The one amp’s blue light on it’s side remained on after switching off the Marantz which triggered the off of the other amps. Last night I switched off this amp with the rear switch. This morning, about 12 hours later, I switched it back on only to see the blue light reappear. I left the unit as is for over an hour to see if it was related to the circuit board’s calming down and then turning it off. Unfortunately, this did not happen. The blue has remained lit for over an hour now and I can’t believe that it takes that long for a circuit board to calm down. And, if this were the case, should not all the other amps show the same symptoms? Kevin, in sales, who I’ve dealt with for some years and is also an email friend, also emailed me this a.m. in which he stated that it was the LED in the circuit board calming down and that the blue light would disappear. This has not happened. Am I to live with these amps having to be inspected every time I turn them off to see any blue’s of their sides? I just wanted a great six amp home theater experience not having to worry and/or inspect each amp for this problem. Kevin has made no indication that it should be returned as defective, yet.
Ed
Thanks for the update. For clarification, the LED by the tube does not indicate that the tube is “on.” It is an aesthetic choice. We need to find more consistency with the results. The variable shut off time for the LED seems odd to me, but the fact that it only happens when the trigger chain is setup, tells me that may have something to do with it. I’m having one of our techs check out your previous amps soon.
In your first post you implied that the tubes stayed on in standby. Later we find out that there are blue lights that stay on. Tubes glow red orange. Couldn’t this have been cleared up through tech support rather than implying that your amps are “defective” on a forum? I understand wanting everything to be the same unit to unit in this price range, and a variation might equal a defect.
I would suggest that if you are not interested in this topic, you seek discussion elsewhere. I have already gone back and forth with tech support and the only reason I initiated this discussion was that I was at my wit’s end in trying to find others that may have the same problem.
I do NOT appreciate your criticism and would like you to refrain from bothering me!
I had the same impression as you, and the same reaction. Your comment doesn’t strike me as criticism.
From the very beginning of the thread it seemed that there was confusion between the “lights” and the glow of the tubes. It would have been best for the customer to have gotten a very clear assessment from tech support and all this thrash and confusion could have been avoided. I did sense a bit of panic and rumination from the poster, but it is understandable given the investment he made in the equipment.
I understand where Ed is coming from though. Based off the need to send almost all of the amps back for the same odd issue doesn’t sit well. Finding someone else on here that had a similar problem would have likely made him feel a bit more at ease. I too wish there was a more cohesive understanding with tech support. There is always room for improvement.
Not sure if this helps, but in a discussion of the Stellar Phono, Darren Myers said the following about the blue LEDs “ The LEDs are used in my ultra low noise discrete voltage references that are throughout the design.”. So the blue LEDs in the S1200 are probably part of the power supply and the power supply has a large bank of capacitors to maintain the consistent flow of power (don’t quote me on that explanation). Depending on how much capacitance is in the power supply there may be power in those capacitors for a long period of time after shutting off the device. Perhaps what is happening here is the LEDs are remaining lit due to the power stored in the capacitors. When the capacitors drain completely the LEDs go out. I would suspect the LEDs use milliwatts of power, so it could take more than an hour to drain the capacitors.
Hopefully PS Audio will get a chance to test the amps and characterize what’s happening here. Good luck with straightening this out!
pmotz,
Thank you for your response. However, the blue hue that remains in one and/or another of the six amps does not only stay on for an hour. I left the one with the blue hue on over night and, after 10 hours the hue was still there. I’m receiving the 1200 replacements on Saturday and what will be will be. If I have to live with shutting the unit off via the rear switch after usage, then so be it. I’m really very tired of this going on for several weeks and have already returned four for replacements. Life is too short to constantly worry about this. The amps sound great and if something should happen in the future because of this “blue” problem, I’m sure that PS Audio will act accordingly.
Thanks, again, for your concern.
@jamesh I have read this thread and all it has done is to make me confused.
As you know, I have the BHK Preamp and it has the red LED which unless the amp is totally switched off or the power cord is pulled out of the unit, the red LED stays ON!
My confusion comes from the issue with regards to the “blue LED” in the M 1200 amps!
I have looked as best I can to both of my 12’s and can see NO light blue or otherwise?
Do the 12’s have LED lights and if do do they have another color besides red?
If it’s blue, I wonder why I can not see the light?
So hence I am confused?
So that we 1200 owners are all on the same page, can you report as to whether our amps have LED’s and if so what color are they?
And as a follow up question, is the reason we are unable to see the amp light is because compared to the BHK Preamp they are not at all bright!
Because the BHK Preamps’ LED is very bright.
So some positive feedback would be very much appreciated.
Thanks…
I know, this thread sparked a lot of confusion for a number of people. There is a blue LED that lights up when the amps are on and working. It is purely an aesthetic thing, and has absolutely no function other than looking awesome.
This is what it should look like while the amp is on and out of standby.
If one doesn’t have the stock tubes inside and the tubes are frosty or something, it may not be visible.
jamesh,
This is what I just email to Kevin: that is, some of the six 1200’s do NOT exhibit a blue hue after shut down (and I won’t use paint!), others do. So, I assume that this is just the way it is?!
Ed
