tiefbassuebertr said:
Hi,
Thank you for interesting feedback!
Yes, the phono module in A1, same as the phono stage in A3i and some of the later Cambridge Audio amps, used my circuit designed originally for Creek Audio OBH-8 stand-alone phono pre-amplifier. That circuit was published by me in 1998 in the "RadioHobby" magazine.
Alex
Alex. Some years ago I remember seeing the innards of a Cambridge amp in Richer Sounds window in Brighton. It was the one with the R-Core transformer. The PCB was stamped Mike Creek Audio.
Which model was it and was it any good?
Which model was it and was it any good?
I would just like to say that I love this thread. I think I will print it and keep it in my A3i box, with the original owner manual.
A3i
Sorry for the late add. I too have come across the A3i and have fallen in love with its warm and detailed sound. I noticed the LED issue crop up, but have bent it a bit to avoid having to solder just yet. Alex, any interest in doing some mods on this thing? I sure wouldn't mind if one of you pros wanted to tinker a bit. I can't imagine what a real power cord and a few updated parts might do.
The internals say Creek. I am not surprised. I have considered this piece better than an NAD 2200 and B & W Pro 5 combo, except for the power of course.
Sorry for the late add. I too have come across the A3i and have fallen in love with its warm and detailed sound. I noticed the LED issue crop up, but have bent it a bit to avoid having to solder just yet. Alex, any interest in doing some mods on this thing? I sure wouldn't mind if one of you pros wanted to tinker a bit. I can't imagine what a real power cord and a few updated parts might do.
The internals say Creek. I am not surprised. I have considered this piece better than an NAD 2200 and B & W Pro 5 combo, except for the power of course.
Hi, Havent seen Alex around but there is a thread where he shows some mods made which lower distortion considerbly, just basic mods anyone with some electronic knowhow can do, do a serch for cambridge A3.
Schematics are to find about
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/anal...rt-creek-obh-8-mc-cartridges.html#post1987623
The use of the p-channel MOSFET ZVP3306A (Diodes, formerly ZETEX) at this place I have never see by other brands. If I remove this one and shorted the gate-drain, then I get a folded cascode.
Which advantages provides now the introduced ZVP3306A?
The Creek integrated amplifier circuit 5350 MK-II are also your signature of creating. Because I have difficult to understanding the schematic, I start the follow thread:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/soli...50-mk2-circuit-descr-arround-q12a-wanted.html
Thank you very much for your comment.
Hi alex, hope you keeping well,any chance of a cicurt digram for the cambridge a3i. Im an ex audio service now retired, but still keeping hands on repaires,
thanks, amber
thanks, amber
Hello all,
Best regards from croatia...
i have a a3i and when it gets hot (sometimes) a loud 'klik' is heard from the speakers.
Sometime led 1 goes off and i think protection kicks in, sometime just continue to play like nothing happened.
q8, q7, q10 becomes hot
since I'm not a pro i will change led's and q's as it seems to be a common problem.
do I need to check anything else ?
Oh yes and 1 resistor become quite hot but on control board right next to jack connected to power amb board (frst near to r502)
cheers Darko
Best regards from croatia...
i have a a3i and when it gets hot (sometimes) a loud 'klik' is heard from the speakers.
Sometime led 1 goes off and i think protection kicks in, sometime just continue to play like nothing happened.
q8, q7, q10 becomes hot
since I'm not a pro i will change led's and q's as it seems to be a common problem.
do I need to check anything else ?
Oh yes and 1 resistor become quite hot but on control board right next to jack connected to power amb board (frst near to r502)
cheers Darko
A3i
Hi Guys!
I also have an A3i. I think the sound is better than many of my separates.
However, on one channel I have a silly little fuzz on some quiet piano type tones. Upon opening it up I noticed the LED's and one of them will pop when touched during play. Is this a simple case of cold solder, or will the Q8 cause such distortion. Also, what do the LED's do, and should they allbe extended away from the board?
Thanks in advance.
Niles
Hi Guys!
I also have an A3i. I think the sound is better than many of my separates.
