# Altec Lansing ADA885 and ADA890



## KrisM

Sept 18, 2009
(apparently the 890 is the same as the 885 - I do not actually know but thought I'd put it here to aid searchers.)

I recently picked up a complete Altec Lansing ADA885 4.1 THX speaker system - Goodwill - $20 : large subwoofer with all circuitry, and 4 sats. This is a 10 year old system.  Has SPDIF in!

Very quickly I noticed that it had great sound.  Also equally quickly I noticed that the subwoofer would rather quickly stop working.  sometimes there was a bit of whistling before it died.

Did lots of googling.  Found this thread
http://www.computerforum.com/152154-altec-lansing-ada885-sub-cutting-out.html
which is why I am posting this info on this forum - hopefully folks googling will find it.

It became quickly apparent that lots of folks had 885 subwoofer problems.  Altec Lansing said neither schematics nor replacement circuitboards were available.

DO NOT DO ANY OF THIS UNLESS YOU TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR SAFETY AND THE CONDITION OF YOUR SYSTEM.

At this writing, a manual is available in zip download from Dell at 
http://dell.driversdown.com/dell-drivers-downloads/Altec-Lansing-Altec-Lansing-ADA-885_5447.shtml

There are 2 ways to test the speaker system:
press the button on the back of the subwoofer case and it cycles through.  Press and hold the MODE button on the right front sat until it says "noise" then release and it will put noise out sequentially until you press MODE again.

The beast:
1. Unplug it unless you are certifiable.
2. Flip it over.  There are 7 screws holding the bottom on: 1 is by the sat ("sat" == "satellite")  plugs and 2 are under the little felt pads on the tall feet, and 2 obvious in the middle.
3. Gently raise the bottom such that you realize that 3 cables are holding it down.  Eyeball the green-green-green-white-black-white (or whatever that is, I forget) connector and unplug that cable. Gently.
4. You can leave the smaller 4-wire cable connected and ignore the power cord/fuse, and just tilt the bottom back 90 degrees to the base.   DO NOT PUNCTURE THAT BIG BEAUTIFUL SPEAKER.

Okay, kiddies.  Now, one problem is that when you plug the unit in, the little front light does not light. (this system was apparently intended to be left on 24/7)( I'm betting that 99% of subwoofer failure is due to abuse of neighbors).
1. Check the fuse in the bottom panel by the power cord - the cap unscrews.  it is a slowblow but I forget what amperage 3 amp I believe - not much.  Replace if bad.
2. If you look at the circuitboard stack attached to the bottom that you can now easily view - near where the 5-pin connector that you unplugged, goes, you will see something printed on the circuitboard saying something like replace these fuses with 1 amp slow blow fuses, and an arrow pointing to what looks kindof like 2 half watt resisters. -----  AYE - there's the rub! because to remove either of them you have to be good with a soldering iron, or remove the entire circuitboard stack to get access to the bottom.  I did in fact blow one of these at some point when I was initially playing with it.  It took me quite a while to just find the durn things.  I verified that one was open with a simple ohmmeter/continuity checker.  I made a judgement that the problem was transient, so I made the judgement to simply jumper it with a couple strands from some 22 ga stranded (so if there really WAS a prob it would melt the strands) and soldered them from the top.  YOU NEED TO USE YOUR OWN JUDGEMENT HERE.

Other than that, there is probably nothing important for you on these 2 boards, though I did remove the smaller top one so that I could bore out the hole for the RCA SPDIF connector as my cables wouldn't fit.  But that is not really necessary.

Okay - so realized that I had to go deeper into the abys:

The speaker is held on by 6 bolts (they are longer and bigger than the bottom bolts so easy to keep separate).  DON'T PUNCTURE THE SPEAKER.  Remove the screws and then use a flat-blade screwdriver or something to gently pry one side of the speaker up away from the particle board.  Gently pull the speaker out - there's only about 8" of cable available so find a SAFE place to lean it.

Notice the absolutely gorgeous toroidal power transformer in the cavity.  Some wires go up through the particle board to the cable you unplugged, and other wires go to a box, bolted to the underside of the particle board.

