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Amplifier Output Relays

Hi Goner’s,

Well after way too much time and money in parts and labor, my tech tapped on the right channel relay and discovered the reason for why the right speaker kept cutting out. So he cleaned off the corrosion and sprayed it with Deoxit and it came back. I was gratefully playing the stereo for a few hours when I decided to play the Ayre test CD ‘Irrational but Efficacious’ full glide tone and heard the two speakers drop out for a second and then experienced cutting in and out of the left channel. It’s strange to me that this full glide tone could trigger an issue but that seems to be the case. Anyway, the relays that I need to order are modified for direct inputs. I play strictly through the direct rca’s rather than CD 1, Phono, etc…The technician wants to exhaust all possibilities that the relays can be salvaged but he is overestimating the amount of work involved in changing them. The parts for both sides is a total of 60 euros so I plan on ordering them soon. Any advice from people who are familiar with this headache?
Thanks!

Happy Holidays!

128x128goofyfoot
fiesta75
1,378 posts
 

Amplifier output relays are a common failure component and will seriously degrade the sound of an amplifier. +1 for imhififan, his explanation and LRZ loudspeaker relays. I now replace output relays when servicing amplifiers after years of learning.

goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot OP
1,380 posts
 

I'm assuming that once the relays are exchanged that operations will go back to normal.

imhififan's avatar
imhififan
2,205 posts
 

Intermittent channels dropout is the most difficult to diagnosis, it can be caused by bad relay contacts, cold solder joints, cracks on pcb trace or bad contacts between male/female connection on ribbon cables. Simply replacing relays may or may not  fixed the problem. 

I also com to realize that a direct modified relay has nothing to do with using Direct RCA inputs so please disregard my previous statement as such. As for what direct modified relays are, I'm still not sure.

Seems like you're going to replacing input relays and not the amplifier output relays, have you tried using a different input instead of the "direct" input to confirm the culprit is the relay from that"direct" input?

 

erik_squires
16,212 posts
 

Depends on how the amp was made.  If the relays are soldered in directly then yeah.  If they are socketed then no, they should pop put in seconds.

goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot OP
1,380 posts
 

I've been In contact with the manufacturer who's been nothing short of amazing since the issue started with the right channel. His comment is that the right channel issue was with the output relay. The issue with the left channel started shortly after the tech cleaned the right relay and got it working again. I will check the headphones since that is a separate relay altogether. I then will try other inputs. Once I check these, then I'll post my findings.

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