QU32 No output, possible DAC failure?

[Yamin]

Hello there everyone, I have got a QU32 with no output. Everything is patched correctly, signal goes in I can see it on the meter but there is no output from any mix bus or master L/R (signal is seen on the led when AFL is pressed). It was working perfectly the night before and nothing was changed when powered up the next morning. I have done all the resets but the problem has not resolved.
I am assuming that the DAC has failed as looking at the block diagram it shows that the metering also happens before the DAC (why signal is seen on the meter).

Question:
1. What chip is used for the DAC on QU32?
2. Where is it situated? Is it on the main board or somewhere else? Looking at the main board I couldn’t find any DAC chips which I am familiar with.

I also noticed that something on the other side of the output board (when viewed from inside cover removed) was quite warm. I cannot see what it is without removing the whole output board. I thought it might be due to the power supply being there but it feels freakishly warm but not boiling hot.

This is probably a long shot but it would be great to get hold of a service manual for the QU32, there are no authorized re-sellers here and sending the whole unit to get serviced would be quite a burden. I am a qualified electronics engineer.

I hope someone could shed a light on this, your help would be greatly appreciated.

[Mike C]

Just to trouble shoot a tiny bit deeper have you tried the headphone output?
Have you tried another device of some sort plugged into the outputs, powered speaker, headphone amp, power amp and speaker?

Have you tried a firmware update/re-load?

[BRS]

And also made sure no PAFL is active – that often used to get me before I mapped a softkey to “Clear PAFL” (and then it lights if any PAFL is on).

Yeah, try other outputs to see if any are working – mixes, headphones, ALT outs etc. etc.

[Yamin]

Yes I have tried updating the firmware, checked everything else in my signal chain – cables, speaker etc. No output from headphone output either.
I should add another event company which has got a QU32 is suffering from the same symptoms.

[Mike C]

I take it you tried the headphone out while in PLF/AFL mode.

In your first post I take it that you can see input level metering
I assume on the channel meters and you can see PFL/AFL metering
on the main meter.
Do you see main output LR level metering when not in PFL/AFL?
( the block diagram does show the metering taken in the digital path)

Was the rest you did the full hard reset?

Just asking…any chance all the mixes and main are assigned to muted
DCA groups?

That all said it’s sounding like the mixer had a major sudden death failure.
I have never seen a schematic for a QU or opened mine up but I doubt
that all the DAC’s are on one common chip.
I’m really guessing here but maybe the circuit that clocks the DAC’s is
the fault.

[Yamin]

Hey @MikeC, Yep I can see the LR level metering even when the AFL of the master buss is not pressed.

I did a hard reset powered up the mixer while pressing the reset button + setup button. I also made sure that in fact it did reset all the saved scenes were gone.

There were no DCA’s involve 😉 . I have gone through that muted DCA scenarios couple of times my self.

I really hope I could get a schematic diagram so that I could make sure even if I have to replace the board I am replacing the correct board. It would be such a shame to discard this nice console.

[volounteer]

@Yamin

Where did you buy it from?
Is there a dealer in the Maldives?
Could a dealer repair it cheaper better than you trying to find and replace the correct board/chip/connector/yadayada

If you find a detailed schematic or a service manual do post that here for the rest of us to know.

[Yamin]

Yeah there are no authorized dealers here.

[Gordon]

I know this is a long shot, but it may be worth mentioning.

Make certain that all mono channels did not accidentally get un-assigned to L/R.

While in normal L/R mix mode, (LR is lit and mono channel layer is active,) press the “Assign” button to make sure that all channel select lights are lit up. This indicates routing goes to L/R.

[Jos]

I have also got Qu32 I’m aslo having same problem. As there no output coming from the mixer. Could anyone please help?

[KeithJ A&H]

Hi @Jos

Sorry to hear you’re experiencing something similar – you can contact us directly using https://support.allen-heath.com about this and we’ll be able to figure out what’s going on.

Thanks,
Keith.

[Molehill]

I am having the same issue described Yamin. Is there a fix for this problem?

[Author]

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