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Biamp Cornerstone

Troubleshooting Qt active emitter runs

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Sometimes emitters buzz or hum. Active emitters in particular are susceptible to this issue.

 

Cabling

99% of issues with Qt systems are cabling related.

  •  A bad cable often results in one or more emitters not reproducing the spectrum. A short often results in either emitters not working OR faults at the controller. 
  • The input/output jacks may be swapped. In other words, the cable that should go into the "input" jack is connected to the "output" jack.
    • This often results in a fault at the controller and may take some time to manifest.
  • For pendant mounts, verify the wiring.

Cabling checks

  • Try unplugging the zone after the 4th emitter. Does the humming stop? If so, where in the zone?
  • Try unplugging the active zone from the Qt X Controller. Does the humming stop? If so, where in the zone?

If the hum never stops when the emitter is unplugged from Qt X, a power issue may be present.

 

Checking the power

Power injector issues

The Power Injectors (PI-AE) can be powered by a third-party power supply with the same specs. However, these can introduce noise or hum to the Active Emitters.  Biamp recommends using a Power Supply (PS-AE-3) for proper transformer isolation and avoiding ground loops.

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It is rare, though the PI-AE can be a point of failure. Replacing it can be a last troubleshooting step.

In some cases, the PS-AE-3 cannot completely remove all ground loop hums.

Power source

  • Verify all power is clean with good extensions and goes to the same power circuit to avoid a ground loop.

 

 

Verify the emitters function correctly

If there are no apparent problems with the cabling or power, there may be an issue with the emitters or how they are configured.

As a reminder, standard emitters do not require a power supply or power injector while active ones do.

  • Verify that Passive zones are using standard emitters without power injectors or Qt emitter power supplies.
  • Verify Active zones are using active emitters and are properly wired.

 

Some final tests once the power and emitter types have been verified.

  • Test one output at a time from the power injector while working in groups of four as normal.
  • Ensure all emitters have green light visible in the port once all are plugged in and verified audible.
  • Swap a troublesome emitter with one in good working order to check if the emitter itself is causing the issue.