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While listening to my system my Rhea blew up


I was preparing to put a record on the TT (system was on for approx 35 min already) and spark/pop/smoke came form the Rhea. I shut everything off and after a few minutes tried to see where the smoke came from. I could not detect if it was from a tube blowing up (a real spark!!) or from a cap etc???

I will ultimately need to return it to my dealer but was curious (Jim White are you around?) as to what it might be.

RWD (Rick)
rwd

Showing 2 responses by rodman99999

rodman99999
6,206 posts
 
The smoke and pop sound like a capacitor.
rodman99999
6,206 posts
 
Film dielectric breakdown, possibly from over voltage condition, high peak current or over temperature. When a cap breaks down, hydrogen is generated inside. PC mounted caps have "vents" (grooves) in their tops that are supposed to let this pressure release before the rubber bung on the bottom blows out. Sometimes that doesn't work out. Many axial lead(as used for point-to-point wired components), and multi-section capacitors are built like a small tin can with a cap crimped into one end. When pressure builds up from electrolytic breakdown in one of those, you often get the firecracker effect. A tube with an internal short can cause a sudden high current condition. Hopefully it's that simple.
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