Remove the box:  there are 4 bolts holding the box in place - 2 may be hidden under the sealing glue around the wires on the pass-throughs.  Loosen the 4 screws completely and the box will drop down.  The screws go into 4 little tabs on the top of that box and you do not want to bend those tabs!!!

Now counter space (particle board) gets limited so speaker goes to left and box goes to right.  There are 4 end-screws on the box - remove and label them.  Remove the box top (and mail it to me with 23 million dollars for your FREE spiderman miniature xerox copy).  

Take 3 tranquilizers.

When I took my box top off, I saw a board that had clearly been badly abused - several 1" size mounds of charred circuitboard.

Now the fun began.  I removed the 3 cables from the circuit board (they are glued but an exacto knife will quickly release them)  , and then the 4 screws holding that circuitboard to the box bottom and so had circuit board in hand.

This circuit board is powered by the 3 (orange?) wires coming from the toroid.  There is a full wave rectifier and a bunch of filtering  capacitors.  Then there are 2 amplifiers, side by side. (the amp chips are bolted to that side heat sink.)

In my case, it was the area around the little toroid/chokes that had fried in both of them.  Did I mention that 2 capacitors fell out of the box when I opened it? - one was a little cylinder (electrolytic) cap and the other was a 0.56 ceramic cap.  Amusingly its mate in the other amp had extruded it's guts and looked like it was giving birth to a miniature aluminum foil factory (capacitors are essentially just lots of aluminum foil with a layer of some insulator - so it can store a charge, or pass a certain frequency) - it had gotten so hot in there it simply melted the solder on the circuit board until enough items fell off and if stopped functioning.

I carefully scrapped the charred materiel away and tried to dust it off  - clean and pretty is good in electronics!  one tiny trace had clearly burnt through so I replaced it by soldering a small jumper to 2 points an inch away.

I removed the cap that was giving birth.  The one that had fallen out (0.56uf) had left it's imprint on the other amp in the same relative position.  More about this in a minute...

Everything else looked good so I decided to put it back together and see where I was at.  

Nothing... - that is, the sats worked fine, but nothing at all on the subwoofer.  So much for "pretty"!

I tried inserting that 0.56uf cap into it's original home, and noticed that the little toroid/choke for that amp got VERY HOT.

I tried it in the other amp and got the same result, with that amp's toroid/choke.  HOT!!!   By the way, I do have a cap meter and it registered very close to 0.56uf - I did wonder if it was shorted, but nope!. (meter I'm using here is a cheapie $25 from Sears pocket multimeter 82351 - a meter that does cap! at $25!

I did try putting back that electrolytic cap, but it seemed not to make any difference so it's in my parts bag.

Anyway, I was totally baffled that absolutely nothing was coming out of the speaker.

I finally focused in on the small black box on that circuit board labeled Omron G6B-2214P-US .  I googled and found a pdf and quickly found that it was a relay with the 2 pins nearest the little mark rectangle was the 5VDC coil.  With power connected, I measured 4.7VDC across the coil but it was not firing (no "click"). So I shorted 3 to 4 along one side, and 5 to 6 along the other side, and voila!  boom!
http://www.omron.com/ecb/products/pdf/en-g6b.pdf
part way down the pdf page 6 of 7 is the wiring diagram for the 2214 relay.

Well, sorta...

actually, I found that one amp was putting out noises like something wasn't properly grounded, while the other one worked.  I found this out by playing with the larger 4-pin connector to that little board in the box, that is connected to the 2 - count them - TWO coils on the speaker!!!

This squealing was independent of whether the little 4-pin connector from the decoder board (board fastened to bottom) was plugged in or not.

So eventually, I simply removed the red wire from the large 4-pin plug, that related to the squeal, so I effectively was driving only one of the speakers coils. (these pins are easy to remove - press in on that nub in the side window and it slides out.)

Later, I found that connecting the 2 red wires together (of this large 4-pin plug going to the speaker), gave me full bass - driving both coils with one amp - never would fly if I needed a lot of volume, but I'm in a small apt in a noise sensitive area.......  so actually I wound up connecting some 22 ga zip wire - one to the red pin that I was using and one to the other hanging red wire, and running this pair out the front so I could have disturb-the-neighbors bass if I wanted, by twisting that pair together, or not, as I wish.  and as the source changes.

