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IC Failure

I recently had a failure in one of a pair of very high-priced, prestigious IC's. It simply has stopped transmitting a signal. I have swapped them out with other IC's in different components and definitely have isolated the problem to the IC. Both IC terminations are intact and solid. Can an IC short out?

Additional info: I just had the caps in my pre upgraded to Teflon, and this failure happened when I tried using my DAC. The suspect IC's ran from DAC to pre. All pre inputs, including CD and DVD, work fine with other IC's.

In almost 40 years of audiophilia I have never had this happen. Thanks for input. Want to hear from the cognoscenti before I go back to manufacturer.

Neal
nglazer
nglazer OP
846 posts
 
Thanks, all. I try to be gentle with IC's but my bet is there is a short. I do have have a multimeter. What am I looking for? Thx.

Neal
marakanetz's avatar
marakanetz
5,473 posts
 
WOW DMM MUST read short if there's no damage to IC. If IC isn't operation it should be OPEN circuit i.e. infinite resistance.
jea48
4,522 posts
 
Touch one lead probe of the meter on the outer shell of one RCA plug, the other meter lead probe on the outer shell of the other RCA plug. You should read continuity.

Do the same test on the center hot pin of the RCA plugs. You should read continuity. Be careful not to come in contact with the outer shell of the RCA plugs so as not to get a false reading. Use a little tape on the lead probes if necessary.

If no reading on one of the tests you have an open connection. Wire is broke or broken off the RCA plug.

To see if there is a short in the cable....

Touch one lead probe to the center pin of an RCA plug and the other test lead to the outer shell of the plug. Make sure the probe you are touching to the center pin does not come in contact with the outer shell of the plug or you will get a false reading.

Continuity indicates a short.....

Repeat the process for the other RCA plug as well.

If the test reveals a short the short may very well be in the wire to RCA plug connection of one of ends.
nasaman's avatar
nasaman
463 posts
 
OMG, don't tell me this is another Synergistic Rersearch workmanship failure. One of my S.R. got intermittent, I opened it up and found S.R's assembler missed soldered the wire to the RCA connector both + and -. The soldering cup has no residue or any indication of the wires were ever being soldered. Geez, they already over priced the cables, now get the job done right. I will never buy S.R again.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Neal, do as Jea48 suggests. I would add to turn the multimeter to measure Ohms, the symbol shaped like a horseshoe to measure continuity. Any setting in the ohm range will suffice. Make sure that your leads are plugged into the multimeter correctly to measure ohms (red/black and plugged into ohm/volt not amp). Continuity = close to zero. If there is a break, your multimeter will probably read 1 or OL.

I've had a solder joint break on an inexpensive pair of Monster interconnects years ago that caused an interconnect to "go bad". Since it was cheap I just soldered it myself. If the cable is expensive, I'd send it back to the maufacturer for repair.
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