Fuse burned out in shipping? ?

It sounds like the seller did a VERY poor job of packing it, and he should have known better. Amplifiers are usually quite heavy, and a mere 1" of packing material all around, between it and the shipping box it came in was quite absurd on the seller's behalf. He should be responsible for any damage due to such poor packing. 3 or 4 inches of strong, protective material should have been the bare minimum, especially if it is a heavy amp.

You got ripped off dude!!

Ive heard that you should not turn on an amp without speakers hooked up.Can damage be done to the RTch since it was turned on without a speaker attached?

Yes it can. Tube amps have to have a load on them to be turned on. If you turned on the amp without the speaker connected, you could possibly be the reason the amp is damaged.
Solid state has no worries about this, but tube amps do.

Ray, Zman: thanks for your responses. The Halfer DH220 is an early MOSFET SS amp. However, having never owned a tube amp, I have to admit that I've never even heard that you must have a speaker connected to all of the terminals in order to turn on a tube amp. I can't see how not presenting a load to drive would affect a SS amp, but I suppose tubes really are a different beast.

I have a quasi-ending to this. I ended up filing with paypal and offered the seller a compromise. I would keep the amp and he would refund $50 of the $120 purchase price. Given that I was already out the $20 for shipping and I'd have to pay another $20 to send it back it seemed more cost effective to end up paying $70 and still have the amp and maybe fix it instead of going to the trouble of packing it up and sending it back to get a net $80. Essentially I figured it was a choice between being out $40 and have nothing to show for my trouble or be out $70 and I can use the Hafler to practice my "why won't this work" skillset. There ya go.

In the end the seller wrote back and accepted my offer, so now I am the proud owner of half of a Hafler DH220. The seller has been adamant that the amp was sent in working condition. He has no reason to lie at this point and I'm not going to argue--I think it is very likely the amp was damaged somehow in shipping. Now I am hoping to figure out what happened and try to fix it. This will likely be more difficult than I hoped at first since I have not found any outward signs that the amp isn't functioning save for a burnt fuse and no sound.

So that's where I am at right now. A few people have mentioned that I might have blown the fuse when I turned it on. I suppose this is possible. If the amp was damaged it is possible that the fuse blew when it was turned in. I have what is perhaps a naive question. It has been quite some time since I have blown a fuse--in fact I've only ever done it once and that was almost 15 years ago--but doesn't a fuse blowing make a little sound? Or am I just off my rocker? (the answer to that question is probably yes, but you know what I mean). I ask because I never heard any sort of noise. The channel was always dead silent, I never heard what I would have thought was that sound of a fuse dying, and even the cooling fins on the right side don't heat up (on the left they get toasty).

As usual, any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks, Aaron