Okay, this all worked well, but then, of course, I started getting a THUMP from the subwoofer when I shut the speakers off (I plugged my speakers into a switchable power-strip that is sitting by my keyboard - I shut them off when not using them).

The reason for this is that I had shorted out the relay contacts - THAT was the purpose of that relay!!!!!!!  Prevent power-off thump!

Okay, took the whole thing back apart again - be careful tightening the speaker screws - that's only particle board and strips easily!  I had a 5VDC wall wart (looks like a power supply to an old samsung cell phone I once had?) .  So I cut the traces leading up to the coil of the relay on the little circuitboard in the box, soldered in the wall wart, threaded it all back out, put it back together, and LOVE IT!!!

I think one important thing here is that the 2 amps are missing a few parts but 1 still works.

Luck was a huge factor in my success.

Your mileage will definitely vary depending on what is burnt out.

If that had not worked, I had considered
1: picking up another 885 on craigslist. and hoping for the best.
2. finding a stereo hifi power amp at Goodwill and wiring that in between the 
A. small 4 wire plug that goes from upper board to little board in box.
-and-
B the large 4-pin plug in the little box that goes to the 2 coils on the speaker.

This would retain the valuable stuff - the speaker, and the speaker box, and all the circuitry mounted to the bottom.

Hope that helps.

I am not an expert.  Everyone's case is different.  No, I won't try to fix yours.  Maybe this will help geeky folk!


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## Bonkers

Hey Kris. I registered just for this reply because I too have an ADA885 system, bought with an 8100 Dell back in 2001. Amazing sound, however, last year the subwoofer's bass became VERY greatly reduced. There's still some bass that it puts out, but it's nigh undetectable, the only way to tell being to put on some bass-heavy music and press your ear up against the casing. The behavior's the same with any source, IE computer, TV, headphone device, etc.

I followed your instructions and, after getting the circuit board free of the three plugs, I could see nothing wrong with it whatsoever. Everything looks perfectly fine--no burns, dust, bulging caps or loose connections, that I could determine, anyway. I replaced the OK-looking fuse with the backup one supplied with the system, did a few diagnostic tests and messed with the control speaker ad nauseam with no result.

Right now, I'm at a loss as to how to troubleshoot this issue, but I figure that since you're pretty familiar with the exact model I'm trying to fix and seem to have a lot more general electrical knowledge than I that maybe you'd be able to give me some pointers or better direct my efforts. Do you have any suggestions?

Many thanks. I look forward to a response.

- Bonkers


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## KrisM

The sub is bi-amped - that is, there are 2 amplifiers in that little box and there are 4 wires (2 pairs) leading out to the sub coil.

I am guessing that one of them went south.  Now, unfortunately I don't think I had the brains to take pictures while I was in there so I don't remember what is what.

One of my amps had blown so I paired the 2 pairs going to the sub, together, so one amp drove both sub coils.

I think what is best here is that I go off and do my errands, and this evening take it apart again and take some pictures.  Then I can post the pics over on Picasa, and make some more appropriate comments.

so...  later!


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## KrisM

Sorry so late - I got waylaid.

http://picasaweb.google.com/krislema/AltecLansingADA885SpeakerSystemSubWoofer#

If you see any errors or typos please let me know.  If any questions, holler.  YES, it IS a beautiful sounding system!!!


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## Bonkers

Thanks so much for responding and for documenting the work you did. I took some pictures myself for comparison: http://picasaweb.google.com/Generic538/ADA885#

Some interesting differences I noticed:

1) [1/8] No amp box. Rectangular 4-screw arrangement (vs yours of an isosceles trapezoid).
2) [2/8] Massuse vs your Omron relay.
3) [5/8] No F2 fuse. F1 only.
4) [5/8] F1 looks quite a bit larger than either of your fuses--about 1cm high, which might be hard to see due to the perspective (note the slightest of reflections on F1's "top" side when magnified).
5) [5/8] A post-manufacture label over top of the "1.0A" reading "2.5A," consistent of course with the printing on F1.

The other shots, especially those of the amp board, show how pristine the equipment looks. The speaker, too, is entirely unmolested, as are its wired connections visible in 8/8.

