Most peculiar cable problem - solved

shankarcams

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I wanted to describe below a peculiar problem that I came across, which had a most unexpected root cause. I describe this in the hope that it may benefit some other FM. The problem was very simply that the protective resistor-fuses of my Wilson tweeter and midrange speakers blew not one not twice but thrice. These fuses are very difficult to source and cost the earth. At the same time the driver of my sub also blew up and had to be replaced

At the same time, my Sonos streamed music was playing with a periodic scratch, as though it was a scratched LP. I found it strange that a digital source produced scratching noise.

I replaced the network cable to the Sonos, the Sonos itself, the Coax cable from Sonos to Pre, and finally switched from Coax to Optical.

I re-ripped some of the tracks to see if somehow they had got corrupted. I reset the Sonos and configured it ab initio.

By the end, I had changed every item in the chain except the pre and power amps themselves. Since other sources were working ok I concluded that the pre and power were ok.

I wrote to Wilson and to Dan, the manufacturers of my speakers and Amp. Basically both of them said it had to be an upstream issue, which is a logical thing.

Finally I wrote to Trinnov. Their support was outstanding. They logged in remotely, and determined that the HDMI connection between the Trinnov and my Oppo was running at 32.5khz instead of 44 or 48. They asked my to change that HDMI cable and lo and behold the problem went away.

For some reason a bad HDMI cable NOT in the Sonos signal loop was causing a systemwide problem.

This was a branded 4K cable and I had several of them in the system. I was surprised at the reason for the issue and still am! I am also surprised at the strange nature of the cable defect. I can understand that a strand is broken or something, but syncing at a strange frequency and passing through a signal that is weirdly corrupted!

Kudos to the Trinnov support team for being able to diagnose this. The system is now performing as it should. Absolutely world class, and the fix is in time for me to enjoy this forced vacation!

V Shankar
 
Shankar,

Thanks for sharing this. Had no idea an HDMI cable could do that!
So you're saying that this also caused the Wilson tweeters to blow?

Regards


.
 
Cables can be notorious. I had a similar issue with a HDMI cable between playstation and the TV. It was working ok between a DVD player n TV and erratic between the PS n TV.
 
Oh yes bad hdmi can be really troublesome. Have experienced twice, one a bluerigger and another Amazon basics. Still not sure what caused them to fail. Bluerigger would give out a static kinda noise once in a while and Amazon basics gave our weird spots on the display.

My setup is still all bluerigger hdmi cables. Don't think there is anything better in india for that price.

MaSh
 
And its possible that the static noise has blown the Wilson tweeter fuses as a protection.
 
Mine was Bluerigger too, and the kind of static noise you describe is close to what I heard as well.
Ahh ok. I switched it out right away as I had some experience with the amazon basics cable failing and the rest of my cables then were almost new. Luckily no damage was done. I wrote a mail to bluerigger, who by the way are very responsive. They asked for the cable and confirmed an unfortunate failure.

MaSh
 
HDMI cables have given me problems few time but not to the extent if damaging anything. A cable would work with one source but not with other.

Never experienced any problem with any other cable.
 
Just curious, how do I find out if my HDMI cable is not having this issue? Newbie here and would help others as well.
I read specs in details before buying HDMI cable.Some manufacturers mention certain tests which cables have passed.eg Monoprice cables(not all) pass some lab tests and show some certificate regarding quality or speed.May that help to buy.
 
I wanted to describe below a peculiar problem that I came across, which had a most unexpected root cause. I describe this in the hope that it may benefit some other FM. The problem was very simply that the protective resistor-fuses of my Wilson tweeter and midrange speakers blew not one not twice but thrice. These fuses are very difficult to source and cost the earth. At the same time the driver of my sub also blew up and had to be replaced

At the same time, my Sonos streamed music was playing with a periodic scratch, as though it was a scratched LP. I found it strange that a digital source produced scratching noise.

I replaced the network cable to the Sonos, the Sonos itself, the Coax cable from Sonos to Pre, and finally switched from Coax to Optical.

I re-ripped some of the tracks to see if somehow they had got corrupted. I reset the Sonos and configured it ab initio.

By the end, I had changed every item in the chain except the pre and power amps themselves. Since other sources were working ok I concluded that the pre and power were ok.

I wrote to Wilson and to Dan, the manufacturers of my speakers and Amp. Basically both of them said it had to be an upstream issue, which is a logical thing.

Finally I wrote to Trinnov. Their support was outstanding. They logged in remotely, and determined that the HDMI connection between the Trinnov and my Oppo was running at 32.5khz instead of 44 or 48. They asked my to change that HDMI cable and lo and behold the problem went away.

For some reason a bad HDMI cable NOT in the Sonos signal loop was causing a systemwide problem.

This was a branded 4K cable and I had several of them in the system. I was surprised at the reason for the issue and still am! I am also surprised at the strange nature of the cable defect. I can understand that a strand is broken or something, but syncing at a strange frequency and passing through a signal that is weirdly corrupted!

Kudos to the Trinnov support team for being able to diagnose this. The system is now performing as it should. Absolutely world class, and the fix is in time for me to enjoy this forced vacation!

V Shankar
Thanks for sharing the info...It seems to be strange...I only heard about HDMI handshake issues and HDMI board failures in AVR.
Luckily u had Trinnov support team to resolve.
I guess since Trinnov is PC based processor ,these kind issues can be solved remotely by their team.
 
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