Hey all,

I have the 990/7700 combo and 2 Monster 3500 power conditioner's in my system. The 990 is plugged into the pre outlet which is switched, the amp into the amp outlet which is delayed. I never had any problems with sounds. Now when I push on the Monster 3500, I get a strage sound from the speakers as the amp is staging on. Kind of a buzzing type noise for just a second or 2.

I noticed that the 990 has no ground prong on the plug end, not sure about the 7700. Would I benifit from say a 3 prong plug end?

what would all of sudden cause this. I am redoing all the cables and as far as equipment, the only things I have added are a Marantz switcher and a Pioneer Blu-ray player.

Thanks!!!!

I have upgraded some of my power cords with Monster 200's. I got a great deal on them on sale for $19.99.

I see in the 990's manual it says not to use a 3 prong cord. Just wondering as to why.

Thanks.

You generally only want an audio system grounded in one spot. Having multiple grounds leads to ground loops and the resulting hum. Power amps are almost always grounded with a 3 prong plug, preamps are not.

Is the 990 really plugged into a switched outlet? I'd leave it in an outlet that was always on.

The 990 doesn't have a ground pin - if you look in the power socket on the rear of the unit, you'll only see two blades. Using a three-prong power cord wouldn't hurt anything, but it's not going to do anything either.

I have both of my preamps..my 990 and my integra 9.9, plugged into switched outlets on Adcom ACE 515 AC power conditioners/switches. I always put the preamps into standby mode with the remote before switching off the power completly to them.

Is there an advantage to leaving those preamps powered up on standby at all times rather then the way I have it?

Scott

How do you control the switching of those outlets? The advantage for me is that I don't have to get up, walk over to the system, open a cabinet door, and manually turn on the switched outlets on the power conditioner before I can hit the "ON" macro on my remote that turns on the pre-amp, TV, and cable box. The power amps are on switched outlets on the power conditioner that are then turned on automatically by the 12V trigger signal from the pre-amp. For that to all work, I need the pre-amp in standby.

So your 990 is alwasy in stand by?

The Monster 3500 has an outlet marked for a pre amp and it is switched. I do believe all the newer power conditioners use a marked outlet for pre amps and it is switched, the amp outlet is on a delay so it turns on after the pre.

It was when I had it in the system, and the Onkyo 885 that I've been using while testing the BDP-83 is the same way.
Is the outlet switched on/off? or is the outlet always on and the power conditioner monitors the current draw at that outlet so it knows to switch on other outlets when that one's connected device turns on? The latter case is not what I would call a switched outlet, because the outlet itself isn't being switched on and off.

If it's actually switched (such that the 990 is completely unpowered at times), how do you turn the 990's outlet on?

Question. When I turn on my 2 Monster 3500's, the amp stages and what I now get, never did before is a loud buzzing for a second or so out of what seems just the rear speakers.

I tried leaving the 990 off and doing this and it still makes the buzzing.

Ideas?

The outlet is switched, it only comes on when the Monster is switched on.

Hey Gonk,

If it's actually switched (such that the 990 is completely unpowered at times), how do you turn the 990's outlet on?

When I turn on the Monster 3500, it puts the 990 into stand-by, then I have to pop the button to turn it on.

Is the amp outlet separately switched via trigger cable? Or is it simply on a delay?
So why not leave the Monster on all the time? What does that extra step gain you?

Also, there are other devices in your system that may have a real need to stay in standby rather than having power cut. Cable and satellite receivers often update program guides and firmware while in standby mode, for example, and DVR's need to be in standby so they can record shows when you aren't around. If you are switching them off, you are going to create some headaches for yourself as well as routinely delaying start-up time.

The amp outlet is just on a delay to prevent the pop you might get, no trigger.

The 3500 has a total of 10 outlets, 2 are swithced, 2 are on a delay, 6 are unswitched, always on. I use the unswitched for cable box, game systems, CD, DVD players etc. I only use the delay for the amp and the switched for the pre as Monster recommends.

