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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.
fosolitude
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.
fosolitude's avatar
fosolitude OP
24 posts
 
Thanks, Elizabeth, I crossed all of the tubes and it's still the left channel that's out so I guess I send it back to the manufacturer
audioconnection
1,015 posts
 
I would strongly suggest you listen to Atmospheres advice
 get a voltmeter on that channel Wires speaker etc ASAP and see if something is shorted.
 You need to find the cause not just replace and chase your tail.
 Best,
 JohnnyR
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