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Denon integrated amp

Rod Tew

Rod Tew

New Member
Just purchased a new Denon Pma800ne amp and intermittently the power indicator light will flash red, only on startup. Shut it down... restart,....green, good to go. until it does it again. Using the remote gives the same result.
The manual states This unit’s amplifier circuit has failed. Yikes!
Checked all the usual suspects,...speaker wires at both ends. disconnected all components, different power outlets,Etc,Etc..nothing. Using quality banana plugs,on new monster xp wire.
So off to the Denon service center it went.(on my DIME)
A MONTH later and the unit was returned with a NO fault could be found diagnosis,..never went red.
Back at home now with the same problem. Flummoxed and desperate.
 
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Rod Tew said:
Just purchased a new Denon Pma800ne amp and intermittently the power indicator light will flash red, only on startup. Shut it down... restart,....green, good to go. until it does it again. Using the remote gives the same result.
The manual states This unit’s amplifier circuit has failed. Yikes!
Checked all the usual suspects,...speaker wires at both ends. disconnected all components, different power outlets,Etc,Etc..nothing. Using quality banana plugs,on new monster xp wire.
So off to the Denon service center it went.(on my DIME)
A MONTH later and the unit was returned with a NO fault could be found diagnosis,..never went red.
Back at home now with the same problem. Flummoxed and desperate.
Click to expand...
Have you tried different speakers?

Low impedance speakers might be tripping the protection circuits on startup.
 
fill35u said:
Does it have the problem even if the speaker cables are completely unplugged from the amp?
Click to expand...
I believe so. If it does it again I'll try disconnecting them and my turntable, which are the only two components hooked up at this time.
 
My Parasound Hint 6 does the same thing. On start up the indicator is red. When the unit comes out of protection it turns green. Do you hear a relay click when it turns green? If so it is probably normal
 
Yes, i do hear a relay "click" when it goes green. The owners manual makes no mention of waiting for the unit to go from red to green. only that the "amplifier circuit has failed', so i have never waited for it to go from red to green. Are you saying i should wait for the unit to come out of the (red) protection mode?
 
Does the red led blink, or is it steady state on, then you hear the relay click and the green indicator lights? How long after power up does it take to go from red to green?
 
Rod Tew said:
Yes, i do hear a relay "click" when it goes green. The owners manual makes no mention of waiting for the unit to go from red to green. only that the "amplifier circuit has failed', so i have never waited for it to go from red to green. Are you saying i should wait for the unit to come out of the (red) protection mode?
Click to expand...
You mean you immediately turned it off when the red light flashed?

Normally, on amps that start out in protection mode, it will only stay in protection mode -- i.e., flashing red or whatever -- for a few seconds at most.

It is worth waiting a bit to see if it switches over to green, and then works normally.
 
Yes, I think it is working correctly. DaveVoorhis is correct. It should only stay in protection for a few seconds then switch to operate, GREEN
 
To "on the bitz" Yes it blinks. so i just shut it off and haven't waited for it to go green.
Yes, i was concerned their was a problem so i immediately shut it off.
I've never owned a unit that would do this.
 
Nothing is stated in the owners manual about protection circuit going red on startup except .."amplifier circuit failure"
Therefor the only action i could take was what i read in the manual.
But for future reference, i'll wait for it to clear (go green).
Thanks everyone, for your help.
I"ll continue to monitor the amps behavior, as it's new and still under warranty.
 
Rod Tew said:
To "on the bitz" Yes it blinks. so i just shut it off and haven't waited for it to go green.
Yes, i was concerned their was a problem so i immediately shut it off.
I've never owned a unit that would do this.
Click to expand...
Blinking sounds odd...Normally (however. I'm not familiar with your Denon unit) the protection is invoked while the unit powers up, then switches the speaker outputs on once initialized.


Here's a video of my Sony TA-N77ES Amplifier demonstrating typical behavior that I'm use to seeing on most every amplifier that I've owned, when powering up.


I found a video on YouTube from someone that reviewed your Denon. Unfortunately, he didn't video the power on sequence.

Does the unit do this everytime you power it on? You mentioned you turn it off very quickly when you see this. When you turn it on again and use the unit, the protection red LED doesn't do this every power on cycle? If not, I'm wondering if it's line voltage sage tripping up the fault detect circuit and after you first power it up, then quickly turn it off then back on the bus voltage capacitors are pretty much already charged up, minimizing the inrush current (minimizing AC line voltage sag/drop) on the subsequent power up.
 
Have the DCMs been recapped? They should no problem for the Denon, you may have an intermittent short in one. Have you tried a different set of speakers?
 
bigaltx24 said:
Have the DCMs been recapped? They should no problem for the Denon, you may have an intermittent short in one. Have you tried a different set of speakers?
Click to expand...
The factory checked his unit out and could not find any fault. The unit is new.

I would try a different AC wall outlet on a different circuit in his house. Could be line sag tripping up the detect circuit as I've already outlined.
 
bigaltx24 said:
Have the DCMs been recapped? They should no problem for the Denon, you may have an intermittent short in one. Have you tried a different set of speakers?
Click to expand...
I believe he said the unit also does this with everything disconnected from the unit.i.e no speakers. EDIT: which led me to my thought of ac line voltage sag. I've seen this happen on a modern Integrated during a brownout condition.
 
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