Oh man, I broke my class D amp. Make fun of me. Then help.


So... I made a new pair of super fancy interconnects this evening. Of course I was on auto pilot on the second one, especially the last connector. And, of course I always test my DIY cable projects before install..

Except tonight. Installed the ICs and all I hear is clicking. Not loud, and independent of the volume on the pre. Independent of source. Weird. I shut everything down and figure maybe, for the first time ever, I miswired a cable, so I pulled the new ICs and tested. Sure enough, I crossed my signal and ground. I repaired my mistake, reinstalled and now the amp the crossed IC went to is jacked.

The volume is much lower than the other channel, there is distortion during strong high frequency signals and the sound drops out during strong low frequencies signals. The other amp is fine. I swapped channels coming from the pre and the problem stayed with the amp. I doubt it is the speaker, as there were no sudden loud noises. Just the innocuous clicking...

So, what did I fry? Some kind of capacitor? Or everything? The amp is a Ghent audio monoblock, which is class D and uses ICEpower a/s modules. It is a GA-M500. Here’s its webpage: https://www.ghentaudio.com/amp/ga-m500p.html

I’m fine sending it in for repair, but if anyone has either knowledge of amp design or the unfortunate luck to have done this, I’d love to just fix it myself and save a lot of sending it around the world. Also, feel free to make fun of me. I deserve it. Such are the consequences of hubris.

If you’re wondering, I used KLEI pure harmony connectors, which have two identical looking tabs, one on each side, to solder the signal and ground to. If you look even remotely closely you can easily tell which is the ground.. but it’s not at bad as if I had done this with a more traditional RCA connector. That would have been really pathetic. 

Also. Recommendations for repair shops please.

Ugh.

128x128toddverrone
Also profound, on second reading..

A miraculous thing has happened. After unplugging and reseating all the connectors to the board then taking out the fuse, checking it for continuity and reinstalling it, I hooked up the amp to double check I didn’t have a brain fart when I was trouble shooting the first time. Lo and behold! It works!

Sounds as good as the day I got it. No more sound cutting out, no more distortion. What the dickens?

@atmasphere thanks for questioning my trouble shooting! I went back and re-read what I wrote. I did swap RCAs, it stayed with the amp, not the signal. But, just to be sure after reading your post, I thought I’d double check. Vielen dank!

Final result is a resurrection! Hallelujah!
The new, repaired and double tested ICs sound great as well. A pretty solid Wednesday night!

Thank you for all the input and stories of fellow stupidity. Shared suffering...
YAY! *clap.clap.clap*  Mere mortals triumph yet again over recalcitrant
boxes of the obscure....;)  Now you can get back to what you trying to do in the first place...*G*

The missus will like this turn of events, too....

As for triggering a laugh followed by the thought....*S*  Every now and then.

"We" could and should be so much Better than "we" are....but "we" seem to have this penchant for getting in our own way...*shrug*

Anyway....congrats!  Enjoy! Don't do That again. ;)

And it's been fun....see you on the 'avenues'...Ciao. 
Hey Todd, I just gotta tell you: I came to this thread simply for your humor. Love the OP title. And the rest didn't disappoint. Ha! Congrats on the miracle.
Happy to have provided some comic relief. Especially with the outcome!

Happy Friday everyone.