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Echo Layla 24

PCI/ISA + Rack Soundcard from Echo

Replaced by Echo Layla3G.

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Thread Echo Audio Layla 20 loud HUM or BUZZ sound from outputs -- FIXED!!

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1 Echo Audio Layla 20 loud HUM or BUZZ sound from outputs -- FIXED!!
Echo Audio Layla 20 loud HUM or BUZZ sound from outputs -- FIXED!!

Hi folks,

I have this old Echo Layla 20 sound card that had a really loud buzz or hum coming out of the left channel. If you have a similar problem, even if your board is not a Layla 20, read on, you might find what you are looking for.

I was able to fix this board today and so I want to share this information in case anyone else has the same problem. I am not an electrical engineer and I have NO background in circuitry or anything.

I am purposefully being verbose for the sake of search engines. Problem, broken, defective, error, distortion, digital audio, you get the idea.

The device is from 1998 and it has served me well over the years, haven't used it in a while, but yesterday I noticed this horrible noise that was almost louder than the signal, from the left output channels.

I was troubleshooting the entire audio setup and was able to isolate it down to the layla, with it plugged into the wall only (removed all other jacks and plugs) and with headphones plugged into the left channel, i could hear this buzz. I even tried other outlets to make sure it wasn't a dirty AC signal.

SO the layla was generating this buzz. Those of you that are electrical engineers already know where i'm going with this, but this post is for the benefit of the rest of us who don't know about all this stuff.

I decided that i was either going to trash the layla or I would take it apart and see what there is to see. Upon opening the unit, I found two circuit boards connected together. One is primarily power and the other has all the logic chip and DSP (digital signal processor) IC's on it. The power board had three capacitors, one large and two smaller. The smaller were still about 12mm diameter, 20mm tall.

Turns out that some electronic components are more hardy than others. Alot of the Integrated Circuits (IC's), or Chips, are not really going to "go bad" unless there is a design flaw. Same with resistors and diodes and stuff. But Capacitors (electrolytic) are a different story. They actually have an "expected life" and it is measured in hours, days, months... After 10 years it would be surprising if they still did work! And the warmer the operating environment, the shorter the life span.

Capacitors can bulge or become deformed when they are on their way out, but broken caps do not always show damage on the outside. There is some info on the web regarding how you can test a capacitor with a digital multimeter. So, long story short, I replaced the two smaller capacitors and the device works good as new! The two caps were 1000 micro farad (uF), and 25 volt. I could not find a perfect match, but at radio shack I found 1000uF and 35V ($1.50 each), close enough?? I did a little research and found that a cap with a little more voltage capacity was not a problem. So, I broke out the 10 dollar soldering iron and removed the old capacitors. It was a bit tricky and i had to press & hold the point of the iron in the hole for a while to melt the solder. Once I got the feel of it, everything went smoother. The new capacitors went in with some more help from the soldering iron, and I clipped off the protruding ends with toenail clipper. Added a bit of solder on the connections to make sure it was solid. Once I got the old caps off I could see that they were distended from below.

Fired it up and it worked, I danced a jig i was so pleased. This was my first foray into fixing electronic stuff, and I have no background in electrical engineering at all, so i was pretty pleased that it actually worked.

Please remember when dealing with capacitors that they hold a charge and can hurt or kill if you touch them when they are not discharged, even long after you have unplugged the gadget. Sometimes they can take a long time (days) to discharge. Be safe and don't do this if you don't know what you are doing. I will say that my capacitors (i guess they were not holding much charge since they were damaged) did not hold any noticeable charge when I took the device apart, but YMMV. Better safe than sorry.

Good luck and I hope you're able to fix your audio equipment too. If you do find this advice helpful, please do respond back on this thread. I'd be interested to know if anybody else is able to benefit from this experience.