Tower of Power

[Mugwanya]

So the ToP has been assembled and......

one of the Statements is not working. The power light comes on fine, fades away (very, very slowly) if you switch it off, no buzzing from the speaker but no sound either.

I know that you (Doc) are very busy atm but if I send it down to you would you be able to take a look sometime and cost a repair? Also the two PSUs for the pre-amp aren't powering up but I haven't investigated fuses yet so this may not be anything major.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

You have been sold a pup by a liar, if it is not working it is the sellers responsibility, I would not put up with it. It will cost you *a lot* to get it fixed. If a power amp is blown both will have to come back as both PCBs will have to be changed as the original one is no longer made so you need two so they match. That is a lot of work with a mk1 Statement amp as the cases are not just glued but sealed shut.

You will end up with repair costs of over £500.

[Mugwanya]

I'm a bit more forgiving, I bought 20+ year old amplifiers on eBay, the seller seemed genuine and I wouldn't call him a liar because I don't know when, or how, the amplifier failed. It may be a simple cable break when I plugged it all together (they're captive so I can't test that) or it may be the main circuit board. I will open the cable plug tonight and see if there is anything I can see loose there, but if not would you be willing and have the time to look at the Statements and if it means a £500 bill then so be it? If it means a £1,000 bill then I might just pay you for your time and start again in my search for hi-fi nirvana.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

I can assure you he sold it to you faulty, I get this all the time from ebay sellers of old gear. So, no, I am not forgiving of them. It should not be your responsibility to get it repaired, it should be his AND then sell it.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

OK I will help, I just get cross about people selling faulty goods.

Have you got a multimeter, if not go to Maplin and buy a cheap one, and then we can start finding the fault.

[Mugwanya]

I have a multimeter and a willingness to follow instructions but won't be near the amp until 6:30 tonight.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

It is peeing with rain here, so what is about the worst thing to happen when on the M25, yes my windscreen wipers pack-up. I had to call out the RAC

After a temp fix I am back home, so back to the multimeter.

The faulty amp - switch on with nothing but mains connected. Neg probe in neg speaker hole pos probe in pos speaker hole, set to DC volts. If multimeter automatically switches through the ranges you should get a mv reading, if the reading is in v then there is a problem.

It is better to do this by PM so send me result by PM.

[terrybooth]

[spacejay]

i've just looked at the ad for the amp - the seller clearly states 'can be heard working', so seems on the level. did you take him up on this offer derek?

[Mugwanya]

The units were all stacked in the hallway when I turned up to get them after driving a couple of hours after work and with the prospect of an hour and a half's drive home. So although I suppose I could have insisted that he set them up again for a listen, I didn't.

Anyway after replacing a couple of fuses all is working apart from the one Statement, and there is a chance that that is just a cable fault - there is some heat shrink part way along the cable so it must have been repaired at some point and at the weekend I will slit the heat shrink and take a look.