Given the circuity's observable state, it seems impossible to troubleshoot as there's nothing to indicate that any particular part is worse or better off than another. But having seen the pictures and heard the symptoms of my problem, do you have any further suggestions? What would you do?

Thanks again.

- Bonkers

P.S. You say you're not an expert, but your skill level seems fairly advanced. I'd think one a rare intermediate indeed who'd cut his own traces and alter the function of the circuitry like you have here.


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## KrisM

Bonkers said:


> Thanks so much for responding and for documenting the work you did. I took some pictures myself for comparison: http://picasaweb.google.com/Generic538/ADA885#
> 
> Some interesting differences I noticed:
> 
> 1) [1/8] No amp box. Rectangular 4-screw arrangement (vs yours of an isosceles trapezoid).
> 2) [2/8] Massuse vs your Omron relay.
> 3) [5/8] No F2 fuse. F1 only.
> 4) [5/8] F1 looks quite a bit larger than either of your fuses--about 1cm high, which might be hard to see due to the perspective (note the slightest of reflections on F1's "top" side when magnified).
> 5) [5/8] A post-manufacture label over top of the "1.0A" reading "2.5A," consistent of course with the printing on F1.
> 
> The other shots, especially those of the amp board, show how pristine the equipment looks. The speaker, too, is entirely unmolested, as are its wired connections visible in 8/8.
> 
> Given the circuity's observable state, it seems impossible to troubleshoot as there's nothing to indicate that any particular part is worse or better off than another. But having seen the pictures and heard the symptoms of my problem, do you have any further suggestions? What would you do?
> 
> Thanks again.
> 
> - Bonkers
> 
> P.S. You say you're not an expert, but your skill level seems fairly advanced. I'd think one a rare intermediate indeed who'd cut his own traces and alter the function of the circuitry like you have here.



LOL - judging from the changes made, I'd say yours is a year or so newer than mine!
No box is better for heat dissipation.

The special circuitry they had put in to drive the Omron was prone to failure.  The 12v circuit already existed.

Your F1 is much better able to handle temporary current surges.


Yep, it's in great shape!  

Assuming the 2 4-pin audio connectors are in fact making good contact with their sockets (one pin on mine was loose)...

Also, assuming that there ar in fact 2 audio drive lines - one for SPDIF and one for ANALOG......

2 things could be done:

Label the 4 wires on each of the 2 audio connectors (8 wires in all).

Then remove the pins from the larger connector and either put them back into the connector in reverse order, or just plug the wires right onto the pins.  In other words:
R1 B1 B2 R2   becomes R2 B2 B1 R1
This will test whether simply one coil on the speaker is bad or loose connection somewhere.
By logic, if this works, simply examine each red-black pair as it connects to the speaker looking for an obvious flakey connection.

*I deleted the second option as I wonder if the green and white wires in the small connectors do not go to each amp's IC, perhaps providing volume control...  and so the red-black pair being the single audio input to the sub box...*

You're right - I have no way of diagnosing an amp per se - this makes me simply a rank amateur (that has fun and occasionally fixes things!)


So try that and let me know.  If questions, holler!


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## Bonkers

Man, quick reply. I'll have to try later, though, so I'll get to responding later tonight or tomorrow. Your help is very appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT: I should note, too, that I'm using the speakers in their stacked form, IE the two surround sats plugged in atop the main speakers, so I'm not using the surround ports on the sub at all. Also, I'm using a double-male TRS cable (the one that came with the system) to connect from the sub's "analog front" port to the device.

The symptoms are the same regardless of whether I'm using a computer, an MP3 player or a TV. And I've tried using the S/PDIF cable with the included TRS converter cable (both included with the system) as well as the "analog surround" port with the double-male cable, all to no avail.

I added this info in case it indicates something to you. Does it matter?


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## KrisM

Bonkers said:


> Man, quick reply. I'll have to try later, though, so I'll get to responding later tonight or tomorrow. Your help is very appreciated. Thanks.
> 
> EDIT: I should note, too, that I'm using the speakers in their stacked form, IE the two surround sats plugged in atop the main speakers, so I'm not using the surround ports on the sub at all. Also, I'm using a double-male TRS cable (the one that came with the system) to connect from the sub's "analog front" port to the device.
> 
> The symptoms are the same regardless of whether I'm using a computer, an MP3 player or a TV. And I've tried using the S/PDIF cable with the included TRS converter cable (both included with the system) as well as the "analog surround" port with the double-male cable, all to no avail.
> 
> I added this info in case it indicates something to you. Does it matter?



