Why did my amp just crash and burn ?


I just installed a new set of AQ Robin Hood Zero cables. A little hiss sound from the speakers prompted me to adjust the spade connecters just a little on the amp. Then low and behold , the amp just cuts off and currently appears dead as a doornail. 

What just happened and needless to say this is an absolute bummer. 

chaseton

Bummer. What amp do you have? Was it playing while you adjusted the speaker wires? Tube amps can't be played with no speaker wires connected. A friend's Classes transistor amp has died while hooking speaker wires with amp on and nothing playing. You might have also touched the spade to chasis and caused a short. Check all the fuses. Some amps have speaker fuses and also power supply fuses.

I once had static electricity take out a hybrid tube preamp. Decided to plug it back into the system the next morning, before shipping it off for repair. The protection circuit reset and the preamp was fine.

 

1. Totally unhook your amp from the system and AC wall socket.

2. Check all fuses with amp unplugged from wall. 

3. Hook amp back up. Make sure the spades aren't touching anything but the proper connecter. In a bare wire hook up (no spade) 1 bare wire strand could touch the chasis and cause protection circuitry to trip.

Good luck,

aldnorab 

 I have a 2010 YBA YA201 amp. It has been a reliable versatile amp for quite some time. Even using it to route my cablebox through to TV. It has gotten plenty of use over the years. Nothing was playing through speakers at time of burn out if we can call it that. In fact just installing the cables for the very first time. The hissing sound from the speakers was the first sign something was just not right. Checked and saw the L and R cables were installed to the correct posts on the amp. Within a minute the amp just switches off and is now lifeless. 

How do I check fuses in amp , can it be completed by newbies like myself. If I find fuse is blown, are they generic and fit all brands ? If repairable, what are chances the same situation can happen again ?.

If amp , as you mentioned , could be in protection mode, how to unprotect ?

Is the amp repairable at all given all the details provide above?

It sounds like a fuse. It’s strange that the fuse can’t be accessed from the back of the amp, but it’s French, and foreign stuff can be a little idiosyncratic. Unplug it, open it up and have a look. That's a nice amplifier.

Correct . It is quite a nice amplifier. I have held onto it for quite some time as the aesthetics and overall musicality certainly merit the great reviews it received upon release. What I am planning to do is review some videos on Youtube on how to determine if a fuse is blown & the methods employed to replace it. As somebody with limited knowledge in this area, are fuses pretty generic for all amplifiers in general, similar to replacing say a household fuse perhaps ?. One other thing is even though the connectors from the amp to the speakers were assigned correctly, with Left running to the L connector on the amp and ditto for the Right to R connector on the amp. Would the fact I designated the Left speaker of the system , facing me as Right , as the Left channel in this case and vice versa for the Right channel have anything to do with it?. if this indeed caused the problem, I will have to redress when the amp gets repaired. By the way keep the info flowing as you have been really helpful with your input. 

Sounds like you inadvertently shorted the spades across the speaker terminals.

That said, not too sure why you'd want to connect it the way you said you did. Weird, for sure.