Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions One channel of amp blew up- fixable?

So this past Friday night the right channel of my amp decided it had had enough for some reason, and with a quick sound of static and the smell of ozone, it put itself to rest. The amp is a 150 watt Acurus two-channel unit which I love. I've never had problems with it in the past. I have no idea what caused it, but I will say that the electrical system in my apartment is old-school as it doesn't even have a circuit breaker and still relies on fuses. I would guess this has a lot to do with it. I run a surge protector, but I'd much rather be running a line conditioner if I could afford it.

With that said, does anyone have experience with this thing happening to them? The left channel of the amp still works great and thankfully there was no speaker damage (M-60's). Is this amp now garbage? Does anyone know what the cost is to repair something like this, or if it's even worth it? Usually to me, if it's going to cost over $200, then it's not worth the it. I could just get on Ebay or Audiogon and pick up a piece that is in good condition for around the same amount of money.

If anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it. And I'd also love to hear anything about what I can do in the future to avoid this sort of thing happening again. That is, if it is even avoidable, of course.

Thanks for the help-
Kevin

Hi KC, sorry to hear about your loss. Why not call Acurus and tell them you expect them to fix it? If they won't I guess you found your new center channel amp.

Hi 2x6spds-

How ironic is it that I just spent the last hour reconfiguring my system that exact way? It'll do for now until I can look into getting this thing fixed. I highly doubt that Acurus is going to do anything for me, though, because I bought this thing off of Audiogon used. It's a few years old to begin with and since Klipsch took over the Mondial lables a while back (Aragon and Acurus) they've ended the Acurus line. We'll see what they say. I'm hoping it's just the fuse, but I highly doubt I'd get that lucky.

-kev

I wouldn't consider it garbage. Things like this happen. More than likely a capacitor went bad. I would take it to an authorized repair depot to get an estimate.
If you suspect faulty wiring then go to Home Depot and pick up a plug tester that way you can determine if the plug is wired up correctly. You want to make sure that nothing is reversed and that you have a ground.

Good luck,

Tom

If something blew it might not be a good idea to continue using it. If i were you id open it up and see what went wrong in there. If you see burnt restsiors or anything then you can go from there.

Did you check the internal fuses? I had a Parasound do that to me once and it was nothing more then a fuse. I swapped out all 4 that were in there and it was fine after that.

Sorry to hear about your amp.I had something like that happen to a Rotel amp that was only about 4 hours old.I never did find out what went wrong with that thing.The only thing I know for sure it wasn't the fuses.

You where play ABBA huh? That would be my guess.

Thanks everyone for the help. I appreciate it.

I went out and purchased a hex wrench that fit the small bolts on the unit, but unfortunately some of the bolts seem to be too tight to remove with a tool like this. I assume Acurus does this for a reason because I read on the back of the amp that it's supposed to only be open by one of their techs because "there are no servicable parts inside." Great. Which means that I'm probably going to spend $100 to ship it to them and for them to just take a look at it. I wish I was able to at least see if it was a fuse. Oh well.

If it's the full channel that needs to be replaced, does anyone know what that may cost?

-Kev

Well actually I was playing Earth Wind and Fire at pretty high volume.

A lot of mfg's will use Loc-tite on the bolts. They sometimes use slightly different colored screws or bolts to see if a unit has been tampered with. Every colored screw has to be put back in the same place.

I never thought that Earth Wind and Fire would have that kind of effect. I actually like them.

Well thats something you will never forget.That was about nine months ago and the new amp has done a great job since.EWF is darn good I think,its at least a notch or two above ABBA

I HAD TO REPLACE THE INTERNAL FUSES ON MY ACURUS,THE HEX SCREWS WILL COME LOOSE,PUT SOME OOMPH INTO IT--LEFTY LOOSY-RIGHTY TIGHTY

Rcvecc- I think I'm going to need to get a differnt screwdriver to accomplish this. It's impossible to do with the small handle on the one I've got. There's just not enough torque. This thing's similar to a hobby screwdriver you'd use to fix your glasses, if that gives you a good indication.

But I'm curious to know why you had to replace the fuses on your Acurus. Can you explain it a bit further?

Thanks.

I THINK I BLEW THE FUSE WHEN MOVING SOME WIRES WHILE THE AMP WAS ON AND SHORTING OUT THE SPEAKER TERMINALS-GO TO THE HOME DEPOT AND GRAB A TORX SET-IF IT IS YOUR FUSE,ITS AN EASY FIX..GOOD LUCK

rcvecc: got yer caps lock key stuck? third post i read like that...



All manufacturs say theres no user servicable parts inside. If there were then how the heck are the techs supposed to make a living!

Kevin,
Head down to Home Depot or something like that and get a decent hex set. I remember when one side blew on one of my Sratos amps. A couple of them were a real bugger to get off but I kept reefing and off they came.

Thanks guys. I'm heading down to the Home Depot right now. The one here in Los Angeles is open 24 hours. I've always wanted to go there around 3am to get a chain saw, a drop cloth and something that takes out bloodstains, just to see if they'd sell it to me without asking any questions.

-Kev

LOL! To funny!

So I got it open and the fuses are all fine. Damn.

Next step is to call Acurus on Tuesday for their advice I guess. I can see this costing me hundreds already.

-Kev

That sucks. I was pulling for ya on the fuse thing. Do you have to phone Acurus? If you got a decent electrical shop around you, they can find the problem just as fast as Acurus.

Well... I just got off the phone w/Steve at Aragon/Mondial Designs and he said that a lot of times the fuses still go even though they look like they're fine. He suggested replacing them out and seeing if that works. And if not, then he said to send it back and they'd help me with it. So I may be in luck still. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm more than likely just going to bring it to a local shop here if it's something more than the fuses, though. I spoke with a guy who fixes higher end pieces and he said he's worked on Acurus amps before. He came recommended to me from a shop here in LA that does a lot of business with him, so I figure that he's got to know his stuff.

-kev