My SVS Samson S1000 AMP got Zapped :( (1 Viewer)

[Todd_Petersen]

So i had lighting hit 5 feet from my house a couple weeks ago and it nearly wiped all the electronics in the house. Luckily my home theater was plugged into a high end monster box and my equipment was fine, minus my Xbox 360s ethernet card. Well wouldnt you know the one and only thing that wasnt plugged into the surge protector was my SVS Samson S1000 Amp which power my one Ultra. Needless to say my amp is shot and i know longer have a subwoofer to compliment my nice system. I called SVS today and i am out of my warranty by a little less then a year "go figure". If you are wondering why i didnt have this plugged into my monster box its simple. I have one of those SVS subsonic filter boxes. Ever since i have had, it makes my SVS Ultra HUM like you cant imagine. I spent hours with SVS back in the day to figure out why the box was making it hum so bad. They even shipped me out a replacement box which was supposed to be a newer and fixed model but it did the same thing. After many times on the phone with SVS one bright tech guy told me the solution. This solution was to plug it into a 3prong to 2prong plug removing the ground. I did this and it didnt work when i plugged it into my monster box, i was then told i needed to plug it into the wall. I tried this and WALLAH it worked no more HUM... WOOOT. Over the last 3 years since i have owned my SVS ultra i have lived in 4 different places. Each of these places HUMMED if i didnt use the solution they provided.
Well i can say i was quite happy that i could use my Black Box "subsonic filter" without that annoying hum. BUT look where this all got me now. I now have a dead amplifier because i havent been able to have this thing plugged into a surge protector.

Can you guys see my frustration? If this stupid Subsonic filter would have worked right from the get go, i would not be in the situation.


Anyhow, does anyone know a cheap alternative that i can use to power my ultra. I Only have one Ultra and would just need a single 500w amp not dual sided like the S1000.

 

[AlanZ]

What you see as frustration, I see as God telling you to upgrade to a PB12-Ultra/2

 

[Todd_Petersen]

lol if i had the cash i would. Right im broke, i dont even have enough money to replace my amp.

 

[AlanZ]

Oh....well then I can definitely feel for ya, man....only suggestion I have would be to keep an eye out at audiogon.com or ebay, you know?

 

[Todd_Petersen]

Yeah ill be checking eBay. I jush wish there was something they could do. I wouldnt be in this situation if i didnt have a faulty blackbox and listen to the manufactuers advice and not use my surge protector.

 

[AlanZ]

I hear ya there, too....all I know is that the guys at SVS go out of their way for people like you and me on a daily basis. If they're unable to help you out in this instance, I trust they have a reason for why that's the case....I certainly don't want to speculate cause it's not really my place. I really do hope you are able to find a way to get your bass back, though, cause believe me, I know all too well how much it sucks to go from glorious SVS bass to no bass.

 

[AlanZ]

Todd: I just thought of a possble solution for you. Check your PMs when you get a minute.

 

[Todd_Petersen]

Anyone else feel like this is my fault or SVS? I think something should be done.

 

[brentl]

This has nothing to do with SVS. Pick up a new amp, or repair this one.

Brent

 

[Todd_Petersen]

well if you buy something from the company that doesnt work then the tech guy from the manufacturer tells you to bypass your surge, hmm? So now i have a burnt amp from following the instructions of whom i bought this amp and sub.

how is that my fault?

 

[Jack Gilvey]

Sucks about the lightning. Seems to me you ultimately made the decision not to use the surge protector, knowing the risk.

 

[SVS-Ron]

Todd,

Very sorry to hear about this. "Go figure" on a 3 year warranty is pretty easy though. It's 3 years and not a clock we control (and if we still carried them we might have a leg to stand on with Samson and some flexibility, but we don't). Despite that, I'm reasonably sure your amp can be repaired, some checks around might yield a less expensive solution than simply replacing it. You can get some screaming deals on mono or stereo amps though (I guess the SVS-01 subsonic filter box we built is OK?).

I've talked to Tech Support and I'm quite certain SVS never said to not use a surge protector (there are of course hundreds of brands). Many many people use them with our products (and ones we sold that weren't our products). If the subsonic filter box, or the amp (it's not clear from the scenario you described) buzzed in the Monster box, but not in the wall, then it's pretty clear you had a ground loop issue of some sort that revolved around the surge protector (it can even come from cable TV etc).

Living in 4 places with four plugs that all yielded quiet performance with a viable hook up configuration, but buzz problems with the Monster power source might indicate you are upset at the wrong OEM here.

It's not often we're in a position where there's not much we can do, but this would be one of them unfortunately. If that amp were a year old, or 2 years and 364 days, it'd be a different story. Short of a nice discount on a new SVS some day our hands are tied nearly four years after the purchase I'm afraid.

