Thanks asvjerry for turning me on to Bonzo Dog. I know there must have been a crazy amount of silly, insane people pal-ing around with the Beatles (Harry Nilsson, etc.) and these guys are way out there. Can you imagine what the parties must have been like?
Oh man, I broke my class D amp. Make fun of me. Then help.
So... I made a new pair of super fancy interconnects this evening. Of course I was on auto pilot on the second one, especially the last connector. And, of course I always test my DIY cable projects before install..
Except tonight. Installed the ICs and all I hear is clicking. Not loud, and independent of the volume on the pre. Independent of source. Weird. I shut everything down and figure maybe, for the first time ever, I miswired a cable, so I pulled the new ICs and tested. Sure enough, I crossed my signal and ground. I repaired my mistake, reinstalled and now the amp the crossed IC went to is jacked.
The volume is much lower than the other channel, there is distortion during strong high frequency signals and the sound drops out during strong low frequencies signals. The other amp is fine. I swapped channels coming from the pre and the problem stayed with the amp. I doubt it is the speaker, as there were no sudden loud noises. Just the innocuous clicking...
So, what did I fry? Some kind of capacitor? Or everything? The amp is a Ghent audio monoblock, which is class D and uses ICEpower a/s modules. It is a GA-M500. Here’s its webpage: https://www.ghentaudio.com/amp/ga-m500p.html
I’m fine sending it in for repair, but if anyone has either knowledge of amp design or the unfortunate luck to have done this, I’d love to just fix it myself and save a lot of sending it around the world. Also, feel free to make fun of me. I deserve it. Such are the consequences of hubris.
If you’re wondering, I used KLEI pure harmony connectors, which have two identical looking tabs, one on each side, to solder the signal and ground to. If you look even remotely closely you can easily tell which is the ground.. but it’s not at bad as if I had done this with a more traditional RCA connector. That would have been really pathetic.
Also. Recommendations for repair shops please.
Ugh.
Except tonight. Installed the ICs and all I hear is clicking. Not loud, and independent of the volume on the pre. Independent of source. Weird. I shut everything down and figure maybe, for the first time ever, I miswired a cable, so I pulled the new ICs and tested. Sure enough, I crossed my signal and ground. I repaired my mistake, reinstalled and now the amp the crossed IC went to is jacked.
The volume is much lower than the other channel, there is distortion during strong high frequency signals and the sound drops out during strong low frequencies signals. The other amp is fine. I swapped channels coming from the pre and the problem stayed with the amp. I doubt it is the speaker, as there were no sudden loud noises. Just the innocuous clicking...
So, what did I fry? Some kind of capacitor? Or everything? The amp is a Ghent audio monoblock, which is class D and uses ICEpower a/s modules. It is a GA-M500. Here’s its webpage: https://www.ghentaudio.com/amp/ga-m500p.html
I’m fine sending it in for repair, but if anyone has either knowledge of amp design or the unfortunate luck to have done this, I’d love to just fix it myself and save a lot of sending it around the world. Also, feel free to make fun of me. I deserve it. Such are the consequences of hubris.
If you’re wondering, I used KLEI pure harmony connectors, which have two identical looking tabs, one on each side, to solder the signal and ground to. If you look even remotely closely you can easily tell which is the ground.. but it’s not at bad as if I had done this with a more traditional RCA connector. That would have been really pathetic.
Also. Recommendations for repair shops please.
Ugh.
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- 42 posts total
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band are who is playing in the subterranean room in The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour movie. They made a bunch of incredible albums, containing songs such as "Jazz (Delicious Hot, Disgusting Cold)" and "Can Blue Men Sing The Whites?". Great, great group. Member Neil Innes was later responsible for the great Beatles parody band The Rutles (with Monty Pythons Eric Idle), who made one album and a very funny movie. I saw The Rutles live at The Troubadour, and they were fantastic! I didn't get to see The Bonzos live, but have a couple of old friends who did, at The Fillmore in SF. |
Marty, it's one of the things that keeps me 'sane' in a society that seems to be less so daily...the 'safe from You' function. I suspect you have your own functional version in place... I once had a co-worker who stated 'treat life seriously as a joke'. Upon a lifetime of reflection on that statement, IMHO I've opted to not let it be upon me. The 'flip' of that, if taken to extremes, would make buying a pack of razor blades seem one's best option. Moving to another star system is not... I can rant further on such, but we'd have to move to another forum, marked 'Philosophy'. Most entering would want to chat about cables, or amp options and be horribly disappointed. And I don't have the time for it...;) The BDDB....I've been a fan for decades. All of the participants were/are quite talented at making a 'joyous noise', albeit not to everyone's 'preference'. Certainly not in subject matter... Yes, they popped up in odd places. I remember Johnny Carson had them on his show, where they performed a Chinese 'fire drill' while playing onstage.... Carson was nearly speechless, a rare 'WTF' moment for him. The audience applauded, but one could tell a big 'Huh?!' hung in the studio... "We've just watch some obviously talented musicians act Extremely Strange...." Not a quote, but an observation.... Now...in retrospect....Magical Myst Tour, all that, and the 'extremely hi-powered chemicals' that infused that era... F. Zappa & the MOI at a live show in LA, spending the first part of their set disassembling vegetables on stage before actually playing music.. ...and other 'weird things' going on that, at the time, made 'too much sense'...the Beatles made some still highly regarded music during 'all that nonsense'.... and I was listening to the Fugs and the like, then... ...and folks like The Pentangle...Randy Newman...Nilsson...it didn't have to be loud, but it'd better be Good. Those of 'us' who 'survived' are still a lot like that. ...reading arguments about speaker cables... ...and people discussing their 'realities' about them.... I attempt to be 'diplomatic' in my daily contact with people. Your 'Titanic' just bumped into my 'iceberg' without the historical damage... Sail On. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz_4qJBAlbc With that in mind, and in that regard, I doubt I'm unusual...;) I like hanging around 'here' with y'all...but if someone kicks my ankle, expect a response....of sorts...my pick as to What and How. Have a happy Sunday... |
- 42 posts total