Sound cuts out occasionally in my system


Lately I'm finding that occasionally (every 10 hours of listening or so), the sound cuts out of my system and comes back a second or two later. This is usually accompanied by a loud popping noise when the sound comes out and back in.

Seeing as this can't be good for my system, any ideas on how I can go about pinpointing this? I don't know where to start, as it could be my power conditioner, DAC, source, preamp, crossover (Marchand) or amp.

The only things I've determined is that, since it happens in both speakers at once, it's not an interconnect problem. I'll also say that this also happened once when a CD was not playing in the source, so that would seem to rule out the source (though the source was powered on at the time).
rrolack
Seven months later, I have some progress on the issue, but also another question.

After some experimentation, I found that the cutting out only occurs when my active crossover was used in my system. However, I was not actually able to measure any DC voltage at the crossover outputs, even right at the time of the cut-out. Additionally, I shipped the crossover back to the manufacturer, who confirmed that the unit completely checks out, and that it does not have a DC leak issue.

At this point, I'm not sure how to proceed. Perhaps I should contact the manufacturer of my amp (Parasound) and ask what, other than DC voltage, might be tripping the protection circuitry? It seems like either the crossover is putting out something the amp doesn't like, or the amp protection circuitry is acting too sensitive (though it's not clear what it's trying to protect itself from).
I had the same problem,your tube preamp is putting out dc voltage and the protection circuit is kicking in on your amp.
My guess is bad contact on the preamp tubes. I would try a different preamp if available. If that's not possible I would clean the tube pins with contact cleaner and clean the sockets with a pipe cleaner and contact cleaner. This has worked for me with the problem you are describing.
There is some crackle and pop immediately as the sound cuts out, but not in the few seconds before.
Some solid state have thermal protection. Check with the company. I had this problem with my Music Hall.
If you have a dealer that you have a good relationship with they could lend you some gear to help troubleshoot.

Do you get any static (or light crackle) before the music cuts out or is just an immediate dropout in both channels at once?