Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi Jewel, I had the same problem when I first hooked mine up, I second Bwhite on checking the flip switch in the back and also on the tape loop,make sure the switch in the front for it is flipped towards you, because if it's engaged no sound will come out.
Another thing, when I first hooked mine up I also used one of the inputs to act a theater pass thru from the HT processor and it initially worked but after I turned it of and on again after a few hours no sound comes out on my two front speakers. So I disconnected the hometheater pass thru and hooked the amp directly to my HT processor diconnecting all the line to the Chardonay and it works fine. When I put the Chardonay back online with the theater pass thru it works again initially then it will not again after I turned it off. The only thing I can think of after that is, the Chardonay is very sensitive to other electronics hooked up to it. Try and keep it simple as much as you can.
I'll email you my phone number, call me at home, I will be up late.

Quick Update - Thank you all (bmotorcycle, bwhite, Rmml and Mick) for comming to the resque in such short notice. My preamp is still out of commission. And to add to it, I messed it up even more by turning the two (inside the preamp unit) pods (wrong knobs) that look like volume pods since Mick document refers to them as "inside gain control switches). I should have been used the toggle switches but I wasn't thinking, I went straight for anything that resembled volume control.

In any event, here is what has happended so far:

1) inserted the rectifier tube onto the power unit
2) connected IC from power-amp to "out1" RCA on preamp
3) connected IC from CD-player to "CD" RCA on preamp
4) attached a powercord to the power unit and plugged into the wall -- units powered up immediately because the power on/off button was already in the "on" (drepressed) position -- my fault.
5) the "5AR4 rectifier" tube a Phillips 5G4GT on the power supply chassis flaired up a little but settled down quickly.
6) I placed a Dianna Krall CD in the CD player and hit the play botton with the volume at about 10% - no sound. I kept increasing the volume until it was at 75-80% on volume knob. There was sound but totally "chocked" (for symtoms see my post) as I mention on the previous post.
7) I called Bmotorcyle -- he thought it must be the rectifier tube going bad. I thought as much since there were flairs. He also suggested that I open up the unit and play with the inside gain controls. I openned up the unit turned the wrong things which I later found out.
8) hooked the units back up and powered up. The rectifier tube flaired up once more and this time it died. None of the tubes had any light ob both units.
9) I went out for dinner more than a drinks to drown out my sorrows.
10) Got home and read Bwhite's note.
11) This morning I got up and read Rmml's note.
12) Called Mick and gave him the sequence of events. Mick wasn't exactly sure what the problem was but pointed out that I tunred the wrong things inside the unit. It also turns out that I had the "tape monitor" toggle swtich in the wrong setting. It was set back instead of forward. This in fact could well have been the problem but he was not absolutely sure. Mick said if I want I can send the unit back and he can send me a replacement unit. I thought it might be worth trying it here if I can get a hold of a replacement rectifier today (saturday) in NYC -- I doubt it though. If I find a rectifier I'm supposed to call Mick back this evening (morning his time) so he can walk me through how to reset the voltage back to 300 volts, this is due to turning the wrong knobs inside the unit.

But here's the kicker (stupid me) -- while I was switching back to my prior setup, a McIntoch C32 preamp hooked to a AirTigh ATM-2 power amp. By mistake I plugged the power-amp ICs into the CD-1 of preamp and ICs from CD-player into the Line-1 of the preamp (just reversed). Obviously there was no music, I even turned the volume up but still no music. Looks like I might have fried my power amp.

Think I'm ready for a few more drinks!!

I will keep you posted...

Jewel

Update- I've had an interesting Saturday to say the least. Let's just say it tunred out just fine by 6:00pm. I started out with a brand new preamp that didn't work. In the process of switching back and forth I managed to mess up my power amp too. But by the end of the day and a $150 later, both units were in operation once more (only in NYC). I manage to find replacement tubes for both the preamp and the power amp, plus I found a person to repair both the units all in a span of 4-hours.

The preamp apparently had a "short" of some kind besides the bad rectifier tube. Mick says "that's the oldest line in the book". I don't really care so long as the units do what they're suppose to.

Right now I'm just enjoying my Bhudha Bar-II Dinner CD. The only thing stands out about the pre is, the gain control is way too sensitive (almost to the touch) but Mick provides several ways to adjust for that. I shall sign off for now so I can focus on the music.

Many thanks to Bmotorcyle, Bwhite, Rmml as well as Mick for all the moral support - I needed it today.

Jewel

Hi Jewel, got your message yesterday. Sorry I was out of town visiting my sister. Glad to learn you've resolved the problem(s) and your preamp is working.

As for the gain, I agree the HIGH gain setting is very sensitive and actually quite difficult to use in most cases. The LOW gain setting works much better for most applications - but can still be rather high compared to other preamps.

Let us know how things progress.

Boy I just love the comradrie of this group. There must be something indeed special about these products. Too much positive energy. Just the waiting, anticipation, trials and tribulations and finally the support from each other, it is one of the best sides of this hobby. My pre-amp just went out a few weeks ago, maybe its a sign? Almost ordered one on my last post but deferred due to the delays in shipment. Now I'm having second thoughts.

Fiddler we haven't heard from you in a while. What is going on?