The power of fire.. a thriller

Posted by: Arye_Gur on 31 August 2001

Few days ago I was talking in a room at my house while my girlfreind and 4 of my kids were siting at the living room, nobody was listning to music.

Suddenly, they started to shout with panic, I ran to the room - and they all pointed to the Linn lp 12.

The turntable, that was not in use at all at the monent, (actually as my kids are with me for several days, the turntable was in vacation for these days) went up with heavy smoke.
I pulled it from the wall, but later I noticed that the fuse of the line jumped to off. (not the main one that jumps due to earthing problems).

Naim dealer came to my house and found that the Valhala was the cause for this, and now, (I have no way) I have to buy an Armagedon (that's what I think - Naim dealer doesn't force me...).

The frightening fact of the story is that my system (all Naim) is 7/24 "on". Even when I'm not at home for several days, the system is "on".

What do you think about this story.
Are Naim products are safe from such an incident ?

BTW, while telling this I remember that for the last month or two the turntable have a problem to start rotating the platter, sometimes I even helped it start with my hand, I guess something went wrong then, but couldn't guess that this will be the outcome.

More BTW - an interesting story with the insurance for this case - I'll tell you when I'll know all the facts.

Arye

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Dev B

I am sorry to hear of this. From a safety standpoint this is actually very alarming, I am surprised no one has replied to your post (probably since they are up so up their own arses talking about stands).

In any event, if you can be sure that your valhalla is the cause of what could have been a potential fire, I would be inclined to take the matter up with Linn. At the very least they should inform other customers with valhallas that their LP12s are potentially very dangerous and they should offer (through their dealers) to inspect them all (kind of like how car manufacturers do recalls on duff cars, etc).

I find this really alarming.

Dev

ps. why don't you do the decent thing and get rid of the LP12. no LP12 - no fire risk, you know it makes sense.

p.p.s. one of the advantages of Mana over wooden stands is that Mana is also fireproof, whereas quadrapire will spontaneously combust.

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Mick P

Dev

JW has declared Arye *personna non gratia* and will not supply him with any Mana equipment.

Therefore you will need to recommend something else.

Regards

Mick...also *personna non gratia*

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by garyi

Mabye it would be worth while getting your electrics checked out?

I had an issue with an electric fire, basically I had it plugged into an extension lead which turned out to be knackered, any how that thing got really hot and kept banging, (we couldn't work out where it was coming from at first) anyhow it eventually blew the fuse in the main fuse box, upon closer inspection the fuse in the fuse box was the wrong one and should have been lower rated.

Presumably if your lin product finally decided to catch light then chances are its been crosswiring for quite some time and mabye your house electrics should have tipped.

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Lo Fi Si

Dev
Maybe that should be Quadrapyre?
Sorry
Simon

Come on you Blacks

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Dev B

I am sure that JW hasn't actually banned you, I am sure you will be made most welcome should you choose to participate again.

I also had a little 'difference of opinion' with JW about six years ago but now we get on fine, he's a nice guy.

Life is too short for quarrels, particularly meaningless ones like hifi. All very childish in my view.

regards,

Dev

ps. For my sins I have to go to Swindon next week (BP now owns Castrol and I run a part of the Castrol business in Swindon!). Any chance of meeting up, I would like to see whether your incredible personality really exists, or whether you are a fictonal interet persona of Vuk Vuksanovic.

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Alex S.

I'm glad I've got the AW 'what are all those bare wires doing all over the place' modded Lingo instead of Valhalla

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Arye_Gur

After the problem will be solved, I'll address Linn and ven will send them the fault Valhalla so they will be able to check it.

Arye

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Dev B

quote:
I'll address Linn and ven will send them the fault Valhalla so they will be able to check it

you should also zend zem a fire extinguisher as ze latezt upgradez for ze the LP12

Posted on: 31 August 2001 by Mick P

Dev

I will mail you my tel number for directions...it will be good to meet you.

Regards

Mick

Posted on: 01 September 2001 by Andrew L. Weekes

quote:
I'm glad I've got the AW 'what are all those bare wires doing all over the place' modded Lingo instead of Valhalla

I really should have taken photo's of your Lingo, just to remove the perception people might get that I'm a bodger

For your personal satisfaction Alex, every naked wire that would have been left in your Lingo was skillfully caressed and dresed in heat-shrinkable tubing - covering up the atrocious standard of soldering underneath

Andy.

P.S. Arye, scary though this episode must have been, the Valhalla board should be fused at the point mains reaches it, so I'm sure this would have blown before anything serious happened.

The Valhalla from my LP12 shows some lovely scorch marks, from 14 years of being plugged into the mains, but still works fine. Also from experience one can get impressive amounts of smoke from the most inocuous components (tantalum caps are fab for this). That's the true art of electronics - keeping the smoke inside

Posted on: 01 September 2001 by Ron The Mon

While I worked as a Linn salesman in the 80s,
there was a period of time when 2 or 3 times a week a customer would call or bring in their
LP-12 with a burned Valhalla. As Andy Weekes
alluded to above, the Valhalla is always on
as long as the power cord is plugged in to the wall. Linn compensated for this problem by
soldering the two resistors that catch fire
several additional millimeters away from the
PCB to improve cooling and also changed
several other components. Linn to this day
fully warranties the problem. The faulty board is sent back to Linn for repair and a
brand-new board (or repair) is installed. It
is a very common problem occuring in Valhalla
boards manufactured in roughly 1983-'84.
I also owned an LK-1 and LK-2 (bought new)for a brief time, and all the original LK-2s
caught fire or blew-up too. This was why Linn
made the "updated" LK-280. In this case they
actually charged customers to "update" their
power-amp before it blew-up under the pretence of getting better performance, before it had
to be updated(repaired) under warranty!!!

Ron The Mon

P.S.
Arye, definitely get your Valhalla board
replaced for free first even if you get an
Armageddon. The Valhalla has resale value to
someone upgrading from a "Basic" motor.
Especially a "brand-new" one.

Posted on: 04 September 2001 by Arye_Gur

Andy

quote:
the Valhalla board should be fused at the point mains reaches it, so I'm sure this would have blown before anything serious happened.

There is a fuse on board but nothing happened to this fuse. This case reminds me that many years ago when I studied electronics, I was told that one of the primary job for a transistor is to protect the fuse that should protect the transistor... (I wonder if Mike could rsponse for this).

Ron,

I'll send the board to Linn, and they'll do what they'll find is correct to do.
Linn gave their agency in Israel to a kitchen furniture importer and I don't know who he is ( it is true, not a joke).

Arye