Long story short, I have semi-inherited a Jeff Rowland Model 12 amp.
BACKGROUND IF YOU CARE :
This "one" Model 12 unit is actually four separate boxes: two switch mode power supplies and two amps. The power supplies are connected to the amps by weapons-grade umbilicals.
One power supply is dead dead dead, and has been dead for years. Many, many attempts to have it repaired have failed, and heck I've been trying since last November just to get someone to return my calls. Forget Jeff Rowland or any "authorized repair centeers", I think they're hiding behind the door when you try to reach them.
Rowland does not publish schematics, or offer any assistance whatsoever.
What I've eventually learned is nobody messes with these JR switch mode power supplies, even Rowland in the past has "rebuilt" them as linears, so you sent your dead smps in for repairs, he charged a fortune and you got a linear back in that same chassis.
THE REAL QUESTION :
Can I drive both amps from the surviving SMPS?
I haven't delved into JR's SMPS design too deeply (not as if you really can), but it seems plausible.
I'm in a standard size family room (12x18 maybe) type space with pretty efficient speakers (>95dB) and just don't crank Led Zep like I used to.
This would require spending a good bit of time sourcing the connectors and building a proper split umbilical. Mocking one up properly looks like it would take almost as long as shipping the connectors, so might as well just do it right the first time.
RELATED THOUGHTS :
Dead JR equipment, since it can't be fixed, has an approximate market value of $zero, give or take shipping. The boxes are cool CNC machined aluminum, kind of like Lego the way they go together to make different JR equipment. But these are the stubbiest of the JR boxes, so you cant jam much in there if you're repurposing them.
I would hate to immediately fry the good SMPS, because we've been using it to troubleshoot the dead SMPS.
On the other hand, I'm functionally dead in the water unless I really get into mono.
The other down-the-road thought is, ditch the dead SMPS and build a nice linear PS into that box and use IT to drive both amps. I'd already have the umbilical!
But seriously .... thoughts on the original idea of driving both amp modules from the one SMPS?
Thank you.