Hello HiFi ROSE team,
I recently purchased an RA280 and experienced an unusual issue. My setup is a Bluesound Node connected to the RA280, driving Bowers & Wilkins 704 S3 speakers.
The amplifier had been running for approximately two hours when it suddenly switched off while music was still playing. It was only mildly warm, as usual, and nowhere near hot. Automatic shutdown was set to 30 minutes. I had configured this several weeks earlier and had not changed the setting recently.
After I switched it back on, the volume knob kept turning towards minimum by itself. Whenever I tried to increase the volume manually, it turned back down. There was also a buzzing/whirring sound coming directly from the volume control, identical to the sound the motor makes when holding down the volume-down button.
This continued for approximately one minute. Before I understood what was happening, I briefly turned the knob against the motor twice. I then pressed volume up and volume down on the remote, which stopped both the unwanted movement and the noise.
I had not touched the remote when the initial shutdown occurred, nor had I been changing settings in the app. The amplifier was connected to my home network.
Since then, the amplifier and volume control have been working normally again. After the incident, I installed the latest available firmware.
Could you please clarify:
- Is this a known issue, possibly related to automatic shutdown or the volume-control software?
- Why might automatic shutdown activate while music is still playing?
- Could the motor running towards minimum for about a minute, or briefly turning the knob against it, have caused damage?
- Is it safe to continue using the amplifier, including unattended playback? My main concern is whether a similar fault could make the volume increase instead.
- Does a firmware update address this behaviour, or should the unit be inspected by my dealer?
Thank you for your help.
Best regards,
Julian