Sutherland PhD Issues

Could they be picking up RF?

This is a feature of the Sutherland so why expect that other components are the cause? I mean, this is a battery powered component that has a device which is supposed to shut off the drain when no current is flowing. Have you had your friend try (carefully) disconnecting the leads at the cartridge instead of the at the phono cables? If that leads to the same results it has to be an issue with the current sensing circuit or the circuit that is supposed to open the connection when no current is present.

God forbid you should ask directions. How 'bout asking Acoustic Sounds, their distributor? Sounds like a defect.

WRT why expect other components to be the cause--the most natural first assumption is the assumption he made--the thing is supposed to sense a signal, maybe there IS a signal. Does it happen with nothing connected? No. Your suggestion about where to disconnect makes sense too.

Thank you folks.
As I have earlier explained, the Unit does apparently shut down without Phono Cables being hooked to the Unit, so this is what sounds strange to me?

As Tarsando states, this could possibly be a cause of RFI, maybe due to a poory shielded Cable, faulty Roneram, or Cable Wiring, or I even thought a fault in the Sumiko Bluepoint 2 Cartridge itself?

Is it possible for the Bluepoint (or any other MC Cartridge) to be emitting some signal while it is not in play, and the entire system is shut off?

Perhaps a dumb question, I know, but I reckon if one doesn't know, then asking is not perhaps so dumb after all.

Yes, Chad at Acoustic Sounds has responded to my queries, but gives pretty much the standard procedure of making adjustments to the Sentry Pot, and this has been tried to no avail. Mark

Geesh!!!
I'm very sorry folks for my typos in my last response.
I'm a superb speller, but a poor typer at times.

That should've read "A poorly shielded Cable", and/or "Faulty Tonearm, or Cable Wiring".

And as I had first suspected, a faulty Sentry Potentiometer on the Sutherland PhD. No doubt a $3 part on a $3,000 Unit, which could easily go awry.

Maybe a "miracle shot" of DeOxIt might do the trick?
It wouldn't be the first time, DeOxIt had come to the rescue! lol This stuff saved my own Cal Delta Transport a few months back! Mark

Mark
Many thanks to you and the others on this thread. It was a RFI problem. I replaced the phono cable from the TTie Clearaudio Emotion with a Cardas Golden Cross and viola the Phd has started shutting off even with the CDP playing. Something that never happened earlier.
Many thanks for all the help and support.
Cheers

Congrats! I wonder if that's often a problem with the Emotion and Phd.

Hello Piper/All
I've been helping "Sunny" try to weed through this problem, as he recognized I was another owner, and would perhaps understand the use of the Sutherland Better.

Of course, I'm no electronics technician by any sense of the term, , but the first "aha" came when he mentioned that the Unit did shut down without Cables hooked to it. I then suspected another cause, other than a fault of the PhD.

I wouldn't suspect a poor interaction between the Sutherland, and any of the Clearaudio Tables per se, as another friend of mine is using a Clearaudio Master Reference Table with his Sutherland PhD, and has experienced no such problems.

I reckon these conclusions-cures in which we have arrived at, clearly show-proove just how important a good shielded Phono Cable is, versus just a standard IC, no matter how high the Quality.

Thank you all again folks for your input. Mark D.