[kingdeezie]

 

Bill has been awesome through this whole ordeal.

We can't figure out for the life of us what went wrong though!!

I gotta assume two things at this point.

One) There exists a freak electrical issue within my system and house that is causing the problem. I hooked up everything that was in the system up to a receiver (good God I forgot how bad the HT receiver was for 2-channel), and things are all working okay.

Two) The power cord that I used with it is somehow malfunctioning, I did not send this PC with the unit, nor like an idiot did I try another PC while I had it here. 

I was thinking last night that maybe there is something wrong with the PC's ground. Perhaps it has become disconnected from the connectors on the inside, or maybe the cord got crushed at some point in storage or delivery, and the grounds wire is crimped into the hot wire sending voltage out through the interconnects and equipment.

It seems to me, and I am not a professional at all, but that there is a grounding issue at the heart of this problem.

There obviously is not enough voltage coming across this equipment to blow any of the fuses in the preamp/amps/equipment, so I can't say that there is a definitive power issue

It would seem that when I touch the equipment I get "jolted" because I am one huge "ground" and the electricity seeks to escape through the path of least resistance.

I'm going to have Bill overnight me the preamp, and I am going to go to the store today and buy a new PC to try.

[woodsyi]

I can't believe you don't have a chest full of stock rubber power cords in the house by now.  Don't we all?  What does everybody do with them? 

[TomS]

Yes, put a stock rubber cord on the preamp.  Just run the Bella preamp output to a receiver input or a spare power amp to make sure it all works.  In other words, leave the Odyssey amps and any fancy cords out to start with.  I've had some odd ground loop issues with the Candela and Mono's in my setup before.  Never could track it down but I don't have that gear now.

[kingdeezie]

I was thinking it might be the Stratos amplifiers and some weird ground loop issues.

I hope this is not the case because the only other amplifier I have in house is an XPA-5, which I really don't want to use since its 2-channel capabilities are pretty limited.

If it is the Stratos amplifiers, I guess I'll have to see if someone wants to buy em or trade out or something. We shall see.

[TomS]

I was thinking it might be the Stratos amplifiers and some weird ground loop issues.

I hope this is not the case because the only other amplifier I have in house is an XPA-5, which I really don't want to use since its 2-channel capabilities are pretty limited.

If it is the Stratos amplifiers, I guess I'll have to see if someone wants to buy em or trade out or something. We shall see.

If for some reason it is grounding with the Odyssey's, Klaus can probably help you out with a phone call.

[kingdeezie]

I can try that route. I don't know what Klaus could do over the phone if there is something going on with the Stratos and a ground loop.

[kingdeezie]

Haven't posted in this thread in a long while, and while I am sure no one was losing sleep over it, I figured I would post what is going on...

I got the preamp back from Bill a few weeks ago after he said it was fine, and it has performed flawlessly with another amplifier. That amplifier being Emotiva  . Suffice to say, it doesn't sound horrible, but its not great either ( speaking about the Emotiva)....

I sent the Odysseys back to Klaus last week. Apparently the original owner did some self modding to a large extent; and these things are pretty messy.

Klaus, being an amazing guy to work with, and I, have decided to gut both amps and start over in a sense with upgraded "kismet" parts. Boards, transfomers, power supplies, caps, are all going to be new; the only thing staying is the cases and my platinum WBT speaker connectors.

Hopefully this means in a month or so, I'll have an excellent "new" set of amplifiers that work properly and bring the magic with the Response Audio preamp..

For anyone who has read this thread, Bill has been completely stand-up, and has gone out of his way to help me with absolutely no monetary gain for him..

As silly as it might sound, he even "re-badged" my remote since the silk-screening had come off at the previous owners place. The beauty is in the details...

I look forward to hopefully one day be able to actually purchase something forom Bill...

MC Phono stage would be awesome    ...

[Bill Baker]

 I must admit, I am glad to hear that the amplifiers have been altered from their original state. This could be the source of the problem meaning that no components are at fault.

I do appreciate the updates and hope you will continue to update this thread when your amp return home.

 Thanks for all the kind words and your patience thorughout the process. I am confident your wait will be well rewarded once Klaus gets his creations back to you.

[Bill Baker]

Hello kingdeezie
 Just wondering of you had any updates?

[kingdeezie]

Hey Bill,

So far, for the last month or so since sending back the Odysseys, I have been enjoying the Response Pre with just a simple Emotiva amplifier...

The preamp has completely transformed my system.

Klaus and I decided to gut the amplifiers and replace everything with upgrades. This way nothing from the original amplifiers exists except for the cases.

Actually, they were supposed to ship today, but I can't get a hold of Klaus to verify if they have or not.

When they get here, I am praying that everything plays nice together, since the preamp tested out as okay, and the amplifiers that are coming back to me, are, more or less, brand new; new transformers, power supples, and the like.

I know this new combo should be excellent, and am at this point hoping that everything works out. Hopefully I can get a hold of Klaus this week and find out the status of things; and maybe have the amplifiers this week of the week after to see.

I'll keep you in the loop Bill!

Thanks again for all of your help.

[TRADERXFAN]

looking forward to hearing about how this all turns out... 

[kingdeezie]

Bill,

I got the brand new completely upgraded and rebuilt amplifiers from Klaus...

I ended up spending a little bit more then I should have with replacement parts and very significant upgrades; but I knew that if they worked they would be amplifiers to keep for a long while.

Everything is singing together right now!

Response Pre and Odyssey "Kismetros" Monos are making sweet love together for the first time.

Fortunately, everything worked out, and I ended up with an amazing preamp and a brand new set of amplifiers.

Unfortuntely, I have a brand new set of amplifiers that need 400 hours of break-in... 

I want to thank you again for being a great help to me through out this whole ordeal; I definitely, without hesitation, will recommend Response Audio to anyone and everyone who I know that is looking. 

So, THANKS BILL! 

[arthurs]

That's great to hear Chris!  And yes, Bill is one of the good guys in audio for sure....

What was it that caused the issues?  What had to be changed on the amps?

[srb]

No one will ever know the exact problem.  As kingdeezie explained in a previous post, since the boards had been modded by a previous owner, he and Klaus decided to take the shotgun approach as well as the upgrade approach and replace everything except the case and the WBT speaker posts!
 
Steve

[Bill Baker]

That is great news kingdeezie,
 I am vey glad to hear they are getting along now. As srb mentioned, we may never know the original cause but at least now we know Musica Bella and Odyssey play well with each other and in the end, that's all that matters.

Keep us posted on your impressions as you aquire more listening time on the system.

Thank you for your patience and not pointing blame prematurely. Any further questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to keep in touch.

Happy Holidays and Happy Listening.