However, on one channel I have a silly little fuzz on some quiet piano type tones. Upon opening it up I noticed the LED's and one of them will pop when touched during play. Is this a simple case of cold solder, or will the Q8 cause such distortion. Also, what do the LED's do, and should they allbe extended away from the board?
Thanks in advance.
Niles
Yet another Cambridge Audio A3i Amp lover with a problem.
Power cuts out to speakers, heatsink gets too hot to touch and LED 102 is off.
Problem can be created with or without a speaker load attached.
Noticed that Q8 and LED 2 are raised about the 10-12mm noted. Maybe it did not save them from heat.
Guess the 1st step in replacing them.
Power cuts out to speakers, heatsink gets too hot to touch and LED 102 is off.
Problem can be created with or without a speaker load attached.
Noticed that Q8 and LED 2 are raised about the 10-12mm noted. Maybe it did not save them from heat.
Guess the 1st step in replacing them.
internal fuse keeps blowing.
Hi,
was wondering if anyone can offer me any help. I have had a cambridge audio a3i for many years trouble free use. However now the internal fuses (2x T4A) blow as soon as I switch on the amp. I have videod the process and can clearly see all green LED's flashing on then off. Having read parts of this post I tried replacing transistor Q8 and LED2 but to no avail.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Hi,
was wondering if anyone can offer me any help. I have had a cambridge audio a3i for many years trouble free use. However now the internal fuses (2x T4A) blow as soon as I switch on the amp. I have videod the process and can clearly see all green LED's flashing on then off. Having read parts of this post I tried replacing transistor Q8 and LED2 but to no avail.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks
May I ask one question that presented itself after reading many of the later posts?
It is clear that many of you don't have any service or design experience, yet you feel qualified to work on this equipment. I don't understand why this would be. I get that many of you will plunge fearlessly into the PCB with a hot soldering iron. If you have got that far, it's clear that you figured out which end of the soldering iron is hot. That's assuming no one is using a soldering gun or a hobby / craft wood burning iron. I suspect that most of you went ahead and bought the least expensive iron you could find that was marketed as a "soldering iron for electronic work", or a "professional soldering iron" The ones often seen in blister packs hanging on a hook. You shouldn't use those as they pose a risk of enough leakage current to destroy semiconductors.
So, my strongest advice to anyone wishing to do any work on anything electronic is to invest in a controlled temperature soldering station. One that has either a grounded tip, or one resistively referenced to ground. TIP: they will have a three wire cord and a stand that the power wire goes into. Hopefully it will have a temperature selection method and may even read the tip temperature out. These are available for less than $100 Canadian. If you aren't going to spring for even that, please don't even remove the cover.
To those happy souls who replace fuses to watch them blow, congratulations! You have very probably increased the amount of damage. Stop right there and visit a real audio technician. They know enough not to do this - for that reason. They would normally use a variac to increase the AC supply voltage while watching the current draw. This avoids further damage. Do tell them that you replaced the fuses and they blew again. That tells them the damage may be worse than normal, allowing for a more accurate estimate rather one that creeps up as they find more blown stuff.
Sorry if I sound harsh about this, but the one who will suffer is the poor technician that is tasked with cleaning up your mess. It's not fair to him, and you may have caused enough damage to make it not worth repair. Hint: damaged PCB traces may make your amplifier unreliable from that point forward. I don't know how much soldering experience any of you have, but judging from the questions, not enough to warrant taking this job on yourselves. I've seen too much of this myself over the years, and somehow a customer always blames me for the higher estimate. How they concluded this, I'll never know. All a technician can do is tell you was is toast and how much time it will take for a repair. And no, it's not always a case of replacing some parts (that "anyone" can do). It really helps to get the proper parts as well.
Hi Tom,
I'm going to guess that you are prepared to open up a functioning unit and "do a parts swap out"? I'm also going to assume that you'll search the web until you find what you want to read, then perform those suggestions. If you haven't got the proper equipment, may I humbly suggest that you add a cup of petrol into your Cambridge, then light it and run fast? This is less expensive and will probably provide more viewing enjoyment. Catch it on video and you'll be a You Tube star.
