Trouble with Aviom A320's

[StradivariusBone]

So I wanted to poll the hive mind here in addition to some other troubleshooting I'm working through. Got a set of A320's as described in the title, I mix sound for this setup as well as occasionally play bass using one of the stations for IEM. I've noticed one station in particular appears to have some kind of issue with the TRS connector. It occasionally will drop out on the right channel and I get what sounds like clipping through the ears. It had seemed isolated to one station, did all the normal things like changing ears, adapters, extension cables, etc. Tried different ports in the Aviom switch, nothing fixed it except switching to a different A320 unit.

I haven't contacted Aviom yet (I suppose that's the next step), but is there anything in particular I should be looking for? The problem seems to be spreading and has impacted a second unit at this point. It sounds like the classic busted 3.5mm cable problem. Signal into the input module doesn't appear to be clipping at all. Anyone have problems like this with these units?

Thanks!

 

[FMEng]

I run into that problem all the time with field recorders. The headphone jack might be damaged. 3.5 mm jacks are flimsy and don't belong on equipment like that. Or the jack's connection to the circuit board is broken. Often times, the only mechanical support the jack has is its connection to the circuit board. One good hit to an inserted plug, and the solder or trace cracks. A look inside, with a magnifier, while wiggling the jack might reveal the problem. Broken traces can be repaired by scraping down to bare copper and bridging with a tiny piece of wire and solder.

 

[themuzicman]

Personal mixers are great, however Aviom has especially poor build quality and not a terribly great track record for quality control. My guess is that the jack is just a little busted, thankfully they are pretty easy to repair.

If you've worked local crew on any of the musical tours you'll notice that every single Aviom has an Aviom MT-X extension box on it, or a shop homemade doghouse equivalent on it -- it's because the Aviom jacks get busted constantly so by providing a device that only gets plugged in once you alleviate wear and tear on the Aviom itself and move the wear and tear to a jack that is simultaneously more robust and one that you can field-replace rather easily.