Followup...Servo-15 saga ends... for now... (1 Viewer)

[jason willder]

The mystery of the whistling Servo-15 turned out to be some pesky loose screws on the back that I tightened myself. Paradigm responded very quickly to my email. Thankfully they didn't need to do anything. They did ask for the inspector number off the unit. Anyway I'm going to go break in my new subwoofer now. I do love my Paradigm Reference speakers.

 

[Ron_L]

Glad to hear that Jason.

 

[Jamey F]

Aren't they grand. I can't wait to hear your impressions on the servo-15 after it's had ~20-30 hours of breaking in. I can't tell a big difference after probably that amount of LFE use. I seem to notice the sub less though, and that's a good thing. I was impressed at it's low end when I hooked it up, and now I'm even more impressed at how it can fill in the lower end of any of the studio line without calling attention to itself. For HT, I really think having a servo-15 and studio 20's would be more than enough to impress (fill in the blank here).

 

[Levesque]

Jason. I own a Servo-15 since almost a year, and I've tried some "tweaks", and by far the biggest difference was to put it on 3 pieces of concrete, so lifting it around 9 inches from the floor. The bass became faster, tighter and really better for fast drums or "fats rythm" music. Try it!

The only problem was to explain to my wife why I was putting 3 big concrete slabs on our woodfloor, between 2 custom made furnitures... Had to put some black fabric on them to satisfy her (expressing my feminine side was always why weak point...)

 

[PaulT]

I just unpacked my new laminate Servo-15 and the amp module hums as well (constantly). The dealer came and got it immediately with no questions asked and has said he will do a rush order for a replacement for me. Since they have a Rosewood unit in their showroom (no hum) I may just pick that one up today and pay the diff.

Jason, was there an Inspector 3 tag on your bad unit?

Will let you know how I made out at the dealer's in a few hours.

 

[jason willder]

I don't remember the inspector on the bad unit. My dealer hasn't had a chance to find what was wrong with it yet. He is going to keep it and use as a demo. I will post back here when I find out what the problem is. He seemed to think a solder joint was broken when it was assembled or something of that nature. Someone needs to whip the QC people into shape at Paradigm. I am enjoying my working unit very much. Stick it out it's worth it.

 

[PaulT]

Well, here we go:

I have egg all over my face. The dealer had a second brand new Servo-15 that we took out of the box and tested there. Worked fine. Brought it home and guess what - hum when I turn it on. It's my &^%*%$* house power. It does not hum through the speaker itself, but I can hear the power supply in the amp humming. Tried 3 separate circuits in the house.

Plugged my original one in at the dealers, no hum.

Will start the search to see what I can do. Borrowed a Monster 2500 (I know, no specs) because I had quick access to one and it won't filter out the crap. Don't want to go 'whole house' as I plan on selling this one soon anyway. Has 40 year old wiring and I suspect the old breakers are leaking RF and/or motor splash.

The sub itself is fan-f'in tastic.

 

[jason willder]

What a drag. I bought a lamp at Target a couple of moanths ago. It held two light bulbs. It was switched so you could have both bulbs on or just one. When I had just one on the transformers in my Servo-15 and my AVM20 buzzed like crazy. I got rid of the lamp.
-Check and see what else is on that circuit. Any dimmers, appliances, cheap lamps are suspect. Some good detective work might cure your problem.
-Is your circuit a 20amp, I am not sure maybe you are drawing to much current. Turn off everything else but the Servo-15. If it is not humming start turning things back on until it does.
-Also search for threads on ground loop problems.
Good luck.

 

[Ron_L]

Believe it or not, the 4 rooms in my house are running off of 1 15A circuit. The Home theater is in one of those rooms. Haven't experienced any humming or breaker problems yet. The house was built in 1966.

 

[RajeeK]

What a drag. I bought a lamp at Target a couple of moanths ago. It held two light bulbs. It was switched so you could have both bulbs on or just one. When I had just one on the transformers in my Servo-15 and my AVM20 buzzed like crazy. I got rid of the lamp.

That's funny. I probably have the exact same lamp at our place and when I only use one bulb my Sherbourn 7/2100 buzzes, but with both on it is dead quiet. Needless to say, we are moving soon, so I just don't use the amp with a single bulb on and will rearrange stuff at the new place.

 

[Nick V]

RajeeK,

How do you like your Sherbourn vs. the Acurus that you had (in the pics in your sig.)??

I'm curious cause I'm going to be buying a multichannel amp pretty soon (along with a pre-pro).

 

[RajeeK]

Nick,

To be honest, I really don't notice a difference. The Acurus was also a great amp. I did it because we are in the process of having a custom house build with its own 400 sq ft. dedicated theater and then I will be using a separate prepro vs the 49TX, so I needed a full 7 channel amp and the Sherbourn for it's price couldn't be beat. I especially love it's complete monoblock design. But at 105lbs on its own, it was damn heavy to move. BTW, those pics are really old, I just havn't had the urge to update them. But to answer your question, i love the amp.