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Exposure 3010S2D powering on issue

TonyScarlett

pfm Member
Hi, would just like to recount my tale to find out if anyone else has had a similar problem. I purchased the amp at the end of January, a couple of weeks later on powering it on there was a loud "woomph" through the speakers & it went into protection mode (all input selector lights on). Of course I immediately turned it off, checked all the connections then left it for ten minutes, when I powered it on again it was fine. Although I was a little disconserted at the time I thought no more about it until a couple of weeks ago when it did the same thing two days in a row. Now majorly disconserted (& genuinely concerned about my speakers) I tried contacting Clive at Sound Synergy where I bought the amp only to discover he was on his summer break so I contacted Exposure directly. They were great, they arranged a courier to pick the amp up on Monday morning & I received the amp back yesterday (Friday) morning along with an email message telling me they had replaced the main board & that all should be fine. Well it isn't, I hooked the amp back up this morning, powered it up & this time instead of a loud "woomph" I have a loud "clack" which sounds even more potentially speaker damaging although this time it is not going into protection mode. I have emailed Exposure although I'm not expecting a response till Monday morning.
I am hoping that this is an isolated problem & that Exposure can get it sorted quickly, it is a fantastic amp & small world beating independent British hifi companies like Exposure deserve all the support we can give them.
 
Yes I’ve had the same issue and funnily enough I bought it from Clive at Sound Cinergy too.
I spoke to Clive about the issue and he contacted Exposure. They offered to pick it up and look into the fault or I could have a new one. I went for a brand new one.
The fault hasn’t happened again but I don’t turn my gear off very often. When I have turned it off and on there has been a “click” coming through the speakers but it’s now very loud.

I would ask for a brand new amp.

Clive and Exposure were both brilliant to deal with and as you mention the amp is stunning.
 
since you are satisfied otherwise? I'm also thinking about getting an exposure.

My previous amps were a Linn Exotik and C2200 and extremely satisfied with Exposure.

I did demo the Naim Nait 5si and Nait XS and the Exposure took them to the cleaners.
 
Exposure are an excellent company. They'll certainly get you fixed. They also stand by all their products and will service most older models, with the exception of the original CD player, I believe. They're quite close to me; I've had many of their products over the years. The few problems I had were quickly rectified, often same day!
 
"Bangs", "woomphs" and "clacks" etc can be perfectly normal on many amps when powering up and a similar range of strange noises when switching off with some amps. Protection circuitry operating is another matter though!
 
"Bangs", "woomphs" and "clacks" etc can be perfectly normal on many amps when powering up and a similar range of strange noises when switching off with some amps. Protection circuitry operating is another matter though!
I've owned many vintage amps in the past that send woomphs & clacks through the speakers when you turn them on including my current ST20 & Quad 306, none of them have ever been anywhere near as loud as this though & none of the brand new amps I've owned have made any noise powering on.
I will agree with all the above posts though, it is a fabulous amp & I hope I can get this resolved quickly. Clive at Sound Cynergy should be back from his hols on Tues so I will speak to him as well.
 
Thanks for the link BLACKMASS, sounds like exactly the same issue I am having. The amp has always sent a quiet woomph through the speakers when powering on but that wasn't anything to worry about, the noise it's making now is several orders of magnitude worse. I am comforted by the praise being heaped on Exposures customer service in the above posts, as I say I will talk to Clive at Sound Cynergy on Tuesday.
 
Thanks for the link BLACKMASS, sounds like exactly the same issue I am having. The amp has always sent a quiet woomph through the speakers when powering on but that wasn't anything to worry about, the noise it's making now is several orders of magnitude worse. I am comforted by the praise being heaped on Exposures customer service in the above posts, as I say I will talk to Clive at Sound Cynergy on Tuesday.

Don’t worry about it. Clive (as I’m sure you already know) is great to deal with and Exposure sorted it out without any issues whatsoever.
 
