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Can anyone help me with diagnosing an electrical problem somewhere in my system?

A couple weeks ago I smelled that odor you associate with electrical fires. After the smell dissipated I turn the power amp on by itself and decided to start there and go upstream. After ten minutes I smelled that odor again so I dropped it off to be fixed and swapped in a spare power amp I have as a backup. Now I smell the same thing and this after playing it for hours without trouble. Does anyone have a routine for identifying the source of such a problem? Thanks in advance for any help you can give.
128x128fosolitude
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
If nothing else was connected to that outlet other than the amps, I would look at the wall receptacle and see what sort of shape its in.

It could be a simple as a loose screw on the back of the receptacle, which could be heating it up.
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mesch
1,679 posts
 
Given that two different amps resulted in the same result, i would follow the aforementioned advice and check the outlet. Are you using the same aftermarket power cord? 
fosolitude's avatar
fosolitude OP
24 posts
 
I used the same power cord run from the power conditioner. Since posting I tried it again and noticed the left channel is out. I am about to check the fuse inside.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
7,068 posts
 
Left channel out? Now a different scenario is presented- you may have a short on that channel- perhaps speaker cables touching each other, or a shorted woofer. If that is the case you may have damaged both amplifiers in the same way. This needs to be checked right away before any other amp is installed in the system!


elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
For an electrical item to run and smell.. It could be a capacitor dying (and leaking fluid) or a transformer overheating.
Since the channel has died. I would say you lost a big capacitor.
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