else that was plugged into the surge protector was affected. i can't think of anything else that could have gone wrong though. can anyone make a better diagnosis?

 

[john_jcb]

Without hearing your amp or taking a look at it it would be hard to diagnose and fix if the amp is indeed damaged.

One thing you should know is that surge protectors offer little to no protection from lightning strikes. A friend of mine that lives nearby has an incredible home theater setup along with a rather expensive lightning suppression system. His house was struck last year and even with the protection things were damaged.

Here in the Midwest we have dangerous storms on a regular basis in the spring and early summer. I have made it a habit to just unplug things if one is coming or if one is predicted and I will not be home. It only takes a couple of minutes to get the PC, audio and TV.

 

[Hello]

There was a lightning storm where I lived a few years ago that damaged the modem in my computer but nothing else. The same storm damaged my neighbor's motherboard in her computer but also nothing else. It seems strange that only one component would get destroyed, while everything else would be undamaged. Just like your in case, there was no visible damage.

John_jcb gives a smart idea to just unplug any expensive equipment before a storm, which is surely the best way to prevent any surge damage. I don't know how well surge protectors work, but even the moderately priced ones usually carry some sort of guarantee that if the protector fails, the manufacturer will reimburse you the cost of the equipment -- up to a certain amount. Still, I imagine it could be a hassle actually collecting the money.

 

[lizzardfire]

Well, there are reasons why only specific parts of the computer can get fried.

In your case, the power surge traveled through the telephone line/network cable. That happened to me once, blew out my onboard LAN.

In your friend's case, the power came through the power line or through an onboard component's cable. The motherboard is a dominant draw of power (normally) in a computer system.

 

[plainsong]

Yeah, surge protectors don't do anything against lightening. Mom had just gotten out of the shower when their house was struck, luckily she quickly called the fire department and got herself and their dachshund, Beau out of there. It resulted in an electrical fire that fried just about everything in the house that was plugged in, and the siding had to be replace, new AC, re-wireing that took most of the summer..etc.

The good side is that insurance covered it all, and she got a new computer, tv, vcr, dvd, stereo, new fridge, new siding on the house.. so the stuff is new, but it was understandably something that you don't want to go through. No surge protector would protect again that.

If I were you, if the amp is the only thing that's actying haywire, call or email Perreaux. I know they're in New Zealand, but they're very friendly and will know their own amps like no one else will.

 

[gloco]

Did you try plugging the amp into another outlet (not the surge, but an entirely different outlet)?

 

[john_jcb]

Lightning strikes and line surges are two completely different animals. Most of the surge protectors offer no guarantee for the energy levels that you see in a lightning strike. Another thing I would suggest with your audio or home theater gear is to carefully document its worth and make sure your insurance agent knows you have it.

We had a broken pipe last year and being able to accurately document the losses made things so much easier. Luckily no electronics got damaged.

 

[rhizome]

yea, i've learned my lesson about the surge protector. unfortunately i wasn't home when the storm hit and i didn't know it was coming, so there was little i could have done anyway. thanks for the input. now to email perreaux...

 

[gsferrari]

Sorry to bump an old thread but I just received this Perreaux from Rhizome and there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with it at first glance.

Rhizome - have you checked your home wiring? Maybe the problem was there.

Did you try out the amp in any other place? A friends house perhaps? Did you try it without the surge strip?

Just brainstorming here...

The amp has been playing for 45 minutes now without any sonic anamolies...