Forums - Help! No sound!

thethanimal

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Help! No sound!
11/29/20 at 17:53:46

A couple weeks ago I turned on my amp and got not sound. Reading the troubleshooting and talking to Steve led me to believe the rectifier tube had gone bad, especially since I’ve put more than 500 hours on the stock Chinese rectifier since I received the amp back in July. After consulting Steve and these forums I ordered a circa 1955 RCA rectifier off eBay. It came while we were gone for Thanksgiving so I just got it installed and the amp power up and warmed up — but still no sound. All the tubes are lit. I don’t hear popping from the speakers when I change the input tube switch as I did before. Is the input tube bad as well? Is there a fuse that would go but still allow all the tubes to light up? I do have a new input tube and pair of output tubes on the way from Steve thanks to the Black Friday deal.

Thanks for everyone’s help, as always.

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Rivieraranch Seasoned Member Offline Posts: 2158 x0\|Ft. Lauderdale\|USA\|\|0\|0\|FL,Florida	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #1 - 11/29/20 at 18:52:44 If a fuse blows nothing will light.
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thethanimal

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #2 - 11/29/20 at 18:57:42

That’s what I thought, but I just changed out the fuse and confirmed no change. Does this just leave me at the input tube? Or the possibility that my rectifier tube was damaged in shipping or DOA? I have another rectifier coming in the next couple of days but no shipping date yet for my spare input and power tubes. It seems odd to me that the input tube would go bad in six months of use. It has been used quite a bit since we’re home all the time, and I know the nanny has turned it on and off without me around so I don’t know if she’s been giving it the proper warm up time. Could that have an affect?

But I did watch my UPS literally drop the rectifier box at my front door...

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Lon Seasoned Member Online "Love without guts is worthless!" Philip K. Dick Posts: 28553 Munson Township, OH	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #3 - 11/29/20 at 19:25:27 Just a wild possibility . . .but if you have a source selector make sure the selector is on the input you are using. Sometimes my wife flicks a toggle and I scratch my head a bit til I flip it back. . . .
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thethanimal

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #4 - 11/29/20 at 19:40:27

Lon, I did check the input switch. Just tried connecting my streamer to the other input as well with no change. But even if I had selected the wrong input, or my streamer output has failed, I should still get that “pop” when flipping in the input tube bias switch, right? The fact that I don’t seems to point to me receiving a bad rectifier or a bad input tube, right?

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Lon

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #5 - 11/29/20 at 19:45:24

It's puzzling. Okay, another wild possibility: your rectifier socket might not be at its best. I would wiggle the rectifier a little and see if there is a position where the sound resumes. My CSP3 has a socket like that.

And. . . it's possible I guess that one of the INTERIOR FUSES, underneath th black chassis, has blown. I think there are 3 there and I'm not sure but I think that if one or another is bad the rectifier might light up but not pass power to the outputs(?)

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Geno

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #6 - 11/29/20 at 19:46:45

Lon may be headed in the right direction. How many sources are you playing from? Have you confirmed that each one will not play? If you have done this, then you will have to exchange one tube at a time to rule them out too. However, if all tubes are lit, it is unlikely there is an issue there.

Update: oops you covered that while I was typing

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thethanimal Senior Member Offline Posts: 52	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #7 - 11/29/20 at 19:57:43 I was wondering if there were other fuses inside the chassis. If one of those is the culprit does it have to go back to Steve? I though opening the bottom voided the warranty? And not being an electrician I’m not in a hurry to electrocute myself with the voltages inside this thing. But that would be an awfully easy fix.
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Geno Seasoned Member Online Without music, life would be a mistake. Posts: 2323 Pearl, MS	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #8 - 11/29/20 at 20:27:45 Nothing to it. I assume this is a Zen. It has two 500 milliamp and one 5 amp fuse. I’ve had to replace mine twice, both times when a rectifier failed.
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Lon

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #9 - 11/29/20 at 20:39:45

thethanimal wrote on 11/29/20 at 19:57:43:

I was wondering if there were other fuses inside the chassis. If one of those is the culprit does it have to go back to Steve? I though opening the bottom voided the warranty? And not being an electrician I’m not in a hurry to electrocute myself with the voltages inside this thing. But that would be an awfully easy fix.

