Help - B&K AVR305 relays are "chattering"

Thanks for your responses, guys. The line is a brand new, dedicated copper line with a hospital grade receptacle. Unfortunately, I was not here when electrician checked the line, so I don't know if my wife had them check it "under load", so to speak. There are three amps (B&K, Threshold T200 and Genesis) + a TV on that line, but that's it. Weird that the other components don't seem to be affected - the B&K is either very sensitive to voltage anomolies, or is defective. In any event, I will be sending it to B&K after the holidays (I've got 5 inlaws coming to town and need the home-theater diversion, believe me!)to be checked and repaired.

Jim

Yo Jim,
Look into the following possibilities:
1. What kind of wire was used in your home...copper or aluminum? If it was aluminum you might be getting some arcing in the receptacle that the B&K is plugged into. It will read fine on a voltmeter, but under load the voltage will drop.
2. In either case, check your connections; first find out which breaker the outlet your B&K is connected to. Turn everything on in that part of the house: lights, fans, plug a table lamp into receptacles with the light on, and go flip the breaker off. You should find about 4-5 loads (lights or receptacles) that go off. Take the cover plates off the outlets and switches and pull the devices out of their wallbox and check the wires for evidence of carbon or heat. Tighten all screws and wirenuts. Install a brand new hospital grade (Hubbell or Leviton) receptacle for the B&K outlet. Reinstall devices and cover plates. Check to see if the problem is gone. If not, goto step 3.
3. Check the connection at the breaker. You will need to remove the cover from the panel, but before you do, turn off all the breakers and the main (if you have one)...there are 4 or 6 screws that hold it on. Once it's off, you'll need to check 2 wires: a black connected to the breaker and a white connected to the neutral bus (finding the right neutral might be difficult as there are usually 2-4 neutrals coming in to each knock-out so check them all).
4. If every thing checks out ok, then you might want to have a new dedicated circuit installed for the stereo...it's an option that is usually only feasible in
houses with an attic or crawlspace. It might be cheaper than a large UPS.

Out of interest did the electrician check the line while your equipment was on and running, drawing current. Perhaps the equipment is drawing a large amount of current (maybe even due a fault in the equipment itself, which could be dangerous) and this is causing the voltage drop. The electrician should be able to measure the voltage at the B&K while it is running. This would prove for sure if it is low voltage causing the relays to operate, and if it is, whether the equipment loading is causing the low voltage.
I find it hard to believe that a HiFi can pull enough current to drop voltage, but it's worth eliminating that possibility (and the possibility that the voltage isn't low and the B&K is defective) before spending money which might not fix the problem.