I never had the buzzing sound that I do now. The only thing I changed out was the Blu-ray player.

If I left the Monster on all the time, the amp would be on all the time with it.

I disagree with Monster's recommendation to switch the pre-amp, but that's just me. (Plus, I know my wife would flat-out never go for having to walk up to the power conditioner to turn the system on, and I wouldn't really care for it myself - there are reasons I've invested some time and money in a good universal remote, and putting a physical switch upstream of the system like that runs counter to those reasons.) They may have some reasoning for the recommendation, but I don't see it - especially since they didn't include any sort of trigger inputs on the 3500 (at least not from the pics I found of it). The current draw in standby is going to be tiny.

If the amp is delayed a few seconds after the Monster is turned on but the pre-amp doesn't come out of standby immediately, I see no benefit to the delay - the amp is at that point on when the pre-amp wakes up. Personally, I'd use a trigger cable to turn the amp on and off from the 990 and leave the Monster on all the time. You lose the delay, but I don't see that you're getting a benefit from the delay now anyway and there are plenty of folks with installations this way that suffer no ill effects.

As for the new buzz you are getting at start-up, I can't explain it. I'd probably start by checking my wiring, particularly power cords near the amp's inputs. Another interesting experiment would be to turn the amp off at the front panel, turn the power conditioner on, and then turn the amp on just to see what happens.

Thanks gonk, will try tonight. I do agree with you also. I have a Harmony 720 that I am going to sat back up tongiht also.
Thanks.

With the Adcom ACE 515 line enhancer. It has outlets for power amps and other outlets for other components. The turn on of the power amp outlets is delayed 10 seconds on startup to allow the preamp and other components to power up and stabilize first. When I switch off the adcom after I'm done with the system, it turns off the power amps first and gives them 15 seconds to power down before switching the AC off to the other components.

I do leave my uverse receivers always plugged into a live outlet, as well as my TV's. I also have a purely two channel non digital preamp, a Threshold T2, hooked into my main system that has been powered up continously for about 14 years since I bought it. I use it's remote to put it in standby when I'm not using it, but it has a separate 10 pound box sitting next to the main unit on the shelf that is it's power supply section. It's pilot light is always on.

According to Threshold, that preamp sounds best when it's circuits are kept active all the time.

Scott

The Adcom doesn't appear to have a trigger, so it sounds like you flip it on and the power amps come on 10 seconds later. But the pre-amp goes into standby immediately and waits to be told to turn on. The pre-amp doesn't really start powering up and stabilizing until you pick up its remote and turn it on (or hit its front panel power button). I guess you are still distributing device start-up so they all don't come on at once, but I'd think you'd get the system more stabilized if the only device being switched by the Adcom was the amp - turn on your pre-amp (bringing it from standby to on), then kick on the Adcom so the amp fires up. I don't know - I may be overlooking something, as it's late and my eyes are a bit blurry...

That is correct. The Adcom does have sort of trigger system, but it's an older implementation. There are two power cords from it..a thick three pronged one that goes directly into a wall outlet, and a thinner two prong one that can be plugged into a switched power outlet on the back of a preamp or receiver for example. If you plug that preamp or receiver into the unswitched outlet on the back of the Adcom, when that preamp is turned on by it's remote, it triggers the adcom line enhancer to turn on.

Kind of useless now because very few pre amps come with switched power outlets on the back any longer.

Scott

and I just now took advantage of a link someone in another thread on here posted concerning a great deal on an APC AV H15 power conditioner/switch to replace my two 15 year old Adcom ace 515's. They should provide much better protection for my components..plus they look kinda snazzy.

I was thinking about the Adcom this morning. If you assume that your source components have two-position power switches (as was the case with older two-channel gear), the Adcom's arrangement makes perfect sense. Even if your equipment came with remotes, the two-position power switches still required you to walk up to the equipment to turn it on. Having a single switch to flip that would power up those devices is very useful.

