The official "Theta" thread - Page 122

Maybe you or JiimHTPC will know the answer to some questions I have? The Lynx AES16e accepts an external word clock. I am guessing that is only useful with using multiple cards in the same machine? I don't think there would be any benefit feeding the digital signal to an external dac?

Gold caps- really? Heck, if I get one I might just have a plexiglass cover made for the unit and pop a couple of blue LEDs inside the chassis- Wouldn't that make for some nice pics?

Yeah most visitors to this thread are just looking for info and will probably never go out of their way to contribute- Looking back through the many pages there really are only a handful of regular contributing members, you being one of them of course.

Nichicon changed the color of the Muse caps. I believe the green that are in most Theta products have been discontinued. Nichicon does have names for the lines like Fine Gold and Gold Tune .

I think the line names are more relative to the "golden" price you have to pay to buy the caps from them.. heh

Yeah, Steve post all sorts of comparisons of Theta stuff with various gear,discovers firmware bugs, unknown SACD hacks, and a lot of other stuff. I guess he draws the line at peeks and pics .

I intend to photograph the process of installing the forthcoming DSP and Dirac upgrade if it turns out to be something an end user can do. Taking the CBIII apart isn't fun. Last time I did it I realized how much persuasion the chassis takes to get it all lined up again before the top cover goes back on.

I've sold all my serious photo gear, but I kept a macro lens for such occasions.


That rack mount front bezel looks sweet If I go ahead with my future planned system I will definitely rack mount the CBIIIhd! Thanks for the pictures!

Sean

I was initially worried the larger bezel would appear too large, but looking at it I really like it. Very "stately".

Unfortunately I once had an "alter ego" on other web forum posting as me who was posting pix and pics of the insides of high end gear including Theta.

Me, too busy with other stuff to go take my stuff apart more than I have to!

I am so lazy it is pathetic!!

And this is what my friends say about me!!@@@

Its good that there are now a few other dudes to do a few things around here!!!@@@@

So here is the latest on my new CBIII HD, it seems there is something very glitchy with it. Basically after a day of use it is freezing up partially on power-on from standby and will not output audio from any digital source. It started with not wanting to switch between hdmi sources, would freeze and drop the audio, now it is doing it without any hdmi plugged in and just using coax. If I hard reboot it with the rear switch, I can get audio back on next power on. Very odd.

Also, when the audio drops out there is a light electronic noise eminating from my center channel that is audible with volume up / down commands.

Anyway, am sending it to Theta tomorrow. John has been very helpful and sent me a ship label. My immediate gratification is definitely on hold...

No one should ask anyone to take their stuff apart. However, if it's a field upgrade and you are adding a new card, that's different. You have to take it apart anyway. Still this is not what everyone wants to do and I can respect that.

I never used an external WORD clock. It sounded fantastic by itself. Perhaps if I had a device that offered a REALLY good WORD clock I would try it. Once my house is built and we move in, I will look into a replacement AES 16e into a larger Rackmount Case.

Sounds like you are experiencing some of my problems. John feels confident that they have a handle on my issues.

Sorry to hear that- I'm feeling confident in John's abilities, and I'm sure with him there Theta undoubtedly has more effective troubleshooting and remediation processes. As with any new electronic gear, sometimes a few units have a glitch. I have not read back through the posts, has your CB already gone back to Theta for review?

Can someone please PM me John B's email address? I contacted Theta on their info.thetadigital@ address more than a week ago about the issues I am having and I never got a reply yet.

Thanks.

Sean

PM sent - you could also just give them a call.

I am also getting freezes when changing HDMI sources. I have encountered hearing a thumping sound when doing volume up / down commands.

I would describe my CBIIIhd as temperamental most of the time and glitchy some of the time.

The Nichicon stuff is made in Japan. My experience with Japanese produced goods is very favorable. Chinese produced stuff ranges in quality. There have been some reliability issues with some of the Chinese produced caps.

