carvin dcm 3800

[bobot62]

gud day guys,

anybody had the idea of what is wrong with may carvin dcm 3800? 3 times it went to carvin for servicing, first and second it wont turn on, the third time is that after turning on it will display protect witout any load and without any signal connected to the amp,

[The Dude]

Was this immediately after getting the amp back, or after you used it a bit? If the former, send it back. You paid for repair, so it should work and they should take care of it. If the latter, can you please tell us how you use it.

1) How many speakers and what model.
2) Bridged mode, stereo mode, dual mono, etc.
3) How are the speakers hooked up? One each side, bridged out, etc.

[bobot62]

there are four speakers hooked up two speakers in parallel, the amp is in stereo mode and the speaker model is carvin 1584, the amp only drive the lows, we only used it twice after repair, then after using when turning it on , the protect indicator lights up

[bobot62]

the amplefier model is DCM 3800L

[Jazz P Bass]

If the protect LED is on at startup (normally it stays on for 2-3 seconds), then either the output section truly has a fault or the protect circuit is bad.

[The Dude]

If I understand correctly, you are then running the amp stereo with a 4 ohm load on each side of the amp, which should be no problem. Since you say, "the amp only drive the lows", I also assume that you are running the cabinets bi-amped with another amp running the highs and that the switches on the cabinets are set to bi-amp mode? If this is all correct, again no problems. There are several possible scenarios.

1) The amp was simply not fixed properly and has an intermittent or thermal problem.
2) The bi-amp switches were not set correctly on the speakers and you connected amp to amp.
3) Speaker cables are shorted or intermittently shorted.
4) Speaker wiring is out of phase and caused amp positive outputs to be grounded through the cabinet.
5) Speaker wiring is out of phase causing the amp to work harder than necessary while achieving little low frequency.
6) The amp was run past clip for too long and simply blew up.

There are certainly other scenarios, but these are the things I would check first. I've not had or heard of anyone having bad luck with Carvin repairs, though it's certainly possible they missed something. I'm more apt to believe the problem is on your end, though it's certainly possible I'm wrong. People don't like to hear this and I don't mean to offend you, but I deal with this on a regular basis. People want their amp fixed for free every time whether it's my fault or not and whether they abused it or not. Every power amp I repair has a little check list on the invoice for the customer to help prevent a shorted cable or something else from bouncing the thing right back to me.

Check over every connection, switch, phasing, etc. before you return the amp to operation. You may also want to invest in some sort of limiting.

As far as getting the amp repaired, I would contact Carvin and see what they recommend. Their customer service is usually pretty good.

[bobot62]

thank you dude and jazz p bass, i do agree with what you say, but this amp was service 3 times and it cost us too much in chipping coz this amp is in the philippines, we double check our connections and for now we replaced it with the DCM 2000L with no problem, i also agree with you with carvin servicing and their amp,, we have the dcm 1500, the dcm 2000, the dcm 2000L but only this DCM having us some issues, it will not be practical to send it back to carvin for servicing for the cost of sending it back is enough to buy a new one, thank you again friends, MERRY CHRISTMAS to you

[bobot62]

sorry, only this DCM 3800 is having some issues

[The Dude]

If other power amps work fine with the same speakers and cables, that's pretty good proof that there is a problem with the amp. If I were you, I would call Carvin and explain the situation to them. Tell them you've already paid to have it shipped to them numerous times and that other amps work fine with the identical setup. There's a good chance they'll pick up the shipping charges. I've always found them to take good care of their customers. It's certainly worth a phone call.

[Jazz P Bass]

Seeing that this particular unit uses a Switch Mode Power Supply, I doubt that this a 'user serviceable' problem.

Back it goes to Carvin.

Three times may be a charm.

[bobot62]

thank you dude and jazz p bass for your advice, those shipment we have almost cost us 2 of this units already, this is the only unit which has some issues, used it for only a few times , tnx again guys

[audiopower1000]

This is DCM3800 old rev :

[bobot62]

gud day dude, carvin advice us to ship it back to them and we will be the one to shoulder shipping cost, which i think it will cost us more and better buy new amp than shipped it back to them

[J M Fahey]

Since you already have a "no" , you lose nothing by respectfully asking them that they:
1) check it's the third time in a row
2) you earlier sent and paid for repairs and shipping at great cost (hint .... "Philippines") to no avail.
3) check their own service notes about it, to see that it had real problems, what they were, and that it probably means there is an intrinsic problem with that amp type, at least with *your* unit.
4) that it's clear now that it's useless and wasteful shipping it again back and forth forever, even worse if only you shoulder (heavy) cost so you want a definitive solution to it, which does not involve a total loss.
5) so you respectfully ask them to provide a solution, which might be (pick one or suggest a new one):
a) if they never have problems with this model, except with yours, it means this one is a lemon, please send *another* unit.
New of course, not refurbished.
Repairing it again is pointless since they are clearly missing the root problem.
b) if they have more than average amount of problems with this amp, you might accept *another* type/model , even if somewhat cheaper or lower powered.
At this point you prefer it reliably working rather than impressive specs.
c) if they have a trusted Tech in the Philippines, please tell him to repair it.

All this is just thinking aloud, I'm trying to imagine what I would try if i were in a similar situation.

Which might be possible, I'm 8000 miles away from Carvin and worse, across a hard to pass Customs barrier.

Just curious, where did you buy your Carvin?
Was it some official brand carrying shop?
What do they say about problems with what they sell?
Is there another brand which offers good support inside Philippines?
I understand somebody like the gentleman writing from a small Caribbean island a few days ago or our friend chuck h living in USA but in a relatively small island having to ship many things outside for servicing, but .... the Philippines? ...... it's a huge COUNTRY !!!!!!

One-hundred-million-people for God's sake !!!!

Now if they want to lose that huge market, they are doing fine.

[bobot62]

we bought this amp at one of their outlet at san diego california, my father inlaw who is residing in california is the one who bought it for me, the first problem of this amp is that when you turn it on there is a spark inside and after a couple of times using the amp, in wont turn on anymore so we shipped it back to the US then when it came back we just used it for a couple of times. sadly there it go again so shipped back again for servicing then for the some used another problem occur its protect LED lights up, so we check everything but to no luck it wont go off, so we replaced it with the dcm2000, with no problem, so send it back again, and when have it from servicing we just used it a couple of gig and the protect LED turn on again, this is the situation now.


thank your JMF