Troubleshooting – Manley The WAVE DAC/Preamp 24/96 Version Serial Code WAVE016-present 2002 - present User Manual

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Sing along with us: "Problems, problems, problems all day long....."

NO POWER, NO INDICATORS, NADA - Does the power supply LED come on and is the Standby LED dim? If so, the unit
is in standby mode. Push that STANDBY button to make him come alive. If all lights are dark, even the LED on the PSU, probably
there's an issue with AC power. Is it plugged in? Check the fuse on the back panel. A blown fuse often looks blackened inside
or the little wire inside looks broken or its resistance measures higher than 2 ohms. A very blackened fuse is a big hint that a
Vary Bad Thing occured. Try replacing the fuse with a good one of the same value, size, and SLO-BLO type. If it blows too, then
prepare to send the unit back to the dealer or factory for repair. The fuse is a protection device and it should blow if there is a
problem. If the unit works with a new fuse, fine, it works. Sometimes fuses just blow for unknown reasons.

LIGHTS BUT NO SOUND - Lights are on but nobody's home. Probably got one too many lights. How about that INSERT
button? If that is on, and nothing connected or what is connected is off, then no music will get through. De-selecting INSERT
button should "cure" that and a reasonable solution would be to just connect a short interconnect between the Insert Sends and
Returns so that accident won't be quite as annoying next time. Is that MUTE indicator lit? Maybe there isn't a valid digital input
where you've selected. Sometimes the digital reciever locks up and de-selecting/re-selecting solves the glitch and occasionally
you might need to try Standby again to reset the DAC board - just like a computer. Don't forget about that 20 second warm-up
delay where the MUTE will be automatic. Last but not least is the Output selection if you are using Output 2 and/or Output 3.
That can certainly kill the signal too if its in the wrong state. So check all your selections.

Next try plugging the input and output cables into each other or some other piece of gear to verify that your wires are OK. If not
fix them or replace them. Assuming that cables passed sound - it probably is still a wiring thing. The Output 3 XLRs are
transformer balanced outputs which require both PIN 2 and PIN 3 to be connected somewhere. When driving an unbalanced
input PIN 3 needs to be grounded or connected to PIN 1. Same with the unbalanced RCA phono jacks - if driving a balanced
input you can't ignore the negative side (pin3). It needs to be connected to the sleeve of the RCA jack. Another way to do basically
the same thing is join PIN 1 and PIN 3 on the XLR male at the destination. Easiest way - Use the balanced Output 3 on the WAVE
and use a normal balanced cable to drive that balanced input.

LEVELS SEEM TO BE WRONG, NO BOTTOM - Several possible scenarios. Pro gear uses the nominal standard of +4 dBm
= Zero VU = 1.228 volts AC RMS. A lot of consumer gear uses a reference of -10 dBm = Zero VU. This is a 14 dB difference
that will certainly look goofy and may tend to distort. Often there are switches on the semi-pro gear to choose the pro reference
level. There is the GAIN setting jumper on the tube board to look at. If the loss looks close to 6 dB and it sounds thin then one
half of the balanced signal is lost (one leg not connected). The cause is probably wiring again. One of the two signal carrying
wires (the third is ground / shield on pin 1) is not happening. Check the cables carefully because occasionally a cable gets modified
to work with a certain unit and it seems to work but its wrong in other situations. If only one side of the WAVE exhibits this
problem, it may be a problem in the WAVE. See the next item. Of note: the INSERT output is not standardly calibrated in
reference to digital inputs and is simply the level that the DAC board outputs. We chose to use less electronics here to keep the
path as pristene as possible for the audiophile needs and the main gain of the unit is made up in the vacuum tube stage.

ONE SIDE WORKS FINE BUT THE OTHER SIDE IS DEAD - Let's assume this is not wiring. We are pretty sure it is the
WAVE. If it were solid state you would generally send it back for repair. Being a tube unit, you can probably find the problem
and fix it yourself in a few minutes. Not too many years ago, even your parents could "fix" their own stuff by taking a bag of tubes
down to the corner drug store and checking the tubes on a tube tester - but these testers are hard to find today. A visual inspection
can usually spot a bad tube just as well. Be careful - there are some high voltages inside the chassis and tubes can get pretty warm,
but if you can replace a light bulb you should be able to cruise through this. Before you remove a tube, just take a look at them
powered up. They should glow a bit and they should be warm. If one is not, you have already found the problem. The tube's
filament (heater) is burnt out or broken like a dead light bulb. The other big visual symptom is a tube that has turned milky white
- that indicates air has gotten into the tube or we've joked "the vacuum leaked out". Either way replace the tube. Manley can ship
you a tested one for a reasonable price. Before you pull a tube, pull the power out, let the unit sit and cool and discharge for a
minute or two, then swap the new tube in, then power, then check. Gentle with those tubes, don't bend the pins by trying to insert
the tube not quite right. A little rocking of them as you pull them out or put them in helps. The two taller tubes are the same and
the two shorter tubes are the same so you can swap them left to right. If the problem follows the tube you found the problem:
a bad tube. No soldering, no meters, one screwdriver - easy. See page

for a diagram of tube locations.

TROUBLESHOOTING