3875 clipping and heat

[xsheaffer]

#¬T$?no amp runs hot with music, warm at idle. At what I would consider moderate listening volume I get an ugly popping sound during kickdrum-type transients.
I have an 18v 160VA Avel toroid and Audiosector 3875 kit. DC is 78mv positive out vs ground, 78 mv neg out vs. ground.
The popping has gotten less severe over the 2 hrs this amp has existed, but I would expect more headroom and much less heat.
The amp sounds really good otherwise.

I took a best guess at the trafo hookup and I suspect I may have something backwards - any advice appreciated, see pic.
I have a 3"x6"x1" finned Al heatsink coupled with Si grease.

Thanks!

[jleaman]

Originally posted by xsheaffer
#¬T$?no amp runs hot with music, warm at idle. At what I would consider moderate listening volume I get an ugly popping sound during kickdrum-type transients.
I have an 18v 160VA Avel toroid and Audiosector 3875 kit. DC is 78mv positive out vs ground, 78 mv neg out vs. ground.
The popping has gotten less severe over the 2 hrs this amp has existed, but I would expect more headroom and much less heat.
The amp sounds really good otherwise.

I took a best guess at the trafo hookup and I suspect I may have something backwards - any advice appreciated, see pic.
I have a 3"x6"x1" finned Al heatsink coupled with Si grease.

Thanks!

What pic ? & 78Mv that is kinda high. I wonder if all your parts are solderd properly and have good conductivity.

[xsheaffer]

This is what I get for running too many projects at one time! As it turned out, I had a crossover problem where the DCR of my speakers was 0.6 ohm!
The amps are fine, wonderful actually! They were just running out of their impedance range and clipping badly.

Scott