When you move to modern home theater hardware (which for something like a surround processor or a Blu-ray player really means a purpose-built computer), the two-position switch is gone. Having remote on/off required that change, and the front panel power buttons today are all momentary contact. That is why I have a hard time with the idea of switching power to a surround processor. It's meant to live in standby mode unless you know you're not going to use it for an extended period and want to unplug it so it's 100% safe from power anomalies.
Sounds like a good purchase. Unless you see a lot less "turbulence" on your AC power than we do here (which is possible since you're north of tornado alley and the fun storms that come along with that), the MOV's in 15-year-old surge protectors have probably done all they can do to protect against surges and are no longer offering much security.

I hadn't really considered replacing those adcoms until I saw the deal and read the reviews on the APC. It's a far more sophisticated piece of gear than the adcom. 15 years of technology advancement will do that.

Because of my love for electronics, I did take the extra step of having my power company install a whole house surge suppresser directly onto the back of my power meter to filter all the power entering my house. I did that 20 years ago and pay them 50 bucks a year to maintain it and replace it periodically.

Those adcoms have earned their keep with 15 years of service, but it's time to retire them and put in the modern stuff. All of todays digital components should really have first class power protection.

That APC deal is really quite astounding. It's designed to sell for $449 and even at that price is a great deal vs more expensive gear from Monster for example. APC is clearing out their silver front finish versions only and I just bought two of them for 99 bucks a piece..including free shipping. The electrically identical black versions are still at their normal price...hundreds more. The silver looks just fine to me anyways with the blue leds and LCD readouts.

Scott

I got a similar deal on my Belkin a couple years ago: an MSRP of $600 (which I think is excessive, even though it is a nice piece) and I got it for around $150.

The APC will have a trigger connection, so you should be able to plug your amp(s) into the amp outlets with a delay in place, connect a trigger cable between the processor and the APC (both the 990 and the Integra have this), and when the processor turns on it will send a signal to the power conditioner that will turn the amp on a few seconds later. Should work nicely - this is what I'm doing with my Belkin and my amps.

I've never used those 12 V trigger things on gear before. I can see with the APC in the setup, where leaving the preamp/processor in standby mode and using its trigger to start up the rest of the system would be of benefit.

I'd recommend it highly. You will get the very same benefit that you had with the Adcom when your pre-amp and amp both had two-position power switches (which you really didn't have anymore with their the Integra 9.9 or the Outlaw 990), but without the need to manually hit a switch on the front of the power conditioner.

I had to read up in the 990 and 9.9 owners manual to even know what type of connection cable those 12v triggers use. I have never paid any attention to them before.

Now I have more knowledge crammed into my brain. I wonder if it will ever reach the full mark and I won't be able to learn anything new?

And once again I am shocked at how fast stuff gets delivered nowadays. I ordered those APC boxes on the 19th, they were shipped on the 20th and they arrived in Milwaukee this morning..the 21st. They would have been delivered today had this been a weekday. As it is they will be delivered on Monday. That is with standard shipping that was even free. Hard to beat that.

Oddly enough, I ordered the 2 apc's from Amazon, but Tiger Direct was the actual vendor. They were half the price of the next cheapest vendor on amazon and one fourth the price of the most expensive.

Tiger Direct is selling them for 99 bucks a piece through amazon, but their price through their own website is double that...199 each. I can't figure that one out.

Scott

Hey gonk,

Just wanted to say thanks, because of you I set up my system completely different and much more user friendly.

Now I have my 997 into another outlet on my Monster 3500's so it is alwasy in stand-by. Now when I use my Harmony 720 to say watch TV, it turns on my 990 which in turn sends the 12 volts from the trigger on the 990 to one of the triggers on the Monster 3500 which in turn starts up the other 3500 etc, etc.

Now, nothing to do put push 1 button for each command including my projector and my Marantz VS3002 HDMI switcher which is also controled by the Harmony 720.

Thanks again gonk!!!!

Glad to hear that you've got it working well.