Saturday, check for voltage from the outer shell of the output RCA jack of the phono preamp to the outer shell of the analog input RCA jack on the RR2160 amp.
Should of done that to begin with...
Both units powered on.
5.5Vac on V
0.02Vac on LoZ
When you get a chance check the wall outlets the equipment plugs into for proper Hot / Neutral polarity and for equipment ground. At least you will be able to check them off your list.
I sent a lot of messages last night so perhaps you missed:
I tested the outlets where things were plugged in. The hot/neutral is reversed. So the hot is the longer left slot, the neutral is the shorter slot on the right. The ground appears to be functioning.
Explicitly, this means when I’m on V or LoZ and I go into hot/neutral I get 120Vac. When I go neutral/ground I get close to zero, and when I go neutral/hot I get ~120Vac. However, hot/neutral is reversed.
i don’t think it matters but when I plug one lead of MM into ECG and the other isn’t connected to anything I get 5V on V but it disappears of course on LoZ.
Question... Is the SMPS 120Vac plug in blades the same width or is one wider than the other? Therein polarized. If both blades are the same reverse the SMPS 180 degrees in the receptacle and perform the test for high voltage again.
the blades are the same width. For the following test I plugged the SMPS into the wall in the same configuration as it was in when the incident occurred.
I don’t know what I was thinking yesterday... I should of had you do the tests with the phono preamp connected to the SMPS. Therein the connected load. Likely a defective connected load that might be overloading the SMPS. A real world test...
ok I did this test following your 7 instructions and got the following readings:
52.5Vac on V
0.16Vac on LoZ
i know you said LoZ not necessary but I did it and again the voltage disappeared.
0 on DC on V and LoZ (I looked into ghost voltage and it seems like a purely AC phenomenon).
i was watching the blue light on the 110lp as i was doing this test and it was blinking continually. I made a video: https://youtu.be/Dcaxu_ZM6VQ?si=sj70-NxTUOHN3noQ. The blinking did NOT fade away but kept going like this faintly.
I remember last weekend when I had the preamp connected to the amp’s analog 1 input and I listened, I heard a ‘bump’ paced exactly the same as this blue light’s blink. This was as a record was playing and the preamp was connected to the TT. I heard no music just this gentle regular bump.
I’m starting to think neither component (amp or preamp) is behaving evilly on its own (although the preamp seems clearly broken), but only together there is a toxic combination. Note, I used these components together fruitfully for the last 3 or 4 years. It was only when I moved them last weekend that disaster struck. It’s also conceivable to me that the preamp was dangerous but now some circuit is shot and it’s not dangerous anymore. I’d also like to test connecting something else to the RCA input on the amp but I’m not sure I have anything I can test. Maybe my TV. As mentioned I did connect the TT directly to the phono stage of the amp last weekend and it did function normally, just was unlistenable (because of how bad the integrated phono stage is).
I’m obviously leery of connecting them again but if there’s some way to do so safely I might be willing to try. Thanks for all your help.
and yes, I’ve been listening to music off the amp using the node (am doing so right now) and it sounds great. (Hariprasad Chaurasia today.)
one more remark: when I was trying to connect the IC from the preamp out to the amp analog 1 input last weekend, the whole general area of the rear of the amp felt dangerous. It wasn’t just the rca plug. It might have also included the speaker wire which is securely seated in the amp. On this point, you saw the crater on the IC exterior in my video but I’ve been unable to see any corresponding damage to the amp. I just looked closely. It almost seemed like the spark jumped from the air and landed on the IC. I don’t know if this is possible.
@mark200mph thank you. Fortunately I can still listen to music over digital and that is what’s keeping me sane.