@#$^!! Burned out power amp

Dave Jones · 14th January 2011, 06:43 PM

I fried one channel of my too-expensive Rotel 5-channel power amp. Dang! I was hooking up some rear speakers that have powered subs in them. I connected the sub amp to the line-level sub signal, having forgotten that the sub amp was already connected to the high level surround channel. When I switched on the system, it started making an incredibly loud knocking sound at about 2Hz. Loud and resonant. At first I did not even recognize that the sound was coming from the sub. I literally thought someone was battering my door in. It probably knocked like that for three seconds or more before I got my wits about me. (There were panicked dogs complicating the situation.)

When I unplugged the high level speaker wires on the surround channel at the power amp, sparks jumped. That can't be a good sign.

The one surround channel on the power amp is dead. I am amplifier-challenged. Anyone know what happened? Is it possible it just blew an internal fuse? (The jumping sparks make me think it's worse than that.) Is there anyone here from Silicon Valley who might be willing to take a look at it? Or know a good and honest repair man in the area?

jaycee · 14th January 2011, 09:40 PM

It's likely you have blown output transistors on that channel, so it will need repair by a service tech.

14th January 2011, 06:43 PM	#1
Dave Jones diyAudio Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Silicon Valley	@#$^!! Burned out power amp I fried one channel of my too-expensive Rotel 5-channel power amp. Dang! I was hooking up some rear speakers that have powered subs in them. I connected the sub amp to the line-level sub signal, having forgotten that the sub amp was already connected to the high level surround channel. When I switched on the system, it started making an incredibly loud knocking sound at about 2Hz. Loud and resonant. At first I did not even recognize that the sound was coming from the sub. I literally thought someone was battering my door in. It probably knocked like that for three seconds or more before I got my wits about me. (There were panicked dogs complicating the situation.) When I unplugged the high level speaker wires on the surround channel at the power amp, sparks jumped. That can't be a good sign. The one surround channel on the power amp is dead. I am amplifier-challenged. Anyone know what happened? Is it possible it just blew an internal fuse? (The jumping sparks make me think it's worse than that.) Is there anyone here from Silicon Valley who might be willing to take a look at it? Or know a good and honest repair man in the area? __________________ Davy Jones

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14th January 2011, 09:40 PM	#2
jaycee diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Norwich, UK	It's likely you have blown output transistors on that channel, so it will need repair by a service tech.

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