Call Theta mon-thurs. They answer the phone promptly. Listen for extension. Phone: (323) 278-0001

Mine is at Theta. I believe if nothing else happens, they will ship my unit back on Monday. If that is accurate, then I will get it back in 2 weeks. I'll report back once I receive it and test it.

This topic is best explored on www.computeraudiophile.com I read several comments on the subject there.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Lynx-AES16

This is way more lock ups than I expected. From experience, I was sure there would be some just not this many. Also glad at least that John is in the mix to help. Not sure if this is entirely HDMI related. Seems like the pattern is still somewhat random from unit to unit. Thoughts?

Interesting- so it may be a common issue, which is actually good because it will lead to easier identification / fix of the issue if several units are doing it vs only one or two. Definitely contact John and tell him yours is experiencing the same issue as mine, give him your unit serial number as well.

No thanks. Some of the claims made on that website are more outlandish than the reality TV show,"Finding Bigfoot."

Welcome to the world of online audiophile chatter. I don't find any particular website to me more prone to outlandish claims than the next. Happens everywhere. Never seen that show - did they ever find Bigfoot or are they still looking?

They have a vested interest in not finding BigFoot, they don't call him Matt MoneyMaker for nothing. Ever notice when they get a sighting, they investigate a bit & then head over to another part of the state to look there?

Guys

There are hundreds of CB3HD's running with great success. There have been some issues when power drops to lower voltage than normal and the HD can do some weird stuff. We are also finding that due to the enormous new power supply that plugging your HD into a conditioner will cause more problems.

The Cb3HD's power supply has enough torroid and Cap space to be its own conditioner and we do not want you to use a power conditioner on the Cb3HD. Its unnecessary and may possible cause some issues.

I had a disaster years ago with Monster Power conditioners where Pioneer Elite Tv's for some reason would not stay on or turn on sometimes. We found out that there was something that the conditioner was putting on the line that totally screwed Elite TV's up. The head of Pioneer engineering was flown out here from Japan to diagnose this problem and found that the Tv's power supplies were so good that conditioning them caused issues. I am not saying that this is the problem with what some people are having but just something to note.

Craig

That sounds reasonable. Does the new power supply protect from overvoltage conditions? For example, all last week here our power on the block was pushing 138-140v due to an incorrectly tapped transformer. My Fuhrman conditioners shut down all of the power to my computers and AV gear, and they are really only designed to protect from overvoltages or drastic drops on the circuit. My single directv receiver in a guest room, which was on a simple power strip fried along with the power strip. If my CBIII (not my new HD, my other CBIII) and Elite TV had fried, I'd really have been bummed.

I'd also like to add that Monster conditioners are IMHO retail store garbage.

John stated my Torus power conditioner should not have caused any problems with my CB3HD.

Monster products are garbage in my book. APC isn't much better. Product reliability is poor at best. So far Richard Gray battery backup is proving to be good for source devices. I've used multiple Torus products with excellent results. Both single and balanced.

So far faulty components seem to be my problem. We'll see what end result is.

Jim- just adding my nickel's worth on your post... I agree and can see garbage "conditioners" (which are usually nothing more than fancy looking encased power strips) causing problems with sensitive equipment, particularly if the conditioner is limiting or restricting current, or has some wierd filtering going on.

However, there should never be any problem with using quality conditioners, either at the AC panel circuits or stand alone units. If one is spending $20+k on AV components, one should understand what they are plugging in upstream from it, rather than slapping in a Best Buy "conditioner". Good, high wattage capable conditioners are not cheap though, the parts themselves are quite pricey- Whether it be Richard Gray, Running Springs, Torus, PSA, Fuhrman, a hospital-grade industrial unit, or a custom whole-home setup designed by an electrical engineer. You will indeed pay extra for audiophile brands that are specially designed to not hum like a monster when running.

I know the answer to my previous post, basically no component is going to have built in over voltage or surge protection. It's up to the purchaser to learn what to add and not to add in terms of AC protection in relation to the equipment they own. I do not feel that using nothing is an acceptable solution either.