Help choosing replacement amp...

Mana

Mana

Mana

Soldato
Joined
8 Nov 2002
Posts
4,047
Location
.earth
hi guys, basically had a house party the other day and due to the effects of too much booze and forgetting to make sure the vents at the top of the amp were clear when playing loud music, my amp blew...

what happened is that things got too hot for the ampand first the treble went in the speakers and then the amp just shut itself of...

the speakers i have are:

http://www.celestion.com/products/fseries/f30.html

Power handling
120 Watts
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m)
90 db
Impedance
8 Ohm

The amplifier that i had was a cambridge audio a5:

Output Wattage (Wpc) 60 Maximum power output, RMS, per channel, into 8ohms.

Seemed to do the job. i was however wondering if anyone just had any other amps that would maybe be an improvement. Looking to spend £120-£150.

THanks guys
 
If you are going to abuse your amp regularly, get a low-power PA amp rather than a hifi amp. They are uprated to deal with abuse and so wont blow when you turn it up too far.

Having said that, you are FAR more likely to have blown your speakers than the amplifier, going on the symptoms you have described. Tweeters often have far lower power handling than the mid/bass drivers and are the ones that go first, giving a total lack of treble. Once a speaker has gone like that, quite often they form a short circuit which draws a lot of current from the amp triggering its overload protection circuitry. Turning it off, waiting a while and turning it back on usually solves this however the A5 power supplies arent known for their high current resilience.

For an amp to exhibit the original behaviour on its own would be very strange indeed (they are either amplifying the whole signal or none of it, generally speaking).
 
hi there,

thanks for the reply... i went out and bought myself a replacement amp but it seems like the speakers also went as when i wired everything up there was still the lack of treble which makes me think that the tweeters have gone as well...

does anyone know any good speaker repair shops in the london/essex area.

the speakers are celestions f30... i spoke to richer sounds and they said that it might take about a month to repair, they also charge a £36.25 fee for the engineer to look at the speakers...

man stupid house party is costing now!!!!

man i am tempted to just upgrade these speakers... missions anyone? or any other suggestions for good floorstanders that cost £200 ish...
 
A set of M73is will come well into budget and you should get some M74is, less if they are in a bad way cosmetically, even less if they are "collection only" - some went for £70 on ebay recently! :eek:

Good speakers IMO.

Alternatives are Kefs, there are some tidy Q35s going for your budget and no doubt plenty of other makes to look at too :)

What did you replace the amp with btw?
 
just got another a5, didnt want to spend more than £120 and it seemed the best amp in this range...

thanks for your advice mate again, checking out your suggests :eek:
 
was your origonal amp actually blown then? I've never seen an amp killed by playing too loud. Unfortunatly my old TDL's went the same way as your Celestions, getting wasted and turning the volume all the way to the end stop = for the lose :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom