Repair help needed - Creek Destiny

Coil was fine but contacts were welded together - permanent short (muting) on the R side. L works as it should. I replaced the 100K load resistor just be on the safe side but it was good. Nothing else seems to be out of ordinary. While playing with fault finding I noticed that buzzing on the L channel disappeared after adjusting the bias to 21.5mV. I am yet to test that theory when I connect both inputs - a second option could be a local ground loop. Will report further.
 
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Seems like you have been relatively lucky.

For future reference with resistors, you'll find that its always low values that fail when overloaded. With say a -/+40 volt rail the highest voltage a part could see would be 80 volts, probably a lot less. What that means is that any resistor of say 0.6 watt rating (which is a small rating) and 10k or over could stand that voltage 24/7 so it would not be damaged by any fault the amp could deliver.
 
After replacing the relay I spent some time tracking the background noise level vs. bias voltage. It seams to have a decent level of a bit harsh background hiss on the suggested 21.5mV however sounds very powerful and detailed. Did you notice the same on your while it was working?
 
I lately had a hiss which came and go (not constant) only from the one channel (one could say that it reminded the noise of bad cable contacts on a pstn telephone line), then the amplifier failed but I can't tell if the hiss was related to the problem or not. Check this thread, it seems the device's capacitors are a common suspect for various problems, I also had to replace 4 blown capacitors (all 1000uF/35V) on a unit which had very few hours of playing. I do not have the experience or knowledge to point capacitors as the root cause of your hiss issue, I m just mentioning this to you so you do not exclude them from your troubleshooting procedure.
 
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been looking at this and i have been very skeptic about and since now i have more experience about the specific amplifier here is a few things :

--The specific amp has a horrible thermal design IE : even though the amplifier area is well designed and cooling is efficient enough unless you stay in Sahara the rest of the amplifier has plenty of thermal issues .

--Filter capacitors next to 15V zener in both ch . have been found to be an open circuit no capacitance on them at all C29-30-129-130

--Likewise filter capacitors next U505-506 was also blown to Jupiter

--In secondary power supply C233-234 presented quite high ESR eventhough capacitance appeared to be with in normal levels ...

--In some versions there is soldering issues down under the secondary transformer especially the one that is brownish color ( Factory tip )

--In most of them there was soldering issues as you look the amplifier from the front and exactly on the edge of the board where it meets the face plate exactly left from the HP plug the all area suffers from soldering issues Q9-11-7 and so on including most of the resistors which is also a factory tip since it seems that the robot was kinda lazy there .

--Most impressive was that decoupling capacitors on both servo amplifiers U1 and U101 was actually boiling hot but this was the weirdest of them all since these are small film SMD and DNC capacitors (DNC = Do Nothing Capacitors ) and their job is to decouple the 15+15 rails ( second opinion here might do some help ) .

--Finally the real failure was the servo amplifier but not as part but mostly as soldering Good reflow there started the amp without problems ....

Summary of the above is that this is a Chinese made amp , I dont thing that much can be done to improve the "thermals " there and actually i dont see your amplifier starting unless you make sure that the problems i traced are solved and probably some others that haven't appeared yet in the amplifier i repaired .

Its a pity since this amp actually sounds very fine , unique output stage and also way too young to suffer from a high number of problems where the 99% of them is thermal alike most UK designed amplifiers in the past ( I expect now days that are China produced that the Chinese second thought the designers on this .... )

Kind regards
Sakis
 
Forgot to mention 1000ufd /10V capacitors near the CPU regulator ( together with a horrible heatsink for the 5 V regulator ) C715-729 with similar problems

In the 15 volt regulator area there is small tiny resistors 2K2 to regulate from 50 V rails to 15 volt via zeners ...Thats risky i think and also these resistors dont seem to coll enough

The Servo amps it self boils eggs and bacon on it so something is also wrong designed there ..

Kind regards
Sakis
 
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Hi Sakis, how goes it with you?
I was interested to read your comments and I assume you were able to get the service manual for the Creek Destiny. I'm not just looking for schematics, nor for you to post them here if they are shared with you in confidence but I wondered if you might comment on differences to the 5350, which we do have available, as I know of 2 Destiny models in my area that have not worked for years now and, as many people fear the high cost and uncertainty of repairs, they just store or bin them, if the product is not too expensive.

Customers face long-distance freight costs to recognized service agents here, so you may understand that with unusual amplifiers like these, general audio repairers (if there are any still doing consumer goods) are going to make a "discovery" if they see one because likely, it will be the first they have even heard of.
 
It is great news that you are gaining repair experience on the Destiny. Mine could have been next on your list to be serviced, but I have sent it to the manufacturer 3 months ago. I got a reply a month later that the repair is in progress, but I haven't got any news sine then, despite my emails and I am getting really anxious..
 
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....I have sent it to the manufacturer 3 months ago. I got a reply a month later that the repair is in progress, but I haven't got any news sine then...

3 months at the manufacturer's service centre? That seems like your amplifier has been sent to the original manufacturing plant or is awaiting unobtanium parts from there. Nobody leaves work "in progress" for longer than the backlog of work takes - If there is such a long backlog, obviously more staff are needed. - really disgraceful performance from any manufacturing organisation.
 
I have shipped just the final stage board to the manufacturer (Creek U.K.). The local distributor had just replaced the mosfets when the amplifier failed for the first time during the first month of purchase on 2009 (εντός εγγύησης). After the first fix the amplifier played ok (actually only for a few hours since I was rarely using it) until it failed again some months ago. Since the problem reappeared I decided to send it back to the manufacturer with the hope of getting luckier this time.. If you remember I had sent you a pm on another forum asking if you had a repair manual months ago but you didn't have any Destinies repaired then. I just hope I get the board back either it is fixed or not.
 
Yeap The schematic is available i can email it to you or anyone else needs it for private use ...
As about the difference between the two amps i dont have any idea since i have never repaired any 5350 and also i have been repairing the destiny without a schematic ...

Schematic come much later ....

Kind regards
Sakis
service@eastelectronics.gr

Hello Sakis
Is possible you send me the schematic diagram for Creek Destiny 1 amplifiier ?
I have a Creek Destiny with faulty, and the repair it is complicated.

Thanks
 
Update: The manufacturer did not repair my board but sent me another working one some months ago fortunately. Destiny_1 boards are not available and hard to find new, used or refurbished. I only tried it two or three times since then and seems to work ok. The problem is that I am not feeling relaxed to hearing music any more with this amp, since I am afraid that something might happen again..
 
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Its been a while :)

Pleased to hear you got a working amp in the end although I can't advise you on what to do next. I understand your worries but maybe you have to look beyond that and just enjoy the amp if you really like the sound it produces. If your never going to be happy then sell it now. Only you can make that choice.