Avid Stage16 dying
 

Has anyone else had issues with their Stage 16 stageboxes? We purchased our 64 channel S3LX system in July of last year. We had one stage box die completely within the first two weeks, another died 3 weeks later, and we just had one die on us on Saturday. Each time, the units have completely stopped powering up. I've troubleshooted by swapping IEC cables, outlets, you name it. They wouldn't power up. I'm sitting here at my office desk and tried to power it on and it's dead. Thankfully we bought the system from Sweetwater and they've taken care of us each time and had new stageboxes overnighted to us. I'm wondering if it's possible we got a bad batch of them from Avid? Anyone else have this issue?

Re: Avid Stage16 dying
 

Have you been told what the issues were with the ones that you returned? I assume that with this many failures someone would want to know why. Is something burning out? Like in the power supply of the units.

Have these all been plugged into the same place for power. I have found some very interesting failures over the years with what seems to be power that meters fine but there is something wrong when it is examined properly.

Re: Avid Stage16 dying
 

We bought our S3L as soon as it was available in our country, years ago.
Since then we had 4 stage box issues exactly the same you mention.
On all the boxes the power supply died.
You completely have to dismantle the stage box to get access, very hard to do it in the field.
The replacement, you get from Avid but don't be surprised, outside the warranty, it costs triple compared to any similar supply.
We learned, the boxes don't like quick power off/on. Wait a while after power off.

Re: Avid Stage16 dying
 

Replacement parts to any consumer devices always cost few times more than similar widely available components. I never saw it being different.

P.S. If I had a similar situation and had no guarantee, I would find someone to repair the PSU. Replacing some burned MOSFET should be cheap.

Re: Avid Stage16 dying
 

Yes, one of mine died a few months back. Very disappointing. Refused to power up at a show. Sent in for repair, new power supply.

Re: Avid Stage16 dying
 

Most of the power supplies can be rebuilt -- no need for a new power supply (unless you want a spare on hand.)
Usually only a few dollars in replacement parts (and once you open them up, it's generally really obvious what needs to be replaced.)

In LA, we have a local shop that rebuilds/resells replacement PSUs for a lot less than Avid but it honestly isn't a hard repair if you are handy with a soldering gun (or if you know someone who is)