Yes, it all indicates that something is wrong somewhere...    (duh!)

wish I could help further.......


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## Bonkers

No no, I mean, if you had yours set up the same way (stacked speakers, only the brown and orange plugs inserted into the main speaker ports on the sub, double-male cable connecting from the sub's green "analog front" port to the device), the bass would still be working correctly, right? How I have mine set up shouldn't matter, should it?


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## KrisM

Bonkers said:


> No no, I mean, if you had yours set up the same way (stacked speakers, only the brown and orange plugs inserted into the main speaker ports on the sub, double-male cable connecting from the sub's green "analog front" port to the device), the bass would still be working correctly, right? How I have mine set up shouldn't matter, should it?



Sorry - being cheeky!!!

I don't think it should make any difference.  I think the side sat signal is sent to both the internal upper jack on the front sats, and to the "surround" jacks on the back of the sub.  The circuit boards in the bottom should be taking your front signal input and splitting it to left, right, and sub.  Assuming your source is sending your LFE to the front speaker wire.  With the computer, you can choose that, but with the others, like the mp3 player, it shouldn't make any difference - you just have a left and right channel and the ADA885 should split it per the selection shown on the right front sat.

Also, since you have tried this with an spdif source, it points to something being wrong in the sub's "box" circuitboard.


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## KrisM

*Note that I deleted the second option a few posts up.....*


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## Bonkers

Kris, a few questions:

1) The two 4-pin audio connectors you mentioned are the same four wires, right? You just want them to be symmetrically rearranged on each end?

2) How easy is it to securely put the removed wires back into the connector?

3) What exactly is the "box" circuitboard?

4) Do you have your ADA885 set up like this?
http://supportapj.dell.com/support/edocs/acc/ada885/en/setup.htm#figure_1
It seems like an overly complicated one. I'm not sure if I ever used S/PDIF.


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## KrisM

Bonkers said:


> Kris, a few questions:
> 
> 1) The two 4-pin audio connectors you mentioned are the same four wires, right? You just want them to be symmetrically rearranged on each end?



I made a change in the post above - do ONLY the larger 4-pin connector.
Label the pins 1,2,3,4.
Remove the pins from the conector by gently pushing the side spring tabs.
Do not put them back in the connector yet.
Push them onto the circuit boards so that 
connector 1 is connected to pin 4 (which originally had connector 4) 
connector 2 to pin 3
connecter 3 to pin 2
connector 4 to pin 1  (which originally had connector 1).
This is like flipping the 4 pin connector and putting it in backwards.

IE, connect the pins to where the connector connected, but without the connector case, and in reverse order.




> 2) How easy is it to securely put the removed wires back into the connector?



Pretty easy.  On some you may have to gently pry the tiny tab out a milimeter or so , so that it will catch in the connector case.



> 3) What exactly is the "box" circuitboard?



I have a circuit board in a box.  yours is a box wannabe - only the end tabs remain...    It's the subwoofer amp circuitboard.




> 4) Do you have your ADA885 set up like this?
> http://supportapj.dell.com/support/edocs/acc/ada885/en/setup.htm#figure_1
> It seems like an overly complicated one. I'm not sure if I ever used S/PDIF.



In that diagram I use #2 for input.  I believe you are using #6 and #7 from the computer.  You have #8 on top of #9, and #4 on top of #3, so your rear sat bases are being stored someplace.  Mine are plugged separately into the 2 small keyed jacks in the back of the sub-woofer.



See if that all makes sense.  Holler if it doesn't!!!


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## KrisM

I just realized there might be an alternate way of doing that:   plug the large 4-pin connector onto the socket, 2 pins over.  There might be a capacitor in the way on one side, but the other side should work.....


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## KrisM

Anything ever happen with this?


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## Bonkers

Kris,

Stuff happened, then distraction, then I forgot all about this thread. It came back into memory when I plugged the speakers back up recently and was reintroduced to its nigh non-existent bass.

