Need help with Proceed PAV/PDSD

I have the PAV (w/o the DSD) and have had problems with it getting hot if it's not well ventilated. I had mine located in a rack with about 5" air overhead (closed back and sides though). I would expect this to be enough for a preamp, but one time when playing it for some time it started acting up, before shutting down entirely. My suggestion is to check the ventilation around the unit and if it's in a rack think about a fan.

I have used a PAV/PDSD pair for a number of years without incident. The PAV recently did have a power supply problem that was repaired locally. They also replaced a number of caps that were leaking, returning the unit to pristine sound. The PAV does get surprisingly warm, so needs good ventilation. I would not stack the units, no matter how neat that might look. I have another PAV that I've used for decades, and it also gets very warm, so I suspect it's endemic to the design. I use my pair for both music and HT -- they do produce fine sound.

db

Isolated the Problem to the Modular balanced output
card for the Front Left Right channel.
Luckily the unit I have supports 7.1 output, and I was able to "Borrow" an exact card from another channel...
Now down to 5.1 but working great until card replaced/serviced.
They certainly do not build them like this anymore...

The Proceed PAV/PDSD are built very well indeed. Do you think it's coincidence or causality that you upgraded the firmware to support 24/96 on the front left right channel then needed to replace the balanced output card for the front left right channel. Who did the firmware upgrade and what did it entail?

db

DB,
What happend was that I had received the unit with an earlier firmware. Updated the firmware and all was fine until the actual card had a blown capicator. This was verified by essentially moving the AUX channel card to the front left right slot on the backplane of the unit, this caused the problem to completely go away. Its great to see solid engineering in that ALL 7.1 channels essentially use the same cards, so they can be swapped out - remember that the label on the card FR, C SUB, Rear etc etc are only labels - the actual card slot determines which channels are routed, so tyou can take an aux and swap with the rear etc etc, the only subtle difference is the subwoofer channel which needs to have the crad's toggle switch moved to subwoofer.
Upgrading the firmware involved creating a DOS bootdisk, this can be easily gotten at www.bootdisk.com - then running scom (low level tranfer utility) and upgrading the os first, then powercycling the PDSD and then upgrading the DSP code and powercycling. If you need instructions I can email them to you. You will need a communication cable to RJ11 which you can have made, it must be straight through. The proceed service guy verified with me that these cards are prone to blown capacitors over time due to heat - which makes sense if the Front left right and sub blew first since the guy I bought it from was a heavy 2.1 type of listener.

Can't help with issues on the original thread, but I have a PAV that has died. Any recommendations on where to send it for service? Local shop says he can't get the service manual for it, Harmon says they have only two "authorized" shops they recommend....just wondering if there is a source out there doing good, honest and reasonably priced repairs on these units?

Harpua,
Definitely go with the service bench in MA or with the place down in Texas based of course on your location. Always go to the Authorized places... Harman was helpful enough in providing the information.
Check out hometheaterconcepts.com - these are the guys in MA.
Good luck

I have a pav/dsd combo and can not seem to get th PAV to work by itself. Any Suggestions?

To make PAV work on its on you need to remove a module that may have been installed for PDSD and replace it with PAV module.

Service Bench in MA is the place to go and was recommended to me when I blew a channel (my fault) on my Proceed AMP3. They are very familiar with the Proceed units there.

With proceed stuff in general tolerances very tight. Over ventilate.