I would suggest contacting the importer for AA. I'm sure
he can help you. "On A Higher Note:
he can help you. "On A Higher Note:
Audio aero capitole mk2 need help repairing
Dear: friends,
I have owned this great mk2 cdp for years, recently problem starts to appears, it switches off by itself and turns back on again while playing, and this switching on and off wont stop untill i have to power down the unit and let it rest for a few seconds before turning the power on again. However, this happens in sequence like after a few minute again while playing. It keeps on switching on and off by itself while playing.
I really love this aero, one of the best, most intimate, detail and warm digital player, and it is hard for me to find a replacement, so i would kindly seek help on similar problem and resolution to repair this...
Pls help...thanks alot and I would appreciate any advice....
I have owned this great mk2 cdp for years, recently problem starts to appears, it switches off by itself and turns back on again while playing, and this switching on and off wont stop untill i have to power down the unit and let it rest for a few seconds before turning the power on again. However, this happens in sequence like after a few minute again while playing. It keeps on switching on and off by itself while playing.
I really love this aero, one of the best, most intimate, detail and warm digital player, and it is hard for me to find a replacement, so i would kindly seek help on similar problem and resolution to repair this...
Pls help...thanks alot and I would appreciate any advice....
50 responses Add your response
Hello Just did a a repair for a buddy on his Audio Aero as the Chinfa was shot. I replaced it with a replacement unit from Mouser it was about $20 - if you shoot me an email I can send you some picture of how i made it fit and Ill look for the part number for the DC unit - I cannot remember it of the top of my head. pbnaudio@me.com Good Luck Peter |
Hi I have a prestige which does the same it started switching on and off mostly off. when I opened the top the 2 tubes are still oWhat is the chinfa KAM3005 and where do I obtain it and where does it go can an audio repair man do it he does high end sort of - electrocompaniet, etc does anyone have a manual for repair. Thanks Thw prestige is good I just sold my capitole mk2 and a week later my prestiges goes down thanks jose crespo |
guys, its been a while since I finally managed to get the chinfa KAM3005. I put it in the storage for a while (almost a year now) waiting for the perfect time to replace it. Just recently I had a leisure time to open the Capitole mk2 lid thinking to replace the dc module, but ..viola, I did not see any CHINFA there inside the capitole.. Oops, anyone knows or have opinion where is this Chinfa located in the gut of this CDP please?.. Thanks alot Guys.. Regards JP |
The Chinfa KAM3005 is a AC - DC Module takes anything for 85V to 240V AC and converts it to 5VDC to feed the digital circuits in the AA players. Its no longer available but there are several suitable replacement modules available. Thy are however not plug and play, they need to be relocated to in front of the power supply card then hardwired back to the card. At the same time it is a good idea to properly heat sink the TO220 regulators etc on the Power supply card as it shows the run too hot. Best of luck Peter |
Hello Peter, historically, AA has had problem(s) w/ their players. I must say that you are the 1st person I have heard of owning the La Fontaine. Beautiful looking player. I would love to get a demo or see it in a dealers/retailers shop sometime. All said, I simply wanted to inquire about the player and any associated problem/issue(s). Happy Listening! |
Dear: My respected fellow Audiogoners.. And My great respect for Mr. Peter, The president of PBN Audio..who had sent me a detailed and helpful upgrade guide regarding this issue which I initiated. My thank You, is beyond words I could express for His kindness and generosity. I sent out my Capitole to a knowledgeable repair man in my country and passed him all the information which I had obtained from Mr. Peter thoroughly..(because he was not sure of how to do this in the first place, given there was no available exact match of module in the market) With the knowledge in hand, The Repair man was dare to conduct the procedure, he initially did some checks before the procedure, and found that the AC/DC module was actually working well with no issue.. However, He suspected out that it was the dirty voltage and unstable - voltage drop issue which is very common in my country that caused the shutting down problem. He suggested me to try adding an automatic voltage stabiliser before my furutech conditioner. I took on His advise and ....now my AA has come back to live... No more shutting down issue while playing, everything works as day one when I purchased the unit... Thank you Mr. Peter for your generosity and kindness, I would like to wish you success.. always.. God Bless You Sir. Best Regards Jonathan |
And also By the way... I still insist, and think that Audio Aero is still better than the Ayon..if you compare them A to B in real life situation given softwares are universally chosen and various genres are played.. But I guess, my appology for Ayon fans, may be it was just my taste that is "too Analogue".. But Ayon is really a serious contender to the AA..in dollar to performance ratio.. Thank you.. |
Don't mean to hijack this long running thread, but I too need help with my AA Capitole Reference SE. It has had issues from the time it was purchased used with not powering up on turn on. The Audio Aero Capitole CD welcome message comes on, but that message disappears and then black screen. Very intermittent on being able to play a cd. Much more not than can. Other inputs /preamp seem to function normally. Have tried both analog and digital with good sound produced. I have already replaced the chinfa module but it made no difference. One more clue is that the last time it played, it had to be plugged in for two days before it decided to play cds. Unplugged it for 15 min and moved it ever so gently to a new location across the room and no cd player again. Any thoughts? I believe the player had been to Sedonix once before I bought it because there was a shipping tag from there on the outer packing box. All help tremendously appreciated in advance. |
Dear Perryg I am very sure that there is a voltage regulator problem in your area, as mine was doing the same, try hook up an avr and see how the avr says about your power line..(if you mentioned, this has been the problem since the unit was brand new).. or I am very sure Mr. Peter is able to help you.. :) |