Seriously, if you haven't enough experience, the chances of causing damage to your amplifier and probably speakers is reasonably high. I was hoping to get a laugh from you and make you think a little. There is some truth to what I said above though.
Please understand that a good audio technician has a great deal of training and knowledge. They have invested in the right equipment and parts supply for a reason (this is required to do the work). There seems to be a clear suggestion that doing this work is unskilled labour that anyone can do.
-Chris
It is clear that many of you don't have any service or design experience, yet you feel qualified to work on this equipment. I don't understand why this would be. I get that many of you will plunge fearlessly into the PCB with a hot soldering iron. If you have got that far, it's clear that you figured out which end of the soldering iron is hot. That's assuming no one is using a soldering gun or a hobby / craft wood burning iron. I suspect that most of you went ahead and bought the least expensive iron you could find that was marketed as a "soldering iron for electronic work", or a "professional soldering iron" The ones often seen in blister packs hanging on a hook. You shouldn't use those as they pose a risk of enough leakage current to destroy semiconductors.
So, my strongest advice to anyone wishing to do any work on anything electronic is to invest in a controlled temperature soldering station. One that has either a grounded tip, or one resistively referenced to ground. TIP: they will have a three wire cord and a stand that the power wire goes into. Hopefully it will have a temperature selection method and may even read the tip temperature out. These are available for less than $100 Canadian. If you aren't going to spring for even that, please don't even remove the cover.
To those happy souls who replace fuses to watch them blow, congratulations! You have very probably increased the amount of damage. Stop right there and visit a real audio technician. They know enough not to do this - for that reason. They would normally use a variac to increase the AC supply voltage while watching the current draw. This avoids further damage. Do tell them that you replaced the fuses and they blew again. That tells them the damage may be worse than normal, allowing for a more accurate estimate rather one that creeps up as they find more blown stuff.
Sorry if I sound harsh about this, but the one who will suffer is the poor technician that is tasked with cleaning up your mess. It's not fair to him, and you may have caused enough damage to make it not worth repair. Hint: damaged PCB traces may make your amplifier unreliable from that point forward. I don't know how much soldering experience any of you have, but judging from the questions, not enough to warrant taking this job on yourselves. I've seen too much of this myself over the years, and somehow a customer always blames me for the higher estimate. How they concluded this, I'll never know. All a technician can do is tell you was is toast and how much time it will take for a repair. And no, it's not always a case of replacing some parts (that "anyone" can do). It really helps to get the proper parts as well.
Hi Tom,
I'm going to guess that you are prepared to open up a functioning unit and "do a parts swap out"? I'm also going to assume that you'll search the web until you find what you want to read, then perform those suggestions. If you haven't got the proper equipment, may I humbly suggest that you add a cup of petrol into your Cambridge, then light it and run fast? This is less expensive and will probably provide more viewing enjoyment. Catch it on video and you'll be a You Tube star.
Seriously, if you haven't enough experience, the chances of causing damage to your amplifier and probably speakers is reasonably high. I was hoping to get a laugh from you and make you think a little. There is some truth to what I said above though.
Please understand that a good audio technician has a great deal of training and knowledge. They have invested in the right equipment and parts supply for a reason (this is required to do the work). There seems to be a clear suggestion that doing this work is unskilled labour that anyone can do.
-Chris
Well said.
I'm with you cringing every time I read somebody "I just replaced the fuses and they blew again". Duh, don't you think they might have blown in the first place for a reason.
I'm with you cringing every time I read somebody "I just replaced the fuses and they blew again". Duh, don't you think they might have blown in the first place for a reason.
Hi richie00boy,
Thanks.
I assume you've been in a position where you had to clean up after someone else's mess before?
-Chris
Thanks.
No. That's obviously a nasty rumor planted by technicians. It's a conspiracy I tell ya!
I assume you've been in a position where you had to clean up after someone else's mess before?
-Chris