Also, they sound different, I prefer 1656 in my setup.
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3e Audio A7 [TPA3255 PFFB Stereo] Finished Amplifier - User Impressions | Owner's Thread
- Thread starter Guddu
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Did we ever get an answer to which resistor this was? I have 3 "old" amps used in an active setup and would really like to do this fix.Sorry we may miss some post sometimes, actually the components of trigger are not populated yet,so it is hard to do that,also making a hole on the back panel won't be so easy.
we do have a solution by remove 1 resistor to increase the sensitivity by 14dB,RCA down to 400uV and XLR down to 800uV,but this also need some skill of diy...
Thanks! So just remove it, not bridge it?
That is what it says - I would expect bridging it would have the completely opposite effect - or stop it working altogether.
I'm not an engineer so I'm not offering any direct advice, but my experience is I removed the resistor indicated and the auto off sensitivity improved (not measured) as in the doc.
Right, I removed it with the help of technical person on my A5, and sensitivity improved for me. No auto off issues anymore during low volume listening.
How easy is it to remove this tiny surface part without damaging the others? I mean, if any damage results, we are on our own, right? I have never tried soldering or removing any such parts. Makes a feel a bit apprehensive -- and annoyed that I have to do this.
Some adjustability should have been provided!
Some adjustability should have been provided!
The parts are SMD technology, requiring you to evenly spread the heat to both ends of the small resistor - either with a hot air station or a soldering iron with a forked tip. Otherwise you'll risk damaging the board traces when trying to pull off the component.
If you only have access to a soldering iron with a normal tip, you might get away with adding a lot more solder on both sides. This might sound counter-intuitive, but by quickly moving the solder tip between both sides, if you can get enough heat in the blobs of solder, you'll be able to lift up the component as well.
All in all, I would not recommend this procedure to a novice so best to find a skilled tech indeed!
Shite! Soldering with forked tongue!
When I bought these 3e Audio amps, I did not ask for this!
ziggurcat
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Shite! Soldering with forked tongue!
When I bought these 3e Audio amps, I did not ask for this!
To be fair, this is a choice you're making...
Which version do you have? pre-production or a newer production model?
newer production model -- early, I guess. Got them early this year. Maybe Feb or March.
Shouldn't matter. Still should be adjustable with something like a small slot screw potentiometer from the back/bottom.
It was intended to be a practical convenience feature. As it stands, this one is broken.
FYI -- it is one of 4 3e-Audio amps in a multi-ch active speaker setup. One particular amp always switches off if played at background level after a while, and it's way too slow to awaken at startup.
Shouldn't matter. Still should be adjustable with something like a small slot screw potentiometer from the back/bottom.
It was intended to be a practical convenience feature. As it stands, this one is broken.
FYI -- it is one of 4 3e-Audio amps in a multi-ch active speaker setup. One particular amp always switches off if played at background level after a while, and it's way too slow to awaken at startup.
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ziggurcat
Addicted to Fun and Learning
And what is it about the auto-sensing sensitivity that you don't find adequate?
harkpabst
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Did you get them all at the same time?
What do you have there, two A7 Mono and two A7se? Or is it A5se? Impossible to tell.
The real question is not.if your amps are pre-production models or production models. The question is if all or just some or none of them are current production models.
The first batch of amplifiers was a bit on the insensitive side regarding auto-on. Amps feeding a tweeter section only are most likely to suffer from this, because the input voltage (post crossover) simply is very low. If the issue is with the tweeter amp, indeed, and your amps are from the first batch, then the most reasonable thing to do is to take it to a repair technician (or a friend) and have that SMD resistor removed.
You could try swap your stereo amps around, but that's not likely to change anything, unless the other amp is from the current production run. The newer ones are not only more sensitive regarding auto-on, but auto-off can be disabled altogether. If all of your amps were of the latest type, then one of them was faulty, but I doubt it.
@3eaudio responded to the complains and improved their product. Not even the most exotic high-end brands will retrofit improvements made in ongoing series free of charge. The few companies that offer such a service at all naturally ask for a fee that safely cover's their costs. There's no way 3E AUDIO could offer this in an economic way. Go find someone who can de-solder SMD components. It won't cost a fortune.
kidprofessor
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Just got my A7 last week, replacing a Yamaha RN-303 (which has the same amplifier as the Yamaha RS202 reviewed by Amir). Works great! The auto on function is very sensitive, so I have had no problems. I wish my sub's auto on function was more sensitive like the A7. Frequency measurements with REW are identical to the Yamaha. What do you know? 
If anyone is wondering, it has plenty of power to drive low sensitivity speakers. I have Ascend Sierra V2s and they get plenty loud enough, even with soundtracks and classical, from 9 feet away in an 18x13 ft room.
If anyone is wondering, it has plenty of power to drive low sensitivity speakers. I have Ascend Sierra V2s and they get plenty loud enough, even with soundtracks and classical, from 9 feet away in an 18x13 ft room.
This sounds suspiciously like blaming the victim.
I accept that 3e Audio makes a high performance amp at modest cost. That's great. That's why I bought these.
I don't accept that therefore I should pay for a technical hardware modification to have this product work the way it's supposed to do.
You might argue that anyone who buys one of these amps should be prepared to de-solder tiny components off the PCB after opening up the case which normally voids any warranty. This is not a good argument; 99% of electronics consumers would laugh & shake their heads.
Finally, since all other 3e amps bought at the same time work acceptably, the same way, and this one is the exception, it clearly is not working right.
A technical support site or page would be better than nothing, but when it comes to any organized systemic support, there's nothing.
It's all pretty Mickey Mouse.
sorry about this, the first batch launch had lower senstitity and it a hardware modification it the easiest way to do that. we will take the lesson learn for further project.
Any news about future projects soon?
Recently picked one of these up (a7 w/10a supply) to add external amplification to front channels from an avr, really neat bit of kit. As someone who’s had both a nad m10 and nc500 mono blocks in the past, don’t feel like I’m missing anything over hypex. Auto on works fine even at low volumes. Does feel like it would benefit from either a bit of active airflow or a more substantial case with passive cooling heat sinks for longer listening sessions, but otherwise really happy.
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