Author Topic: Coliseum 300 is smoking  (Read 5303 times)

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Offline Will Dee

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Coliseum 300 is smoking
« on: July 12, 2007, 02:04:57 pm »
I just got this amp. I powered it on for the first time, it gave me a loud hum, I heard a little pop, some crackling and then smoke poured out the back. Judging from the condition of the box, I have a feeling something happened to it in transit. I opened it up and the filter caps look fine and the transformer looks fine. Then I found the problem. There's a burnt spot on the circuit board. A couple of the connectors labeled "R9" and "R13" are pretty fried. The board itself isn't completely melted, just a little charred. Does anyone know if this would be a cheap fix? Seems to me like it shorted out after being dropped.

Thanks a lot,
Will

Offline Isaac

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2007, 10:38:31 am »
Uh-oh.

You let the magic smoke out.
Isaac

Offline EdBass

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2007, 01:50:36 pm »
Uh-oh.

You let the magic smoke out.

I think you only need magic smoke in tube amps, this one may actually be broken.

Offline JoeArthur

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2007, 04:07:01 pm »

Hmm... to me R9 and R13 would be resistors, not connectors.

If that's what they are, resistors don't burn all by themselves. Something else is wrong.

Offline Isaac

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2007, 06:10:58 pm »
Ed, I'm pretty sure you need magic smoke in all electronics. That's how it all works, after all. I mean, have you ever seen any gear work properly after you let the magic smoke out?
Isaac

Offline JoeArthur

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2007, 06:25:19 pm »
Ed, I'm pretty sure you need magic smoke in all electronics. That's how it all works, after all. I mean, have you ever seen any gear work properly after you let the magic smoke out?

Oh you are so bad!! You deserve to have Ed calculate your speaker impedances!!  :-D

Besides there is no magic smoke. Anyone with at least two brain cells still capable of connecting know better than to believe this old myth.

I am surprised at you!!   :-o

The smoke is only the natural result of the pixie dust inside the component giving up it's life!!

Get it straight!!  :evil:

Offline Will Dee

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2007, 09:18:53 pm »
Wow, Ok, a simple "I don't know" or "we hate you, you're an idiot" would have sufficed.

Thanks anyway,
Will

Offline EdBass

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2007, 11:46:41 pm »
Wow, Ok, a simple "I don't know" or "we hate you, you're an idiot" would have sufficed.

Thanks anyway,
Will
Oh, Will, lighten up.
I think Joe told you the almost same thing I told you when I responded to your PM;
I'm not very hip to circuit boards or solid state, I don't even work on my own transistor gear. But, if the board is marked "R9" and "R13" I would guess that they are resistors and should be pretty easy to replace. The question is; were they old and a shock and/or old age cause the failure, or did some other components value drift and take them out?
I'll bet Joe will eventually answer your post, he's big time into solid state.
If you toasted a couple of resistors, the odds are that something else caused it.
I don't think it can be diagnosed in a forum; you need to find a tech near you.

Offline JoeArthur

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2007, 08:28:48 am »

Yeah, what Ed said.

All I can provide you are guesses. R9, R13, R anything - doesn't have a universal meaning. They only have a meaning when you pair the amp with the appropriate schematic. I don't have one for a Coliseum 300. If you do, post it. In fact, you could post pictures of what the damage looks like.

A loud hum is almost always an indication of something wrong in the power supply, be it shorted or open caps, rectifier or transformer. The pop could have come from a cap - if they get leaky and pass a lot of current the electrolyte can actually boil inside of the cap. When electrolytics boil, you will get some crackling, as will happen when resistors burn.

Until you know what is actually wrong, you don't know what it will take to fix it. But I'll tell you one thing, parts costs are going to be nothing compared to the labor.


Offline Isaac

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #9 on: July 14, 2007, 08:37:30 am »
Oh you are so bad!! You deserve to have Ed calculate your speaker impedances!!  :-D
In series or parallel?
Isaac

Offline JoeArthur

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #10 on: July 14, 2007, 08:43:37 am »
Oh you are so bad!! You deserve to have Ed calculate your speaker impedances!!  :-D
In series or parallel?

Yes.

Offline EdBass

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #11 on: July 14, 2007, 09:29:23 am »
Oh you are so bad!! You deserve to have Ed calculate your speaker impedances!!  :-D
In series or parallel?

Yes.

Bah, humbug. The importantance of impedance in audio is greatly overestimated anyway. Always ohms this and series that etc... I concentrate on the important amp things, like "how loud is it?" and "does it look cool up there by the drum kit?"

Offline Will Dee

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #12 on: July 15, 2007, 03:07:18 am »
Thanks a lot guys. I'll try to get a hold of a digital camera and post some pictures.

Offline rick.heil

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Re: Coliseum 300 is smoking
« Reply #13 on: July 17, 2007, 05:57:55 pm »
Is there a way to "hall of fame" this thread?   It made a crappy day (caused by idiot customers at work) that much better when I read it.