Subwoofer Causing Amp to Stay On

OK, so the problem occurs even when the amp is in fact turned off, and is incapable of providing any power to the speakers. And it also occurs when the subs are turned off. Given that, I believe Miller's analysis is correct.

If you already haven't done so, as an experiment try putting a cheater plug on the power plug of the amp, to temporarily defeat its safety ground connection. And do likewise with the sub's power plug, if it has a three-prong power plug and a three-prong IEC receptacle.   (Although based on this photo it appears that the sub's IEC receptacle is two-prong. Let us know if that is or is not the case).

Let us know the results. Regards,
-- Al
 

Cheater plug still leaves neutral- has to, or no power - and that is where the voltage differential is coming from. 

I was going to say try a Line Out Converter. https://www.epanorama.net/circuits/speaker_to_line.html But I'm not sure even that would work. Because the LOC circuit (two resistors) is already there. All these plate amp subs that are designed to work with speaker level inputs, the first thing inside them is the same LOC. Has to be. Something has to drop speaker level down to line level, that something is a resistor, ie LOC. 

But I'm no amp designer, just a guy with a pretty good layman's understanding. It may be that using a LOC at the Audio Note puts the resistor in path of the speaker in a way that lowers the voltage the speaker sees way down below audibility. Can't really see how that would be, just a guess, which is why I didn't mention it earlier. 

If you want to try that method akwilson501 its really simple and needs only about $2 worth of resistors. A picture of the ePanorama mod in my amp is on my system page. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367

... neutral ... is where the voltage differential is coming from.

Not sure about that. As is the case with most audio components AC neutral just goes to the primary winding of the power transformer in the amp and the subs, and nowhere else within those components, aside possibly for some sort of AC filter in the case of the sub. (Based on a schematic of one of the versions of the Kit1 amp that I looked at it does not have a filter on the incoming AC). And as shown in that schematic safety ground is connected directly to the amp’s signal/circuit ground, and therefore to all kinds of circuit points within the amp. And the same may hold true in the case of the sub, if it has a three-prong power cord and IEC receptacle. Or if safety ground is not connected directly to the sub’s circuit ground chances are it is connected to it via some low resistance, as is done in many designs. With that circuit ground connection in turn very probably going directly to the sub’s negative speaker-level input terminal, and from there to the speaker’s negative input terminal and the amp’s negative output terminal for the corresponding channel.

In any event, the cheater plug experiment is easy enough to do, and might be informative.

Regards,
-- Al

I was thinking an LOC from the amp to a wireless transmitter(rca) which would then send the signal to my subs. Klipsch makes one specifically for the subwoofers I have. Obviously I'll try the LOC directly to Subs first and see if that solves anything. Any opinions on wireless for subwoofers, if all else fails? A cheater plug will be the first thing I try tomorrow. Will update upon further trial and error. 

Try connecting the high level input to the amp instead of to the speakers binding posts. Also, are you using LFE out from any processor to the subs, this can cause issues. If none of that works try grounding the subs to the audio note w any extra speaker wire you have. Just a simple connection from chassis to chassis 

I’ve been in this same situation