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  3. 1078090754

How to Identify which Is the

I recently purchased an all-new stereo system about three months ago. Late Friday night I heard a loud "pop" sound coming out of the left channel. Then, the left channel went totally dead quiet.
I was wondering if someone could help me with a step-by-step logical plan for determining which component is the "bad" or "guilty" party with a dysfunctional left channel. I would think that with changing the speaker cables, interconnects, etc., there must be a good way of determining/isolating which specific component has the problem.
I have high-end tube preamplifier and amplifier. The CD player is a possibility too, since it also has a tube. I wouldn't think it is the speaker, but I suppose that's possible, too.

Thank you!
Steve
bigpowerballs
newbee
4,767 posts
 
Your original description of how the channel went out is very typical of what occurs when you have a sudden power tube failure (as I mentioned above). If you haven't done so, check out your amp.
You could have a short in your cable or the posts on your amps and speakers - check your cables for shorts and stray pieces of wire at the ends which could cause a short.
I have zero knowledge of the type of cables you are using BUT some cables do not go well with some amps - They can actually cause damage, its not just a matter of tone. Be sure you have an appropriate match. You might also try using another set of cables and see if that makes a difference.
Check the amp!
consttraveler
250 posts
 
FWIW; I has a similar problem a few months ago and it nearly drove me nuts. It turns out I had a bad interconnect from the source (phono-pre in my case) to the preamp, and a bad tube in the phono-pre. I finally found it by getting a spare IC (only one!) and testing first one channel then the other, one connection at a time, then trying the bad IC on another source. After that, tracking down the tube was easy (nothing left to look for).
bigpowerballs OP
34 posts
 
OK, here's the answer. Brian, owner of The Analog Room, volunteered to come over to troubleshoot. Within abouit a minute, he found the problem. One of the fuses in the power amp had blown out, although there was no red LED indicator lit up in the back (as there should have been).
He said that CJ eqipment has tendency to do that--too sensitive or something.
Thanks to all.
Steve
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