Hi guys, this is a fantastic response and I am very appreciative! It is apparent my original post left out some critical information. As I am a bit short of time I will post again, but here's what I have for the moment:
Packaging: the amp was wrapped in one very thin layer of bubble wrap and then put in a box stuffed with shredded paper. Since the box was only a bit larger than the amp itself--about 1" extra on most sides--there wasn't much room for packing material to begin with. Sadly, the shipper didn't even really stuff the box with shredded paper, so the amp could easily moved inside. So it is entirely possible this amp was damaged in shipping.
The box looked like a big ball of tape. I'm not kidding. Every inch was taped, sometimes three, four, five times over. The top of the box had caved in some during shipping, but the massive amount of tape kept it all together, so to speak. I'll take another, closer look later tonite.
As for the amp, I haven't noticed anything that I would call shipping damage. There are plenty of signs of aging, but no bent fins, dented structure, visibly broken internal parts, etc. What I DID find, though, was that is was readily apparent that this amp has had many hands inside it before. It is missing some of the screws for the top case and those that are there are different (and visibly different ages as well).
The fuse- the fuse isn't broken, it is burned. There is a lovely scorch mark in the center of the glass where it is blackened. However, I did not check this before plugging the amp in. Here is what I did:
I happened to have one speaker readily on hand that wasn't already hooked up, so I hooked it up to the left channel. Sounded peachy. Turned the amp off and waited a few seconds. Disconnected the speaker cable and moved it to right channel. Turned amp back on and never heard a peep. Turned amp back off and checked the fuses. Left channel fuse looked fine, albeit a little old. Right channel fuse looked like it had been the main course in a BBQ.
Okeedokee, so I wrote the seller about this. Meanwhile, I went and put the left channel fuse in the right holder and tried turning the amp on again. Still no sound. I went and put the fuse back in the left channel and moved speaker wire back to left to make sure that the fuse was still good. Left channel sounded just fine... Again. So this time I left the left channel fuse and put in my own fuse with same ratings. Nothing. Tried raising volume. Nothing.
One point of note: all the new fuses put into the right channel fuse holder have been fine going in and coming out. The channel isn't blowing fuses AND it isn't making sound.
Could I have crossed some wires? I hate to say never, but I feel very connfident about this. I did all of the attaching and detaching with the amp off and even allowed about 3-5 seconds for drain time. Even so I try to be sure that leads never touch because electricity can remain in the amp well after that short period. That said, I won't pretend to be infallible. What I am sure of is that I didn't check any fuses before turning on the amp. I didn't think of it although I may in the future.
I'll write more a little later, I've got to put the kids to sleep right now. Thank you all very much!
Aaron
Packaging: the amp was wrapped in one very thin layer of bubble wrap and then put in a box stuffed with shredded paper. Since the box was only a bit larger than the amp itself--about 1" extra on most sides--there wasn't much room for packing material to begin with. Sadly, the shipper didn't even really stuff the box with shredded paper, so the amp could easily moved inside. So it is entirely possible this amp was damaged in shipping.
The box looked like a big ball of tape. I'm not kidding. Every inch was taped, sometimes three, four, five times over. The top of the box had caved in some during shipping, but the massive amount of tape kept it all together, so to speak. I'll take another, closer look later tonite.
As for the amp, I haven't noticed anything that I would call shipping damage. There are plenty of signs of aging, but no bent fins, dented structure, visibly broken internal parts, etc. What I DID find, though, was that is was readily apparent that this amp has had many hands inside it before. It is missing some of the screws for the top case and those that are there are different (and visibly different ages as well).
The fuse- the fuse isn't broken, it is burned. There is a lovely scorch mark in the center of the glass where it is blackened. However, I did not check this before plugging the amp in. Here is what I did:
I happened to have one speaker readily on hand that wasn't already hooked up, so I hooked it up to the left channel. Sounded peachy. Turned the amp off and waited a few seconds. Disconnected the speaker cable and moved it to right channel. Turned amp back on and never heard a peep. Turned amp back off and checked the fuses. Left channel fuse looked fine, albeit a little old. Right channel fuse looked like it had been the main course in a BBQ.
Okeedokee, so I wrote the seller about this. Meanwhile, I went and put the left channel fuse in the right holder and tried turning the amp on again. Still no sound. I went and put the fuse back in the left channel and moved speaker wire back to left to make sure that the fuse was still good. Left channel sounded just fine... Again. So this time I left the left channel fuse and put in my own fuse with same ratings. Nothing. Tried raising volume. Nothing.
One point of note: all the new fuses put into the right channel fuse holder have been fine going in and coming out. The channel isn't blowing fuses AND it isn't making sound.
Could I have crossed some wires? I hate to say never, but I feel very connfident about this. I did all of the attaching and detaching with the amp off and even allowed about 3-5 seconds for drain time. Even so I try to be sure that leads never touch because electricity can remain in the amp well after that short period. That said, I won't pretend to be infallible. What I am sure of is that I didn't check any fuses before turning on the amp. I didn't think of it although I may in the future.
I'll write more a little later, I've got to put the kids to sleep right now. Thank you all very much!
Aaron