Dear jafant Mine is perfectly in good Shape now, after I installed an AVR to stabilise the voltage. Another thing, i once forgot to switch it off after a listening session and it had been at stand by mode (no disc display ) for almost 4 days, i just found out That I did not shut it off at the end of my last listening session, just when i was about to listen to it again. Then, I Quickly turned it off and was afraid that it may had been spoiled ( the top chasis was sizling hot). However, on the contrary, since that occurrence, my AA has Never shut off by itself. I am not a tech Kind of person, and i may not Know the correlation between the 4days burning method and how it is now back to normal again, or May be it is the AVR which Solved the problem, but i thought I just Share With everyone what i really experience.. Anyway, Thanks alot for all responses and enthusiasm on this topic... Have a good weekend..everyone.. Best regards Jon |
Hi Jonathan With respect to your undermentioned post regarding the Capitole intermittent issue of on/off shutting off, after the AVR installation, has your AA player ever had the issue again? My AA Capitole MK 2 (which was kept in my store for 3 years after coming back from AA factory in France - 2013 - supposedly repaired) is having the same problem as yours - intermittent shutting on and off. I would appreciate your guidance on how to solve the issue and if you could send me the detailed guidelines PNB Audio sent you (regarding the installation of CHINFA KAM3005). I just bought a CHINFA from Relec UK but, same as you did, i could not find any CHINFA in my Capitole MK 2 nor any place where to fit it. Would much appreciate your help. Please shoot me an email: jlallchand@yahoo.co.uk thanks lall jonathan_pp OP20 posts05-12-2013 7:53pmDear: My respected fellow Audiogoners.. And My great respect for Mr. Peter, The president of PBN Audio..who had sent me a detailed and helpful upgrade guide regarding this issue which I initiated. My thank You, is beyond words I could express for His kindness and generosity. I sent out my Capitole to a knowledgeable repair man in my country and passed him all the information which I had obtained from Mr. Peter thoroughly..(because he was not sure of how to do this in the first place, given there was no available exact match of module in the market) With the knowledge in hand, The Repair man was dare to conduct the procedure, he initially did some checks before the procedure, and found that the AC/DC module was actually working well with no issue.. However, He suspected out that it was the dirty voltage and unstable - voltage drop issue which is very common in my country that caused the shutting down problem. He suggested me to try adding an automatic voltage stabiliser before my furutech conditioner. I took on His advise and ....now my AA has come back to live... No more shutting down issue while playing, everything works as day one when I purchased the unit... Thank you Mr. Peter for your generosity and kindness, I would like to wish you success.. always.. God Bless You Sir. Best Regards Jonathan |
I own my Audio Aero Capitol since new (2004? can't remember exactly). It is a silver unit, there is no mkii marking but it does have the built-in pre-amp. Till this day I am always amazed by its natural and relaxed sound and see no real reason to change. Which brings me to the question how to keep the unit operational for another decade? I have bought some JAN 6021W tubes and contemplate ordering a CD Pro 2 drive from Enco. However, it has now developed a problem which has recently gotten worse. It does not unmute when turning on. Usually it can be overcome by toggling power or switching inputs. I have opened the unit and discovered that the power supply appears weak? The tube supply which is 40 volt at turn on, drops to 18.5 volt when the transport spins up. Also, I find it strange that the balanced line drivers in the output section operate on 13.6 volt as I would have expected the more common 15 volt for such circuits. I read on this forum that the unit is sensitive to AC power quality and since I am using a balanced power source (Equi-Tech), I have inserted a 1:1 isolation transformer thinking that it may like an unbalanced power source better. This also raises the AC voltage a bit to 130 volt and it did do better for a while but slowly its getting harder again to turn the unit on (unmuted). Does anyone have some additional thoughts as to what I may try to remedy this muting issue? Thanks, Simon |
Did some more measurements and it doesn't look too good. The mute control signals are ok but the DAC (AD1853) doesn't get data. The word clock (192K) and bit clock (12.289M) are present but the SDATA line is low. The next part upstream appears to be the Anagram upsampling module but since it is partially covered under the analog input board it is not easily accessible. If the fault happens to be in the Anagram module, repair may get difficult as this company is out of business too? Anyway, I'll think about it for a while before making my next step. In the meantime, I am using the digital output to drive an external DAC. |
Any new info on this issue? I have a Capitole MKII CDP and the symptoms seem to match many of the reports here; the player boots normally after power up, CD transport spins up normally, but no output. The preamp section works as the analog inputs have no problem. Since (based on all the random audio forum discussions) this seems to be related to AC input or the AC/DC module in the unit, I have tried an AVR (APC Line-R 1200VA), feeding stable 220, 230 or 240V to the Capitole. This didn't help. I also suspected some ground loops so I tried connecting just my amps and the Capitole to a single power socket using one extension cord, and using balanced interconnects. No luck. I also tried a power lead with ferrite beads to reduce some of the high frequency noise on the AC line. No effect at all (as maybe expected). Now I'm wondering whether this could be a heat issue, as the player often works normally if I leave it disconnected for some days... but never works if I have left it on stand by for even few hours? I also have a feeling that the problem appears more frequently if I shut down the unit from the main power switch, but leave the power lead connected rather than disconnect the whole thing. But this should be impossible as the power switch cuts the power to the unit anyways? Or can there be some noise on the ground line that secretly sneaks up into my Capitole and hides somewhere behind a cap if I don't disconnect the mains lead (okay going out to buy a tin foil hat now...) |
I used to have similar problem unit would not unmute from time to time when turning on. I spent literally years going from one workshow to another. Finally I have found skillful electronic who spent days measuring it and has found about seven cold solder joints. No more issues since then. I would never guess that cold joint could cause such undeterministic behavior. |
