QSC 1400 Schematics

Thanks!

I found them....Now i need to figure out how these strange amps work!

Looks like the driver transistors for one channel are blown and the other channel works until you get close to clip, then the top of the positive waveform clips off at an angle, very strange, never seen an amp behave like that.


Zc
 
I do not understand how these amps work! crazy things!

the output is taken from the middle of the filter banks and the output transistors are wired to load the transformer/rect. down with AC. seems crazy to me.

QSC has these schematics posted on there website free to download.
http://www.qscaudio.com/support/technical_support/schematics.htm
click on series one model 1400

I was hoping to fix this as inexpensivly as possible as i am doing this gratis for a friend.

Zc
 
Grounding the emitters may seem counterintuitive at first, but look at it this way. Forget the idea of ground for a minute. Normally you have power transistors conducting to the power rails, and they then connect together and go into the speaker. The other side of the speaker goes to the common of the power supply. (This is the point usually grounded)

The circuit here is really the same thing, they just connect the system to ground on the amp side of the speaker instead of the power supply side. If you had no chassis and built it on a wooden plank, you would have the same circuit - power rails through transistors through the speaker and back to the power supply common. Now to stuff it in a chassis, really you could ground any point you like.

Imagine a fan to cool yourself on a hot day. You could bolt the motor to the frame and the fan blade to the shaft, or you could bolt the shaft to the frame and connect the fan blade to the motor body (Oh pretend there are no wires, or it runs on batteries or sometihng) Either way, it spins.

One advantage of grounded emitter design is that a shorted output device does not put DC onthe speaker. Grounded emitter amps are also called flying rail amps.

Look for shorted output transistors, check the driver TO220s. and make sure the driver emiter resistors are not open. Check all the ballast resistors while you are at it, one per power transistor.

In troubled amps it is common to find the +/-15v supplies to the op amps way out of whack. WHile it is possible a bad zener happened, it is probably an artifact of the other trouble, so look to the power semis first before worrying about the LV rails.

Just a hunch, but on some of those - and there are two versions of the 1400 if I recall - there is a hum null or offset null. The pot likes to open and it can throw the rails way off. Remember the supply is not referenced to ground, so if the output transistor shorts, it just hauls the rails way offset. So instead of +/- 50 you get +20/-80 or something like that. Measured to ground. Measure across the bridge it will be 100v - or whatever - all the time regardless.
 
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I yanked all the output devices out and they all test fine! so i powered it up without the outputs as i have done hundreds of times and promptly smoked a driver resistor as i was coming up with the variac. and found a bad driver transistor.

So i yanked both drivers and brought it up very very slowley and just enough to get some juice in it and yes i find the power supply to be off. if it was up all the way it would probably be 80/20 like you mentioned....Need to get some parts and i will sork on it some more. i will look for some open pots...


Zc
 
Hi guys. Several months ago, I uploaded a homemade amplifier based on RMX1450 of QSC. The sound is very delightful and I tried to build the PCB as compact as possible with discrete components. I followed the diagram carefully so it work fine 100%.
 

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QSC power supplies float at the speaker voltage, so each channel has to have it's own power supply.
Another advantage is that the drivers need only drive enough voltage to drive the BE input of the output transistors. This suits op-amp based circuits.

Crown took the idea another step by combining this with a bridged pair riding the moving rails, so you get a bridged amp that you can bridge again to get 4x the supply peak voltage.

That was in the 70s, 80s because I moved to computers in 86, so I dunno what happened with amps later. I do know that the professionals now sell ~5KW amps, variations on Class-D, I suspect. Later, I did use a couple UDCO shaker table amps, a cyclotron and a IGBT class-D (~30KW, 60KW 480VAC 3 phase).

It looks like QSC no longer has Service manuals on line, just user manuals. But I found some old schematics else where and I note that this one uses Collector facing outputs, which meant that all the power transistor Collectors were grounded and therefore did not need sil-pads to isolate them, making for better heat transfer.
 
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I think they did pull all of their old schematics - I downloaded most of them over the years and the rest would be so similar that I’ve got a good starting point. Don’t know much about their new class D stuff - if it is like everyone else’s they would be very closely bases on IR’s reference designs.

The only thing non DIY-friendly about their old classic designs is the fact that they require independent isolated supplies for each channel. You either spend 80% more (and 80% more weight) having two transformers, or spend 300% more getting one custom wound. Or you have to wind your own, which not everyone can or should do. For a single channel for a powered sub it’s a non issue, but to fully clone an RMX1450 takes a little more work (or expense) than your average DIY amp.
 
Cool :)
For a solid foundation I suggest you start with a Physics book :oops:
Many skip this important first step.
"But ..but ... I want Electronics, not Physics"
Point is, Electronics is a branch of physics, and follows its rules.

I suggest you go to a local High School Library and get an old book (not kidding, from early 1900´s to the 50and 60s) , and read the chapters dedicated to Electricity (usually bundled in the same book with Magnetism).

You will learn about (in no particular order) : voltage - current - conductor - insulator - switch - resistor - capacitor - battery - potentiometer - power - meter (needle old style) - inductor - transformer - DC/AC etc.

Which then will make easier to understand:
  • transistor (TRANSference reSISTOR)
  • diode (conductor one way, insulator the other)
  • vacuum tube , much better described as "valve", the "faucet" which controls electrons flow
and so on and on and on.

One modern resource is: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Physics+II+For+Dummies-p-9780470640678
don´t get misled by the title, it explains the hows and whys, with little Math.

For me, it is better first to understand the concept , and then you learn how to calculate it.

As a reference book, where you´ll find most "everything", but you read and learn and consult it at your own pace, is:
"The Art of Electronics" https://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521809266
Way more than you asked for, a whole library in itself.
Used ones starting at some $20.
 
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