2. amps-preamps
  3. 1115908846

A worse feeling than burning out your amp?

Last night I was planning to get back into making digital music and began setting up my laptop with the necessary software. I had my audio cable (1/8" connector) plugged into my Macintosh, which was playing mp3s. The laptop was ready to go, so I unplugged the cable from the Mac without turning the amp off, which I've done dozens and dozens of times before; BIG mistake. I heard a very loud buzzing sound that lasted about a quarter of a second, followed by a loud pop. I went over to the amp and could smell electronics burning. I turned the amp off and back on, after which I noticed that sound was only coming out of the left channel and it was very broken and full of static. Also, it doesn't matter which input is selected, it plays all sound coming from all inputs now. This integrated NAD C 340 amp is no longer good as a preamp either. What a horrible feeling, but it could have been much worse (my speakers could have blown out!).

Has anyone ever done something similar to their amp and attempted to fix it? I'm at least going to open it up and have a look before I trash the thing. The only bad part about all of this is having to wait several months before I can afford to replace this unit. For now, it's back to the old mass market Kenwood receiver....
jwglista

Showing 1 response by jax2

jax2
3,031 posts
 
Oy! My sympathies for the loss, but I'm sure it's not a total loss. I've spent too many years with tube components so now I always shut down everything before making swaps. I have made a similar mistake once before. A 2A3 amp I owned had a socket that allowed the tube to be put in off of it's proper orientation (some of the earlier, cheaper sockets do). It becomes a visual task to allign them and with four pins would seem a relatively simple one. Guess my eyesight isn't what it used to be. I put in the tube the wrong way and upon turning on the amp promptly fried a resistor. No big deal as the maker is a friend who lives nearby so I was able to bring it to him the next evening to swap out. He had since started using the sockets that only will allow insertion in the proper orientation.

Marco
More to discover