General Service and Technical Information

**tcarcio** · **03-22-09, 01:13 PM**

Hi guy's, I am looking for your expert opinions on this one. I have a crown XLS 402 and the other day it made a loud pop from the left channel and then was fine. I thought it was just one of those things but it happened again yesterday and today I got the pop followed by a whole lot of crackling that lasted about 2-3 minutes and is now working fine again. Could this just be the amp letting me know that the channel is not long for this world or could it be something else like a cable? It is a used amp so I don't know if it would be worth getting repaired. What say you....

**Ricci** · **03-23-09, 11:04 AM**

Sounds like a short somewhere or a loose wire to me. Are you pushing the amp really hard?

**tcarcio** · **03-23-09, 11:18 AM**

I am only running the amp at half gain. It actually doesn't matter how the level is at the time because it happens at low volume also. What confuses me is that it happens and then goes away and works fine.

**Mike P.** · **03-23-09, 11:48 AM**

Play your sub at a low volume and turn the left gain knob up and down slightly. If the crackling sound starts then you have a dirty control. That happened to me on a volume control of a Pioneer receiver.

**tonyvdb** · **03-23-09, 12:24 PM**

This could also be a more serious problem, There may be a what is known as a cold solder joint and it is letting go when it gets warm causing your "pop" sound. If your handy with a solder iron it is fixable but you would need to open up the hood and have a look around. Its probably going to be easy to spot as the joint could have some signs of burning or arcing if its on a high current area. Just be aware that there will be alot of power stored up in the capacitors that could kill you if you get zapped even if the power is off and unpluged.

**tcarcio** · **03-23-09, 03:55 PM**

Quote:

Mike P. wrote:

Play your sub at a low volume and turn the left gain knob up and down slightly. If the crackling sound starts then you have a dirty control. That happened to me on a volume control of a Pioneer receiver.

I know exactly what you mean, I have an old RS that has a dirty control but what I am getting here is different.

**tcarcio** · **03-23-09, 03:57 PM**

Quote:

tonyvdb wrote:

This could also be a more serious problem, There may be a what is known as a cold solder joint and it is letting go when it gets warm causing your "pop" sound. If your handy with a solder iron it is fixable but you would need to open up the hood and have a look around. Its probably going to be easy to spot as the joint could have some signs of burning or arcing if its on a high current area. Just be aware that there will be alot of power stored up in the capacitors that could kill you if you get zapped even if the power is off and unpluged.

I am planning on pulling it apart this weekend and I will check for that problem. I am thinking I might replace it with the new EP2000. I will be carefull not to zap myself, Thanks.

**tcarcio** · **03-23-09, 05:06 PM**

One quick question. I mentioned buying the ep2000 and my mains are rated for 600w, this amp does 750w so I know that will be fine, My question is should I spend the extra 50 bucks and get the ep4000? It does 1400w and with my mains rated for 600w would it just be a dumb idea?

**lcaillo** · **04-01-09, 07:34 PM**

Sorry I missed your post. I am not really that familiar with these amps. The question would likely get more response in the proper forum for amps. Based on your info provided, however, it seems like little to invest to get a bit more headroom. That can never hurt.

**tcarcio** · **04-02-09, 08:43 AM**

Just wanted to let you all know that it was a bad channel in the art cleanbox and not the amp so I am happy about that.

Advertisement