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Classe CA100 - Static, Cut Outs when cold. Ideas?

So I recently purchased a Classe CA100 amp. I removed my old amp from a perfectly working system and installed the Classe. Upon first playing music I immediately noticed something was wrong. The channels were dropping out at random and the was static coming through. I assumed the amp was broken.

Then as I left the music playing while I tried to to figure out the problem it seemed like the symptoms were going away. After an hour the amp sounded okay. Then today, after remaining on all night I played some tracks at a high volume and it seems okay. So I turned it off while I'm at work and I'm going to see how it does from cold again.

Any ideas what would cause this? There is a B&W service center (parent company of Classe) 10 mins from my house. I may look to see how much it would cost to give it a once-over. How much do you think?

Thanks
miatame
jameswei
795 posts
 
I experienced a similar problem with a CA 100.

These amps are getting old so it could be a bad cap or even a bad solder joint somewhere. (The cost of repair could approach the price of a replacement amp, but then you don't know if the replacement might be close to developing a similar problem.)

Or, could you just leave it "On" and avoid the cold start problem?

I have had poor success with Classe repair for products manufactured prior to the acquisition. Factory support for these older lines seems quite inconsistent.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
2,766 posts
 
Had the same problem with a Classe' CAP 150. Amp would cut off and on when cold, left it on all the time and had no problems. It went back to Classe twice for this problem and both times they said they repaired cold solder connections.
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
829 posts
 
FWIW, I have a classe ca-150 and have never had a single problem with it and love the sound of it.
I say just try leaving it on 24 / 7. It's kinda like when you go to the Dr. And tell him it hurts when you do "this", so he says "well don't do that!"
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