Preamp sending amp into protect


Hello everyone,
I recently took delivery of a Denafrips Athena preamp and their Apollo power amp, as well as a Lumin U1 Mini and an Ares 2 DAC. When the amp is connected via xlr outs to the preamp, it goes into protect within a few seconds. However, when connected directly to the Ares 2 DAC, everything is working as it should. Before I got the amp in I was using the xlr outs of the preamp to connect a set of powered monitors, which worked fine. I’m confused as to what would cause this issue with the preamp and amp combo. Any help would be appreciated.
jdown88

Showing 2 responses by rodman99999

Some preamps have (coupling) capacitors in series with their outputs, to block DC from the power amp.    You may have a bad one, in that channel.       Try swapping the outputs of the pre and see if the problem follows (L to R).     If so: at least you'll be certain, it's an issue in the pre.
Then again: some amps have coupling caps, at their inputs.   ie: The early Haflers had a, "C1", for blocking DC, on the driver board's input.     Perhaps a bad one, on the left (if applicable)?