I have just purchased a Harmon Kardon Go Play from a local charity shop. This is the very early model and I was told that it worked and for £25 I thought that I would "Suck it up" if I found a problem. Yes I found that one Channel had low level distortion! When playing loud and upsetting my upstairs neighbours it was hardly noticeable, but I like lowish levels of sound. Before my NOVICE hands do any further damage and it go's in the frustration bin, can some kind soul plot a path to fault find this problem! Many thank's.
I thought that I would swap op amps to see if one of them was the problem? Then I thought that there may be a better op amp to replace them? What are your thoughts?
Total Novice.
Total Novice.
That will not end well. The pcb could easily be ruined, these stereos are not really intended to be repaired.
Could this low level distortion be the cause of other component failure? I'm sorry to be posing such basic questions.
Difficult to say without more evidence. It is always possible for a part to fail.
Is the distortion level dependent? Is it more audible at high volumes or at low volumes?
If more audible at low volumes, could it be hum and buzz rather than actual distortion of the sound?
If it happens on certain bass notes, it could be mechanical, related to the speaker or something else rattling.
Is the distortion level dependent? Is it more audible at high volumes or at low volumes?
If more audible at low volumes, could it be hum and buzz rather than actual distortion of the sound?
If it happens on certain bass notes, it could be mechanical, related to the speaker or something else rattling.
To be honest it sounds like the sound of a radio not being in tune, that slight fuzziness! Thank you Rayma!
Voice coil scratching, maybe?
Could you connect the buzzing speaker to another amp? Or another speaker (the other stereo channel) to the buzzing amp?
Could you connect the buzzing speaker to another amp? Or another speaker (the other stereo channel) to the buzzing amp?
If the unit plays loudly enough, my guess would be some noise in the power supply.
There are both an external "brick" supply and also batteries inside?
If you run it on batteries, is the noise gone?
There are both an external "brick" supply and also batteries inside?
If you run it on batteries, is the noise gone?
Ok, keep the batteries in and play it at both loud and soft levels.
How does the distortion behave?
What does it sound like now?
How does the distortion behave?
What does it sound like now?
At low levels it was worse and at high levels it seemed to go crazy or oscillate with harsh stabbing noises! Thank you for your help rayma!
Best guess would be a cracked circuit board, or a damaged component. Maybe it was dropped.
You could open it up and take a look, but don't change anything just yet.
Look for something that seems broken or wrong. Take some photos.
You could open it up and take a look, but don't change anything just yet.
Look for something that seems broken or wrong. Take some photos.
OK rayma! It is midnight here in the UK and I shall take a look tomorrow. I think we can rule out a driver problem then? By the way there is no sign of damage to the chassis, I do not think it was dropped. Many thanks.