I have a Crown CE2000 that let some of the magic smoke out, quite a lot actually along with a few bangs and some sparks. The amp was in bridged mode(I know....) when it happened. I switched the amp back to stereo and the protect light is only on one channel. My question is, is it safe to use the remaining channel of the amplifier or is the already blown channel going to randomly continue its destruction? Attached is a pic of the problem. Thanks.
Is it safe to use this amp?
- Thread starter Chris Gruber
- Start date
Re: Is it safe to use this amp?
I have never been a fan of those amps... IMO (and what would I know?) it was a very old (and tired) design repackaged using modern SOTA (brand new at the time) SMD technology, by a non power amp guy.
OK I feel a little better now...
In case you aren't joking, at a minimum you need to replace the fried SMT resistors that look like miniature charcoal briquets in your picture. if you are not handy with making your own repairs ask crown for a quote... but don't just bend over and ask for a kiss, because they may want to sell you a new PCB. I'd buy a new different amp before that.
It doesn't look as bad as some I've seen around... if those are the worst of it it looks fixable, and maybe cheap, if it's just replacing those burned up emitter ballast resistors... it looks like they used two in parallel to try to get a little more power handling out of them...
Hmm how well did that work out?
JR
I have never been a fan of those amps... IMO (and what would I know?) it was a very old (and tired) design repackaged using modern SOTA (brand new at the time) SMD technology, by a non power amp guy.
OK I feel a little better now...
In case you aren't joking, at a minimum you need to replace the fried SMT resistors that look like miniature charcoal briquets in your picture. if you are not handy with making your own repairs ask crown for a quote... but don't just bend over and ask for a kiss, because they may want to sell you a new PCB. I'd buy a new different amp before that.
It doesn't look as bad as some I've seen around... if those are the worst of it it looks fixable, and maybe cheap, if it's just replacing those burned up emitter ballast resistors... it looks like they used two in parallel to try to get a little more power handling out of them...
Hmm how well did that work out?
JR
Re: Is it safe to use this amp?
Thanks guys!
Tim, I have sent an email off to Crown.
John, the reason I bought this amp 8 years ago was budget, both me and my company have grown a long way. I agree that the performance leaves much to be desired and I don't plan on sticking much if anything into this amp. I just figured it may be handy for occasional or even backup use to have that extra amp channel available. I am not an electronics engineer but I can read a schematic, know how to use a multi-meter and am good with a soldering iron. Depending on Crowns answer I may just have a little winter project, If I do attempt to fix it it would be relegated to shop or home use. Frankly considering it spent 99% of its life bridged on subs playing EDM I am surprised it lasted as long as it did.
-Chris
Thanks guys!
Tim, I have sent an email off to Crown.
John, the reason I bought this amp 8 years ago was budget, both me and my company have grown a long way. I agree that the performance leaves much to be desired and I don't plan on sticking much if anything into this amp. I just figured it may be handy for occasional or even backup use to have that extra amp channel available. I am not an electronics engineer but I can read a schematic, know how to use a multi-meter and am good with a soldering iron. Depending on Crowns answer I may just have a little winter project, If I do attempt to fix it it would be relegated to shop or home use. Frankly considering it spent 99% of its life bridged on subs playing EDM I am surprised it lasted as long as it did.
-Chris
Re: Is it safe to use this amp?
If it's just those resistors, you're probably looking at under a dollar in parts.
If it's just those resistors, you're probably looking at under a dollar in parts.
Re: Is it safe to use this amp?
That will make the Crown repair estimate $200.... They usually replace the entire card.
I suspect that Chris will opt to buy another amp.
That will make the Crown repair estimate $200.... They usually replace the entire card.
I suspect that Chris will opt to buy another amp.
Re: Is it safe to use this amp?
Buying such parts in small quantity may cost a little more than that... The issue is the physical integrity of the PCB. Most experienced amp designers use oversized, several watt resistors for those emitter degeneration ballast resistors, precisely so they don't burn up from common faults. The typical failure, is a power device short circuited, putting many watts into those parts short term until a fuse or breaker pops.
If the circuit board is not burned to the point that the foil is lifted and unusable, you should be able to simply solder in new resistors. I am not familiar with seeing only the resistors fail,,, but usually they look worse from power device failure, so who knows? I am certainly no expert on fixing Crown amps.
If Moby is around he should know... but if you have lost a power device or more, it will be more than a few bux parts cost. You often can't tell a bad power transistor from just looking at them, but common failure modes are dead short between collector emitter, and a second common failure is open base. So a VOM can tell you pretty quickly how serious that repair could get.
JR
Buying such parts in small quantity may cost a little more than that... The issue is the physical integrity of the PCB. Most experienced amp designers use oversized, several watt resistors for those emitter degeneration ballast resistors, precisely so they don't burn up from common faults. The typical failure, is a power device short circuited, putting many watts into those parts short term until a fuse or breaker pops.
If the circuit board is not burned to the point that the foil is lifted and unusable, you should be able to simply solder in new resistors. I am not familiar with seeing only the resistors fail,,, but usually they look worse from power device failure, so who knows? I am certainly no expert on fixing Crown amps.
If Moby is around he should know... but if you have lost a power device or more, it will be more than a few bux parts cost. You often can't tell a bad power transistor from just looking at them, but common failure modes are dead short between collector emitter, and a second common failure is open base. So a VOM can tell you pretty quickly how serious that repair could get.
JR
Re: Is it safe to use this amp?
Sounds like Crown. Good service, not fast or cheap though.
Sounds like Crown. Good service, not fast or cheap though.
Re: Is it safe to use this amp?
I suspect that simply replacing the resistors alone is a waste of time-but who knows.
I agree with JR. In all of my years as a bench tech, I cannot think of a single repair on an amp that was fixed by simply replacing burnt resistors. Usually something else goes bad that causes them to burn. And most semiconductors do not fail with an outside evidence of failure. SO you can't look a them and see if they are bad or not. They have to be measured-one at a time.
I suspect that simply replacing the resistors alone is a waste of time-but who knows.