I picked up a Perlisten R210s sub a few weeks back and have been enjoying it but an issue has cropped up that’s causing a massive headache. When I switch on my sub after turning on the NAP 300DR the latter’s fan starts spinning at full force, sounding like a jet engine taking off. If I switch off the sub it stops immediately.
Now this issue didn’t happen from the beginning. Initially I noticed the fan kicking in hard when I was listening to vinyl with the sub but I chalked it up to me pushing the 300DR a tad as I do listen to pretty intense music loudly. but in the last few days it happens almost the instant I tun on the sub or when I play something through the hifi (and not loud, like Youtube content for example).
Initially I thought I solved the issue by re-dressing my cables and ensuring the burndy didn’t touch the carpet. But this morning it spins up the second I play anything through the speakers. I should note leaving a decent gap of time from switching on the 300DR and switching on the sub makes no difference.
I don’t get it: the sub has its own (very beefy) amp so it’s not like the 300DR is being stressed out as they are completely separate.
Connection is RCA out from Manley preamp to subwoofer.
Given that you say the 300 fan came on at times before you added the sub, I have a suspicion that your preamp and the 300 are a poor match, and that this may be the underlying problem.
I’m no electronics engineer, but for example, Naim preamps are bandwidth limited by design, and although I don’t know what those limits are, I’m pretty sure your Manley pre is not limited to the same extent.
With it fed by preamp out, I can’t see how the sub could affect the 300 at all (until you said that I assumed sub fed from 300 output). If you hold off turning on the sub until you’ve been playing a few minutes does the 300 still do it? If not, without changing anything else but switching on sub after the music has been playing for a while, does the fan then come on immediately. And if it does, what happens if you keep the music playing but then turn off the sub (fan off, immediately or after a bit)? And then sub on again? This should confirm whether somehow connecting the sub is having an effect, or whether, for example, the fan is just coming on more now than it used to.
Prior to adding the sub the 300 would engage the fan on the odd occasion and would stop spinning shortly after the music finished. With the sub it happens very frequently and only stops spinning when I switch off the sub.
Maybe my Manley and 300Dr aren’t ideal but that doesn’t seem to be the culprit here.
I haven’t tried that explicitly but I’ll give it a shot.
It may actually be related to the burndy. I mentioned before it seemed to stop when I prevented it from touching my carpeted floor. For that I used a spare vibrapod disc I had lying around. It worked for a few days but the issue came back.
Today I swapped it out for a pair of chunky cable risers and so far the issue hasn’t reared its head.
Not sure it’s resolved (I’m skeptical) but for now it’s okay.
Is the burndy connection between the 300 head and power supply so sensitive that this could be the cuplprit? And if so, what does my sub have to do with it?
If certainly linked to sub use then I’d guess bass vibrating it more than with no sub on. Why the Burndy should trigger the fan I’ve no idea - suggests something odd like a dodgy connection, but beyond me. Maybe ask @Richard.Dane?
I don’t think I’ve ever noticed my 300DR fan running at all. I have a pair of REL S/510 subs, with high level connections from my speakers to the subs.
As with any change that correlates with the start of a problem, roll it back and see if the problem goes away. So I guess in this case, let the burndy touch the floor again; confirm the issue has returned; then disconnect the sub from the preamp (not simply turning the sub off) and see if the problem suddenly goes away.
First step of problem resolution even before root cause analysis is refining the problem description.
I’m just wondering whether the very low frequency output from the subwoofer is being picked up by the system - the Manley pre-amp may well be quite microphonic, especially if it uses tubes. But other parts are also microphonic to a greater or lesser extent - it would be most obvious with vinyl replay, especially if the phono stage is not IEC type with a subsonic filter. These very low frequencies are essentially inaudible to us but make the amp work very hard indeed (often you can see bass drivers moving alarmingly while seemingly not making any audible sound), and are, of course, something of a vicious circle…
Have you ensured the 300’s burndies are 100% seated and locked-in? - as IME they have a ‘pull-in’ point as to you twist the collar to lock them, and some resist slightly.
My phonostage does have a subsonic filter that I leave engaged. Having said that I still see the mid/bass driver moving during certain passages when I have things loud and/or when there’s excessive surface noise.
Anyhoo, appreciate all of the advice received from everyone. So far no fan engagement over the last 24hrs including from switching it on this morning. Having said that I haven’t played anything loud with a lot of bass. I’ll do some more testing this evening/over the next few days. Hopefully isolating the burndy was the fix.
Robin thinks the preamp may be oscillating - what interconnects are you using for the sub & how long are they?
If/when the fan runs for no good reason, could you try disconnecting the right speaker from the 300, followed by the right channel signal input? (In that order). See if either of those steps stop the fan.
Another 24hrs and no intense fan issue. I managed to play loudly three albums red in tooth and claw to give the system a workout and see if excessive bass could trigger the problem but things remained normal:
Album 1: Caravan Beyond Redemption by Cathedral (CD rip) - fan engaged very mildly and switched off almost immediately when the music stopped. Chassis barely warm.
Album 2: Saw You Drown EP by Katatonia (vinyl) - No fan engagement. Chassis barely warm.
Album 3: Storm of Light’s Bane by Dissection (CD rip) - fan engaged very mildly and switched off almost immediately when the music stopped. Chassis barely warm.
I also watched an episode of Slough Horses pretty loudly running the sub full range and no problems there either.
So isolating the burndy from vibration really seems to be the fix. Odd.
So it would appear to be bass affecting the Burndy. Could you perhaps expand on what/ how you have isolated the Burndy from vibration, as I don’t think it’s clear from your posts. (Apologies if I’ve missed.)
