Wes Warren

Sub Power Issues

Hi all,
I've got a situation with my sub and I was hoping someone else may have come across the same and be able to offer some advise. I recently moved into a small home built in the 70s. When I tried hooking up my Paradigm PDR-10, I got the powered light in the front to come on for a second then it went off. The sub is completely hooked up and makes no sound. I have tried moving the sub to other outlets in the house with the same results, powered light comes on for a second then goes off. This worried me as I had moved it and was afraid I had broken something. I took the sub back to the store I bought it from and had them hook it up. Everything worked fine.
I have NO knack for electrical but I was changing out the wall plate on a lightswitch in the house and noticed that there was no ground wire even though there was a spot for one on the new plate. Maybe the outlets are the problem? If so I don't really understand why all the other components work. My brother was an electricians apprentice in the past and had me check the outlets with a multimeter and they checked with what he told me they should be (been i while i cant remember what the value or what i was checking for exactly). I was speaking with another friend and he said I might check the polarity on the outlets, so I am going to get a tester for that tonight. Can anyone give me any more possible culprits things to look for?

Any help is greatly appreciated

Wes

Wes Warren

Sub Power Issues

Hi all,
I've got a situation with my sub and I was hoping someone else may have come across the same and be able to offer some advise. I recently moved into a small home built in the 70s. When I tried hooking up my Paradigm PDR-10, I got the powered light in the front to come on for a second then it went off. The sub is completely hooked up and makes no sound. I have tried moving the sub to other outlets in the house with the same results, powered light comes on for a second then goes off. This worried me as I had moved it and was afraid I had broken something. I took the sub back to the store I bought it from and had them hook it up. Everything worked fine.
I have NO knack for electrical but I was changing out the wall plate on a lightswitch in the house and noticed that there was no ground wire even though there was a spot for one on the new plate. Maybe the outlets are the problem? If so I don't really understand why all the other components work. My brother was an electricians apprentice in the past and had me check the outlets with a multimeter and they checked with what he told me they should be (been i while i cant remember what the value or what i was checking for exactly). I was speaking with another friend and he said I might check the polarity on the outlets, so I am going to get a tester for that tonight. Can anyone give me any more possible culprits things to look for?

Any help is greatly appreciated

Wes

Dan Halchak

Sounds like you house might have a shotty wiring system to it. I would check the plugs to make sure they are grounded well...if not, you will probably want to call an electrician in and have the whole house re-wired.

I was working on my friend's house (older 60-70s house) and we found that they guy had wired the bedroom ceiling fan (from the light switch) with 18guage speaker wire (not even rated for in wall)...needless to say we tore that all out and rewired it correctly. Luckily the rest of the house looked pretty good (albeit old).

Dan Halchak

Sounds like you house might have a shotty wiring system to it. I would check the plugs to make sure they are grounded well...if not, you will probably want to call an electrician in and have the whole house re-wired.

I was working on my friend's house (older 60-70s house) and we found that they guy had wired the bedroom ceiling fan (from the light switch) with 18guage speaker wire (not even rated for in wall)...needless to say we tore that all out and rewired it correctly. Luckily the rest of the house looked pretty good (albeit old).

Wes Warren

Well I used the polarity checking gadget and polarity was correct, ground was there . I'm at a loss now. Thanks for the reply.

Wes

Wes Warren

Well I used the polarity checking gadget and polarity was correct, ground was there . I'm at a loss now. Thanks for the reply.

Wes

Dave Milne

The PDR-10 doesn't have a three-prong plug, i.e. a grounded plug, so there's no way a bad or missing house ground is going to make the sub do weird things. I think this is a simple issue with the sub's auto turn-on feature. You must have a healthy audio signal going to it before it will power on --and stay on. Make sure your sub is connected correctly and your system is on and playing something. The sub should turn on and stay on. Sometimes, there is a compatibility problem with the sub signal level coming from your receiver or pre/pro (too low a level). Often, this can be adjusted in your receiver setup menus.

Wes Warren

Thanks all. Turns out it was a ID-10-TS error.

Wes

Dave Milne

???

Wes Warren

IDIOTS - as in wrong jack was plugged in.

Wes