Anyway, apologies for the neglect, as a response is/was deserved, and thanks again for the effort you put into responding to me all those months ago. I'm going to have to reread everything and try what you suggested, 'cause that sub really was quite good once and I hope to see it at least partially restored.

I'll bookmark this thread, and if you're still on this board and inclined to reply, I guess I'll hear from you.


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## KrisM

Bonkers said:


> Kris,
> 
> Stuff happened, then distraction, then I forgot all about this thread. It came back into memory when I plugged the speakers back up recently and was reintroduced to its nigh non-existent bass.
> 
> Anyway, apologies for the neglect, as a response is/was deserved, and thanks again for the effort you put into responding to me all those months ago. I'm going to have to reread everything and try what you suggested, 'cause that sub really was quite good once and I hope to see it at least partially restored.
> 
> I'll bookmark this thread, and if you're still on this board and inclined to reply, I guess I'll hear from you.



LOL! - hey, good to hear from you!  Let me know how it goes!


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## jay185

Hello, 

I happen to have the ada890 speaker and is currently having a problem right now. everything works except for the left channel. 

i tried disassembling the sub and see if there's any solder that has gone bad  from the circuit board but. i didnt see any. 

any clue where i should begin? thanks!


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## KrisM

jay185 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I happen to have the ada890 speaker and is currently having a problem right now. everything works except for the left channel.
> 
> i tried disassembling the sub and see if there's any solder that has gone bad  from the circuit board but. i didnt see any.
> 
> any clue where i should begin? thanks!




are you using spdif?

I will assume not, so:

I would begin by simply using logic.  It could be bad:

source left chan
cable and connectors from source to sub cabinet
internal wires from source to amp input

or

speaker
wire to speaker
connection of speaker wire to sub cabinet
wire to left amp output

or the left amp itself. Which I really doubt.

or a break in one of the wires itself.

Looking at my pictures, I have NOTHING of the input and output side of the fronts and sats.  Unfortunately.  So outside of eyeballing it and looking for a loose connection, and trying the different modes to see if you can get sound out of the left front speaker (don't forget the test modes), I can't really help much.

Hope that helps a little!


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## jay185

Kris

I appreciate the help. After checking it again and again I think i know what the problem is. one of the pin from the left speaker is missing ( i think it was broken due to age) so instead of me having 8 pins total, i only got 7. now i need to find what kind of plug is this and find one from our local shop and then strip the old one out and replace it with the new plug.


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## KrisM

jay185 said:


> Kris
> 
> I appreciate the help. After checking it again and again I think i know what the problem is. one of the pin from the left speaker is missing ( i think it was broken due to age) so instead of me having 8 pins total, i only got 7. now i need to find what kind of plug is this and find one from our local shop and then strip the old one out and replace it with the new plug.




Affirmative - left front has 8 pins (right front has 9 pins).  Good catch!  Missing pin is probably still in the socket.  Probably some form of DIN plug.  Difficult task before you!  Best of luck!

Possibly micro drill (dremmel?) hole in missing pin base, slide missing pin or stiff wire into hole and micro solder.  I have none of that equipment and my hand is no where near enough steady to do that, but there are folks who could...


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## KrisM

a post got posted here and then quickly deleted, probably (very appropriately) by mods.
text


> Very quickly I noticed that it had great sound. Also equally quickly I noticed that the sub woofer would rather quickly stop working. sometimes there was a bit of whistling before it died.



Very likely a bad capacitor in the subwoofer electronics box.


Get a new ID and post w/o ads!


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## ropeladder

Just in case you guys are still around:

My 890s just died inexplicably (e.g. plugging them in makes no difference; nothing lights up or turns on or makes any noise). I opened them up but there are no obvious problems (to my untrained eyes, at least). If I get a voltmeter and poke around, would I have any chance of figuring out what the matter is? Where should I start looking?


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## KrisM

yeah, probably one of the two fuses that look like resisters.  I'll go back in this thread and see where I mentioned them.

