Parasound Halo A52 keeps shutting off / protection


Hi guys, I hope someone could shed some light on this before I take it in for repair. I have a Parasound Halo A52 that's been running great driving a pair of Martin Logan Theos. Recently the amp suddenly started going into protection mode / shuts off in the middle of listening. I checked everything, wires are not short, and settings are correct. I spoke to someone at Chicago Audio who told me that the caps may need to be replaced. While this is not an issue, i just want to make sure that this issue is common and I won't end up spending money and not be able to fix it.

One thing I should mention is I am using RCA terminals on the preamp side and XLR connectors on the amp side. Could that be the problem? Should I try using just a simple RCA cable to see if the problem goes away?

Thanks to all.
Ag insider logo xs@2xangelgz2
The termination should not cause this. I'd contact Parasound and ask what they advise, as this may be a known issue. Good luck (the Halo amps have a gazillion million parts that can fail).
perhaps caps. not enough current and transistors getting too hot. you may meanwhile try to use an external fan
there's a thermal protection circuit that needs to be replaced. Don't send it to Parasound, they charge an arm and a leg for that work.
Before you bring it in for repair, try the straight RCA hook-up. I've had problems using a XLR to RCA configuration. For some reason this XLR/RCA caused my Benchmark DAC1 to overheat and fail.
Hi thanks for the advice. I'm using all 5 Channel, the MLs are bi wired plus an extra sub. I have an external fan and when I touch the unit it's not very hot. For some reason one side does feel hotter than the other.
First thing to do is check connections at the speaker terminals on your amp. If any connector (bare wire, spade, whatever) is touching an adjacent one, this will cause a short. First things first...
Another thing to try is to see if the amp will sit for hours on end with no input applied. If the preamp has a malfuction and is presenting a slight amount of DC to the amp, it could trip the protection circuit.
If you'received using 4 channels for your ML's, you're biamping, not biwiring. Try unhooking the sub. Maybe the amp is working too hard.
Per Czarivey's point: Do you have your amp on a stand or (bad) resting on shag carpet? Carpet will block air flow for cooling.