Best regards,

Ron Stimpson
SVS

 

[Todd_Petersen]

Thanks for the reply Ron I appreciate.


The SVS would hum plugged into the monster box or any of the 4 houses I lived at if just plugged into the wall. The only way I got around this was by trying what tech told me to do. They told me to use the plug that gets rid of the ground "3 prong to 2 prong" this was the only thing that stopped the SVS from humming. This was my only choice. I had the blackbox so I sure as heck wanted to use it. BUT the only way I could, without it humming my teeth out, was to un-ground it and plug in the wall.


P.S, the APT I lived in at the time I had this problem for the first time, I was told that I had a grounding problem. So I took responsibility knowing that if something happened this was the Apartments grounding and no ones fault. After living in 4 different places over the course of 4 years i now see this is not the case. Since it happened regardless to any outlet I would plug into, something with that black box was faulty “This would NOT happen when not using the SVS BlackBox”. No blackbox = no hum.
So yes I could have not used the blackbox but why wouldn’t, it was paid for so therefore I want to use it.

Also, I am not someone that is looking for something free I just need to get off my chest that I think I am not 100% responsible for this. Bottom line is that if using the SVS blackbox did not create this hum, I would not be on the boards today telling you my sob story.
Wrote this fast, heading back to work. Sorry for grammar.

 

[Robb Roy]

Todd,


Why wouldn't it work with the Monster? I have a Monster 3500, and I had a Parasound amp that I needed to lift the ground on, and it worked like a champ.

Since the problem went away by lifting the ground, you know it was a ground loop. This means the black box and at least another one of your components, lamps, *something* on the same circuit had/has a different ground potential. Removing/fixing the other piece of electronics would have cured the problem as well. I've seen many lamps with dimming switches cause ground loops in audio systems (do you really think a $100 lamp comes with a quality dimmer?). The point is, it takes two pieces of gear to cause the problem; plugging in one piece of gear and hearing the problem only tells you one of the pieces of gear involved. Did you ever find out what the other piece was? It's equally at fault, if not more so for not recommending a potential solution.

It's got to be frustrating, and it stinks your stuff got hit by lightning, but Mother Nature is the real culprit here, and she knows no warranties.

-Robb

 

[Todd_Petersen]

I am not sure what other piece it was. I have lived in 4 different houses and tried 2 different outlets at least in each of those houses. Whenever the blackbox was in the picture whether or not it was plugged into the wall or monster surge it would HUM.

As soon as i would disconnect the blackbox the hum was gone and i could plug the SVS amp anywhere without a prob. Back when i used to talk to SVS about this annoying prob they told me others have complained about the SVS box making the sub hum. So i dont think there was something else causing it but the box itself. Also why would it hum in 4 different houses when plugged into the wall before using the 3 to 2 prong? It was the box causing the hum, there is no way to say it wasnt, NO box = no hum.

 

[Robb Roy]

Todd,

My guess is if you had unplugged everything but the subwoofer, amp, and the black box, that you'd have no hum (and I do mean everything -- most outlets in a single room are on one circuit). If it wasn't a ground loop, but rather the box itself introducing some other kind of noise, lifting the ground wouldn't have fixed the problem.

The fact it happened in four places tells us little to nothing. I'm sure you brought more with you when you moved than just the subwoofer. You probably brought a lot of pieces of gear including that Monster box (which very well could be the problem) cable box, VCR, toaster, DVD player, lamp, TV, etc.

Also, I still don't get why lifting the ground with the Monster box wouldn't work. I can think of no reason it wouldn't other than the Monster box is faulty.

-Robb

 

[Shawn C]

I had that same hum with my S1000 that powers my 2 CS-Ultras. I just had to use one of those "cheater" plugs that basically eliminated the ground on the plug. Problem was solved, even when plugged into my surge protector.

 

[Todd_Petersen]

Tried that and still got hum, my brother in law mentioned to do that when i made my first move and it still hummed. There is no denying those boxes hummed. SVS told me themselves they had problems with them, they even made a newer version, unfortunately hat didn’t help either.

I appreciate all the replies guys. My best bet is to get a cheap amp in the mean time.

WHat is the cheapest amp i could get to power my Ultra without losing bass?

I dont need any double amps like the s1000.

 

[Bruce N]

I would seriously look into having your Samson repaired. Look in the phone book for a local electronics repair shop and take it in for an estimate.

 

[Todd_Petersen]

I was thinking of that but when i called SVS to check my warranty when this first happened, they told me not to bother because they will generally charge more then if i was to purchase a new one.