EDIT: yeah, post #4 has a link to my picasa - look at picture number 8


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## ropeladder

Ok, I found those fuses, or rather fuse. It looks like they changed them in my version: one of them is simply not there (it just looks like a wire goes straight across) and the other one is a red squarish box that says 2.5A on it. There is nothing obviously wrong. Check out the pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ropeladder/ADA890?feat=directlink

EDIT: I should maybe note, the one part that doesn't look clean and pretty is over on the board to the right on the 3rd picture. (it says ADA885EQ)


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## KrisM

ropeladder said:


> Ok, I found those fuses, or rather fuse. It looks like they changed them in my version: one of them is simply not there (it just looks like a wire goes straight across) and the other one is a red squarish box that says 2.5A on it. There is nothing obviously wrong. Check out the pics:
> 
> https://picasaweb.google.com/ropeladder/ADA890?feat=directlink
> 
> EDIT: I should maybe note, the one part that doesn't look clean and pretty is over on the board to the right on the 3rd picture. (it says ADA885EQ)



Did you put an ohm or continuity tester across that red thing?

The other board is probably fine...


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## ropeladder

Don't have an ohm meter handy... I'll see if I can get a hold of one.


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## KrisM

ropeladder said:


> Don't have an ohm meter handy... I'll see if I can get a hold of one.



I would do that - that was the one that blew, part way through my process of "fixing it" - system seemed totally dead - no light, nothing.  In the pic you can see a fine wire soldered around that first one.


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## ropeladder

KrisM said:


> I would do that - that was the one that blew, part way through my process of "fixing it" - system seemed totally dead - no light, nothing.  In the pic you can see a fine wire soldered around that first one.



So you simply bypassed the fuse instead of replacing it?


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## KrisM

ropeladder said:


> So you simply bypassed the fuse instead of replacing it?



Yes, of course I don't recommend that - you could conceivably burn your house down.  But I have my speakers plugged into a power strip with a light so they're generally off when I'm not around.  So I made a decision for me.  You have to make a decision for you.    

EDIT:  you will note, though, that I used a pretty fine wire!!!


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## ropeladder

I borrowed a multimeter and checked the fuses. (using the continuity check) Everything seems to be ok.

Any idea for next steps?


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## KrisM

ropeladder said:


> I borrowed a multimeter and checked the fuses. (using the continuity check) Everything seems to be ok.
> 
> Any idea for next steps?



No idea at all...  sorry.


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## ropeladder

Is there an easy way to check if the transformer is working or if there's something wrong with the power cable?


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## KrisM

ropeladder said:


> Is there an easy way to check if the transformer is working or if there's something wrong with the power cable?



If you have a fundamental understanding of electricity and electronics, yes, otherwise, find a friend who does who can follow your line of questioning!  Go for it!!!   :good:


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## ropeladder

I have a basic understanding of concepts, and put together a breadboard or two when I was a kid, but that's about it. 

One more question: on your unit does the LED on the sub turn on whenever it is plugged in or only when speakers are actually on? (or in other words, do I need to worry about plugging in the speakers when I'm testing things?)

Thanks for all your help.


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## KrisM

ropeladder said:


> I have a basic understanding of concepts, and put together a breadboard or two when I was a kid, but that's about it.
> 
> One more question: on your unit does the LED on the sub turn on whenever it is plugged in or only when speakers are actually on? (or in other words, do I need to worry about plugging in the speakers when I'm testing things?)
> 
> Thanks for all your help.



I just tested - the light is on if there is power to the system, and whether or not I turn it on or off at the right/front/speaker control button.  The sub light also stays on if the left or right front speakers are unplugged.  I believe the light will not light if the interlock that plugs by the fuse and goes down to the sub and back up is not complete.  There's also a fuse on the back of the case - could that have blown???


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## leetoctopus

Hello,

I have an ADA885 that I've used for over 11 years now, with multiple fixings throughout its life. The first fix was ~5 years in - I would hear the sub cut in and out, and what I believe is the relay flipping on and off. At the same time, the LCD display on the right speaker was stable, so I am pretty sure the satellites were fine. To fix this, a coworker at the time who was a hardware engineer resoldered (and possibly replaced) a bunch of caps on (I think) the larger, multi-story PCB board - the one that receives the signal inputs and has the large heatsink.
More recently, about 3-4 months ago, my system would start cutting out in a similar way as before, but it usually happened once the system *heated up* (was on for hours). The whole sound system would start stuttering as if it had intermittent power. The LCD on the right satellite would turn on and off, or stay somewhere in between and become faint, or look like it is flickering on and off at a very high frequency. Finally, I think the system started to turn on and off (relay sound?) again. This time, my dad helped replace the 3 large caps on the same multi-story PCB, because we decided that they leaked out -- they had a dried brown liquid on the bottom.

