Smoke on my power amp

I think what itsjustme said wasexactly what had happened. Feel so dumb.
 I am in Michigan, two hour north of Detroit. About a year ago I had it serviced in Chicago, drove five hours.
I may try there again, or I might it send to Galbo Design. 
It would be $300 both way of shipping and maybe at least $500 for service? I wonder whether it is worth while to fix it. Used price of this amp is around $1500.
Thanks for all your replies.

why....why.....why.....would you even do this is beyond me.

for someone that has been in this hobby for a while, you should know better

now you have to pay to ship the amp both ways ( or drive ) and get it serviced.

you just had this thread recently.....

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/should-the-power-be-off-every-time-changing-cables

All I know is that the vast majority of amps I own or have owned have a huge warning in the owner's manual that states not to operate the amp without speakers being hooked up. And I think you now know why. It is NOT safe to operate so don't even think about it...

Most amplifiers have a protection circuit that should prevent damage when the speaker wires are shorted. My Vincent and McIntosh amps both shut off immediately when that happens...Don't ask me how I know....   

Well, I feel so stupid about what I had done.
Anyway, I was trying different preamps, different IC cables, different speaker cables, and different sources (CD/SACD players and phono cartridges). While I was playing around, I got a bit sloppy.
I would still like to have the amp with a built in protection mechanism to prevent such case. It is so harmful to the power amp, but having no built in protection mechanism for $5K amp a decade ago does not sound right.
I cannot find any clear damage from these two inside photos. Any of you see burnt components or circuits? Thanks much.
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipPSt_CM_-03crVgXYW6NBwEgfAXc3eNWuPSAlBJ
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipNIz2uuUz90t-qmUl15mIkIjsxDoqVbj8YsuPLa