Hi,
I have an Arcam Alpha 8R amplifier which has recently expired. I was testing some speakers I got as a freebie (not my normal speakers) and one of the speaker cables slipped out of it's bannana plug on the left channel accidentally. The right channel continued to play for a minute while I fiddled around with the other speaker cable, and then the 8R emitted a small puff of acrid smoke and stopped in its tracks.
I am no specialist with electronics but took a look inside anyway, and noticed that the internal fuse was blown and R207 was scorched, leaving a black mark on the PCB.
From the 8R PDF schematic I found on another thread here, this resistor looks to be inline with the chassis earth point.
I am competant with a soldering iron (having done a two day 'electronics workshop' at my local uni one summer when I was at high school!) but don't have any electrical engineering knowledge. Could someone help me determine whether this is an easy fix and let me know what I should try? I am loathe to skip what is otherwise a lovely component.
I could send the amp to Arcam but have heard this is about £150, and while it would be nice to get a warranty & professional fix I can't really afford this.
Any help would be much appreciated.
I have an Arcam Alpha 8R amplifier which has recently expired. I was testing some speakers I got as a freebie (not my normal speakers) and one of the speaker cables slipped out of it's bannana plug on the left channel accidentally. The right channel continued to play for a minute while I fiddled around with the other speaker cable, and then the 8R emitted a small puff of acrid smoke and stopped in its tracks.
I am no specialist with electronics but took a look inside anyway, and noticed that the internal fuse was blown and R207 was scorched, leaving a black mark on the PCB.
From the 8R PDF schematic I found on another thread here, this resistor looks to be inline with the chassis earth point.
I am competant with a soldering iron (having done a two day 'electronics workshop' at my local uni one summer when I was at high school!) but don't have any electrical engineering knowledge. Could someone help me determine whether this is an easy fix and let me know what I should try? I am loathe to skip what is otherwise a lovely component.
I could send the amp to Arcam but have heard this is about £150, and while it would be nice to get a warranty & professional fix I can't really afford this.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Puff of smoke indicates blown output transistors most likely. Shouldn't be too hard to fix, but the cost depends on what output transistors it uses, their availability, and if there are any common substitutes. Some manufacturers like to use exotic devices to prevent their designs from being stolen.
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