[chazzboggie]

I recently purchased a used 4bsst.

Last night when I turned it on, it blew the circuit breaker to the power to my upstairs room.

I hooked up my old amp and everything was fine.

Im wanting to use it as a 2 channel using unbalanced (RCA) cables.

(1) I initially plugged it into a power conditioning strip with other devices plugged into the strip. The strip is then plugged into a quad outlet will all four outlets being used.

(2) I then plugged it directly into the outlet by its self without the conditioning strip and all the other devices disconnected from the quad outlet.

Both scenarios resulted with the breaker being blown.

Im using a Cary Slp 98 F1 preamp.

Any info you can provide to guide me through getting it running would be appreciated.

[gdayton]

First thing to do is try powering it up with nothing connected (except AC mains of course). What happens then? This way you can isolate it to being an amp issue or due to related equipment. Let us know what happens.
-Gary

[chazzboggie]

@Gary

Thank you. Im going to give that a try tonight. Also have an upgraded power cord and I'm going to try the standard one it came with.

I had zero issues with my setup before replacing my old amp with the Bryston so I was just wondering if I was doing something wrong. I wouldn't think
there would be much magic to it. I received an email from Bryston and they said to make sure the outlet wasn't on an Arc Fault breaker because that could
cause a problem.

[Phil A]

I'm not sure how old the electrical stuff is in the house but about 15 years back they changed the electrical code - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc-fault_circuit_interrupter (and that is what Bryston was talking about.

I'm still waiting on the rack for my main system so it is not together but after discussion with the electrician and how they sometimes trip easier I put a 20 amp circuit where one receptacle is on it (and it is for my 20 amp Torus Conditioner where I will have one big amp plugged into it) and two 15 amp circuits (a Bryston 6BSST will go in one and a receiver to power the height and back surrounds will go in the other) each on a single receptacle.

In one spare system in the old place (prior to the Arc Fault code) I had a Bryston 3BST and when plugged into a particular circuit the amp just wound not turn on (guess there was too much on it as each 15 amp circuit can handle 1800W of consumption and it worked fine in another receptacle on a different circuit

[Phil A]

If you look at the manual - http://bryston.com/PDF/Manuals/3B_4BSST_MANUAL.pdf, the consumption of the amp (as are many amps) is substantial.  I have a couple of spare systems in bedroom and one has the 3BST (the other has an Emotiva amp) and I was a little concerned as to what the arc fault breakers will do but it has not been an issue with the limited listening I have done (still getting unpacked/organized). The one with the Emotiva amp I was a bit more concerned with since it is a multi-channel system with a receiver and other equipment as well.  The one with the 3BSST basically just has a preamp, DAC, universal player and a Squeezebox Touch.

[Speedskater]

Was this the vary first time you tried turning it on?
Arc Fault (AFCI) breakers are very strange beasts indeed.  But if it is a AFCI breaker it will have a label. They have a mind of their own as to what is a fault.  Maybe try it a a friend's older home.