I have had my 3010S2 (not D) for 4 years and I don’t leave it on so it gets powered almost every day. I do not hear any noise through the speakers when it is powered on or off. On powering on, there is a pause before a click from the amplifier which is presumably relays closing. That is all. I always turn the volume to zero before power on or off, but I don’t think that makes a difference.

That is not to say I haven't had issues with the amp though. Sometimes the input selector doesn’t work when powered on and sometimes the remote volume control doesn’t work. Power cycle has always fixed the issue. I guess this is caused by whatever logic circuit is driving the input relays or volume motor not initialising correctly. It has not happened recently (will probably happen next time I switch on ).

I also have a quibble over the tape output. It seems to be not buffered from the inputs. I found that my Denon DN700R puts on odd load on the tape output when it (the Denon) is not powered that can drag the output of the source item down. I noticed this with my old Sony SACD player that became very distorted if the Denon was switched off. Since discovering this, I don’t connect anything to the tape output.

I wonder if any other 3010 users have had similar experiences?

All this sounds a bit negative, but I view these as niggles and love the sound of the amp so much that i wouldn’t want to change it.

Mark.
 
I haven't got the internal phono stage board on mine, it's an optional extra, by all accounts they sound very good, you can buy separately either an mc or mm board. I already had a Trilogy 906 so didn't need one. I'm currently using Van Damme LCOFC 6mm speaker cable, not going to make any judgement about its relative performance versus other cable (I'm a cable sceptic), I just wanted good quality cable for a good price which is exactly what you get with Van Damme cables.
 
The 3010s2 preamp I use with an LFD power amp sings 'Woomph' no matter which order I switch the two on or off, and occasionally with gusto. Been that way for a few years now, but that has never triggered protection.
 
.. I always turn the volume to zero before power on or off, but I don’t think that makes a difference.

Surely that makes all the difference if that amp otherwise preserves the volume levels between power-offs. (I don't know the details of the amp referred to)
 
Are phono phonics good?
What kind of speaker cable do you use?
I’ve tried the MM card and it is excellent: cleaner and more detailed (subjectively) than my Rega Aria and more dynamic too. In the end too lean in my system: lowering the capacitance might have helped (default is pretty high) but the jumper was soldered in and I didn’t want to lose the option of returning it. Big up to Lee at @Strictly Stereo and his 30 day no quibble returns policy for the opportunity to hear it.

I’m a big fan of the amp (despite quite a loud whump at shut-off) and the CD player. Killed any desire to box-swap.
 
The 3010s2 preamp I use with an LFD power amp sings 'Woomph' no matter which order I switch the two on or off, and occasionally with gusto. Been that way for a few years now, but that has never triggered protection.

The woomph will (I believe) be coming from the LFD power amp as its internal voltages stabilise during power up. The status of the preamp is not likely to make much difference unless it produces some significant anomalous voltage on its outputs during power up, which is unlikely since it is a preamp.

I’m guessing that the LFD doesn’t isolate its output during power up. In the context of the original post, this particular woomph isn’t really relevant to the noises produced by the Exposure integrated amp.
 
Don’t worry about it. Clive (as I’m sure you already know) is great to deal with and Exposure sorted it out without any issues whatsoever.
Clive is great and very quick to deal with any issues. He goes to visit him mom in Scotland a couple of times a year and as he’s a one man band, he closes the shop whilst he’s gone. He usually goes during school holidays, his younger son is still of school age.
 
Surely that makes all the difference if that amp otherwise preserves the volume levels between power-offs. (I don't know the details of the amp referred to)

I don’t think so. During power up, the output is isolated by relays so the volume setting won’t make any difference. When the amp has achieved stable working voltages, and the relays are closed, the volume control will only result in a setting-dependent low-level noise (hum, hiss etc). Certainly no woomphs or clacks.

I’m still a bit puzzled why the OP is hearing anything on power up when my amp is silent on power up due to the isolating relays. Surely, this indicates a fault in the isolating circuit (or a change in the design of the amp!!)
 


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