Power surge fried my MA5300

A

andrew.thill

New member
Joined
Oct 21, 2025
Messages
14
Hey folks,
Anyone faced similar issues before? Power outage in the neighborhood has broken the speaker outputs of my MA5300.
- Powers on, Initializes and meters light up.
- Can hear audio through earphone jacks.
- But no audio to speakers. Output Terminals register 0 volts. Meter needles don’t move.

Any suggestions on what it could be?
Thanks.
 
andrew.thill said:
Hey folks,
Anyone faced similar issues before? Power outage in the neighborhood has broken the speaker outputs of my MA5300.
- Powers on, Initializes and meters light up.
- Can hear audio through earphone jacks.
- But no audio to speakers. Output Terminals register 0 volts. Meter needles don’t move.

Any suggestions on what it could be?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry you're dealing with that. Never fun.
 
That is a bummer. Welcome to AS.

Have you tried unplugging it for a couple minutes and plugging it back in to see if it resets. Seems odd the preamp/headphone works but not the output stage to speakers.

I'm assuming you don't use power conditioning. You might look into that for the future. You can find units that do not limit current.
 
Mr Peabody said:
That is a bummer. Welcome to AS.

Have you tried unplugging it for a couple minutes and plugging it back in to see if it resets. Seems odd the preamp/headphone works but not the output stage to speakers.

I'm assuming you don't use power conditioning. You might look into that for the future. You can find units that do not limit current.
Click to expand...
I definitely need to get a surge protector in the future. Hard lesson to learn. Tried unplugging etc. Just dropped it off at a tech. Perhaps it’s just the inbuilt fuses best case.
 
Mr Peabody said:
That is a bummer. Welcome to AS.

Have you tried unplugging it for a couple minutes and plugging it back in to see if it resets. Seems odd the preamp/headphone works but not the output stage to speakers.

I'm assuming you don't use power conditioning. You might look into that for the future. You can find units that do not limit current.
Click to expand...
Any recommendations for a power conditioner? Thanks.
 
I use a power conditioner (which has surge protection) but also have whole house protection. I have 300 amp electrical service (put in while the house was being built). It has two 150 amp legs, each with it's own surge protector. My main system has a dedicated 20 amp circuit and two dedicated 15 amp circuits.
 
Phil A said:
I use a power conditioner (which has surge protection) but also have whole house protection. I have 300 amp electrical service (put in while the house was being built). It has two 150 amp legs, each with it's own surge protector. My main system has a dedicated 20 amp circuit and two dedicated 15 amp circuits.
Click to expand...
Had no I idea this even existed. Thank for the insight and recommendation. Our house is old so need to check with electrician on feasibility.
 
I feel for you. I had stuff put in with the house and apparently (I was up North when most of the building took place in early 2013) the electricians only put surge protection on one of the 150 amp legs going into the house. In March 2017, I had lightning damage (and don't even ask about the nightmare of one of those Florida state funded insurers of last resort) and had a bunch of things damaged. So since then, I've had it updated by the outside service box so that was taken care of.

I have an old Torus RM-20 (20 amp) power conditioner (over 20 years old and I bought it new) where basically all the pricier 2-channel stuff gets plugged into. The main system is an integrated AV system and the other two 15 amp circuits are basically where the home theater stuff is plugged into. I have power conditioners spare home theater systems and also in a spare 2-channel system.

Main System May 18, 2025.jpg
 
Thanks for sharing your experience and looks like you are well armed against surges now. My unit is with tech waiting to hear back on prognosis.
 
andrew.thill said:
Any recommendations for a power conditioner? Thanks.
Click to expand...
For reasonable priced look at Surgex. I believe they also offer whole house. I used to use their units for my main system.

Now I use Clarus Concerto which was a good improvement in sound quality and has outlets that won't limit current. Shunyata is also a very well regarded brand for power products.
 
I had a lightning strike the ground near my home in June. Took out routers, a desktop PC, motors to two recliners, the control board and wiring harness of my HVAC system AND my preamp and one mono-block. After thousands of $ of shipping and replacement, I hope to have my system running by mid-November.

I tell you this as I have whole surge protectors in my breaker panels. I have surge protectors and uninterruptible power supplies on my computers, a Shunyata Everest 8000 on my system and various other nickknacks from Shunyata and The Wizard guy.

None of them ‘tripped’. None of them did shit.

Bottom line for me: you cannot protect yourself from lightning by any equipment. The only protection is to have your system unplugged from the world.

Good luck with your McIntosh equipment.
 
crwilli said:
I had a lightning strike the ground near my home in June. Took out routers, a desktop PC, motors to two recliners, the control board and wiring harness of my HVAC system AND my preamp and one mono-block. After thousands of $ of shipping and replacement, I hope to have my system running by mid-November.

I tell you this as I have whole surge protectors in my breaker panels. I have surge protectors and uninterruptible power supplies on my computers, a Shunyata Everest 8000 on my system and various other nickknacks from Shunyata and The Wizard guy.

None of them ‘tripped’. None of them did shit.

Bottom line for me: you cannot protect yourself from lightning by any equipment. The only protection is to have your system unplugged from the world.

Good luck with your McIntosh equipment.
Click to expand...
Whoa that’s brutal. Despite all those measures you still got impacted.! We are having pleasant weather right now so yet to see if any of the AC units are blown.
 
crwilli said:
I had a lightning strike the ground near my home in June. Took out routers, a desktop PC, motors to two recliners, the control board and wiring harness of my HVAC system AND my preamp and one mono-block. After thousands of $ of shipping and replacement, I hope to have my system running by mid-November.

I tell you this as I have whole surge protectors in my breaker panels. I have surge protectors and uninterruptible power supplies on my computers, a Shunyata Everest 8000 on my system and various other nickknacks from Shunyata and The Wizard guy.

None of them ‘tripped’. None of them did shit.

Bottom line for me: you cannot protect yourself from lightning by any equipment. The only protection is to have your system unplugged from the world.

Good luck with your McIntosh equipment.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. Any idea where the lightning came in? Good point though we can protect the AC power but lightning can also travel on internet wiring or cable if applicable.
 
Mr Peabody said:
For reasonable priced look at Surgex. I believe they also offer whole house. I used to use their units for my main system.

Now I use Clarus Concerto which was a good improvement in sound quality and has outlets that won't limit current. Shunyata is also a very well regarded brand for power products.
Click to expand...
Thank you for these recommendations
 
Andrew - most McIntosh gear has a factory reset procedure. Here is the procedure for the 5300 from the manual:

————-snip————-

Reset of Microprocessors

In the unlikely event the controls of the MA5300 stop functioning, the microprocessors can be reset by performing the following:

1. Press the STANDBY/ON Push-button until the

STANDBY/ON LED Indicator switches Off.

2. Then release the STANDBY/ON Push-button and the MA5300 will switch Off.

3. When the STANDBY/ON LED is illuminated press the STANDBY/ON Push-button, the MA5300 will resume normal operation.

Note: This can be performed with the MA5300 On or in the Standby Mode.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top