Actually in the case of this amp it's opening the top (or unscrewing the top chassis from the base) that gets you inside, and all the electronics are on the underside of the chassis. You won't void the warranty opening it up, and if you leave it unpowered for a number of hours or are very careful to only touch the fuse panel you'll see underneath you will be safe from high voltages.

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thethanimal

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #10 - 11/30/20 at 19:35:23

I did take a look inside last night and it looks like at least two of the fuses under the rectifier socket blew, but with both the chassis sticker and manual stating there are no user serviceable parts inside I’m waiting until I can get in touch with Steve to confirm the fuse specs and locations. I’m at a bit of a loss as to why this isn’t explained in the manual.

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Lon Seasoned Member Online "Love without guts is worthless!" Philip K. Dick Posts: 28553 Munson Township, OH	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #11 - 11/30/20 at 19:41:55 I agree that the manual could explain this and offer fuse values. I'm 99 percent certain the fuse values are as oultined in this thread above and there's no reason not to replace those. But of course Steve's word is the real gospel deal.
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Archie Seasoned Member Offline Posts: 2735	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #12 - 11/30/20 at 22:35:56 Aren't the fuse values stamped/printed on the fuses? I may have missed it but did a bad rectifier blow the fuses? I wouldn't try that tube again in that case.
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CAJames Seasoned Member Offline "I've run every red light on memory lane." Posts: 3325	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #13 - 12/01/20 at 04:06:51 I'll add a +1 to wishing the internal fuses were documented in manual. That seems pretty important to me. Also a +1 for throwing out the rectifier that was in the amp when all this happened.
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thethanimal

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #14 - 12/01/20 at 20:53:03

The rectifier was thrown out days ago. NOS American rectifiers received have been received and are sad there’s no party to join yet. Steve was unavailable but I was able to talk to Sarah yesterday and she said she often talks to people about this issue, so I did ask her to pass along to Steve that this needs to get in the manual. She’s also mailing me some replacement fuses since I couldn’t get the type required from the local hardware store.

Now that I know the buzzing means a rectifier (or other tube) is about to go and now that I’ll have spare tubes and fuses standing by I hope to never be in this situation again. Two weeks of listening to music bluetoothed to TV speakers is all I can take! Maybe Steve (or Lon or one of you other helpful forum denizens) needs to compile a “Tube Amps for Newbies” primer that comes with each new amp. Guttenberg’s reviews are bound to be sending a lot of newbies this way.

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Archie

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #15 - 12/01/20 at 21:05:43

The complete lack of labeling on Steve's equipment always makes me wonder if he intentionally wants us guessing. One consistency I think I've found is that for RCAs, inner means input and outer means output. But I'm sure this doesn't hold across the line. I have to consult my manual to even know which of my ZMA speaker taps are 4 and 8 ohms. Undecided

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CAJames

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #16 - 12/02/20 at 04:45:24

Quote:

Posted by: Archie Posted on: Yesterday at 21:05:43
The complete lack of labeling on Steve's equipment always makes me wonder if he intentionally wants us guessing.

The only thing is, as Lon alluded to, if you are in a hurry and/or careless and/or don't know what you're doing you can get a nasty shock from a charged capacitor if you mess around inside an amp. And that is no fun.

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Archie Seasoned Member Offline Posts: 2735	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #17 - 12/02/20 at 06:33:02 I meant for the user settings, switches, etc. on the outside of the amp. Inside you take your chances!
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CAJames Seasoned Member Offline "I've run every red light on memory lane." Posts: 3325	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #18 - 12/02/20 at 15:33:44 Oh, I get it now. And you're probably right!
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Denizen

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Re: Help! No sound!
Reply #19 - 12/02/20 at 17:48:26

You should not have any problems with fuse replacement, assuming the amp is unplugged and you do not venture beyond the fuse board. With the amps back open you can look at the top of board and find the values of the fuses...on the left side of the board is the 6amp fuse...in the center and the right side are labeled .5amp, although Steve is now using 200ma. fuses. And you were right to call Sarah to get fuses from Decware.

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Denizen Verified Member Offline Posts: 41	Re: Help! No sound! Reply #20 - 12/02/20 at 18:28:43 I should mention that the fuse board was redesigned. A more recently built amp will have a blue circuit board and will be marked as mentioned. An older amp will have a green board and will not have the markings but two closest fuse holders will hold the 200ma fuses and the one at the bottom of the board will be the 6a fuse.
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