So, after that, the system was stable for about 3 months. And now it started misbehaving again. Similar as last time, the LCD would become faint/flickery (but possibly stay at that stage for a while - music plays just fine throughout this) OR the system would start turning on and off very quickly (relay can be heard switching on/off again). This time though, the system did NOT need to heat up first. This would happen randomly, sometimes immediately after I turn it on, sometimes hours later. Also, I would be able to get it to stabilize with the use of some percussive maintenance (I know how horrible that is, yes). After that, it would stay on just fine for hours until I turn it off for the day. I think that lately, the issue happens as soon as I turn it on on the next day. Because of this, my dad and I believe it might be a matter of something (cable, components, etc.) not making a good contact, or perhaps a cold solder joint... we just don't know.

Anyway, I am not sure if Kris (or anyone else for that matter) is still at this forum and would see this, but my question is -- does anyone have an idea what the problem may be? I have dismounted the second PCB (from the sub speaker compartment), and see that all the large capacitors have the dried brown liquid on the bottom. A simpler question, I hope: in the pics here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/113065125154002109926/ADA885
have the capacitors leaked out? Or is this some sort of glue that was used during construction? It looks like a leak, but then in one pic, near the inductor (coil), there is a clearly visible drop of what looks like the same brown stuff as is under the capacitors. I can't tell if this is by design, or perhaps a spray from the caps, or neither :/.
My current plan is to have all the caps replaced regardless (just ordered new ones) and possibly fix some possible cold solder joints on the bottom of the PCB (sadly, nothing looks obviously wrong to my "Goolge-images-trained" eye).


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## dudwity

*to make things short...*

common issues and what i have done to fix it.
i have the AD890 for ~7 years. and encountered several problems all documented in this thread and others.

1. no bass/clicking sound of the relay/bass comes and goes - resolderd the relay on the inside PCB.

2. degradation in bass performance/degradation on other speaker performance - 70-80% of the electrolytic capacitors had HI ESR! check and replace!. in my case the sub woofer was nearly impossible to ear.  (fixed it yesterday). 

3.no sound/sound only in dolby mode or something similar - check the Headphones jack. it might be shorted. i disconnected one of the wires and it fixed the thing.

good luck!


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## leetoctopus

Thanks for the post, dudwity!

I should post the results of my fiddling though, for posterity: it seems I lucked out (so far, and hopefully) - resoldering those possible cold-solder joints fixed my problems, without having to use any new capacitors. The likely culprit was one of the relay's legs, though it may have been one on a ceramic capacitor or any one from the couple we resoldered.

It's good to have the oh-so-sweet sound back once again.


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## dudwity

*wonderful *



leetoctopus said:


> Thanks for the post, dudwity!
> 
> I should post the results of my fiddling though, for posterity: it seems I lucked out (so far, and hopefully) - resoldering those possible cold-solder joints fixed my problems, without having to use any new capacitors. The likely culprit was one of the relay's legs, though it may have been one on a ceramic capacitor or any one from the couple we resoldered.
> 
> It's good to have the oh-so-sweet sound back once again.



BTW, the brown stuff at the bottom of the electrolytic capacitor is some kind of glue.


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## Madison7133

Don't know if you're still following this thread a year and a half later, but my ADA885's that I've enjoyed since 1998, started doing exactly what you described in the third paragraph of your post (light flickering, clicking - intermittent  sound!). I'm not having a woofer problem per se. When it goes everything goes and it's taking longer and longer to re-set itself.

Which joints on which board did you re-solder? Just the relay?

Thanks in advance. I'd just put a killer Schiit DAC/Preamp on these old beauties and they'd come alive like NEVER before  -- that is...until they go tits up dead. I'd really hate to have to toss them. As I write this, I can glance over at that right control speaker and it's flashing is driving me f-ing crazy!


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