Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!

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jkscherk

Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« on: 18 Jun 2012, 01:32 pm »
Hi All,

In some unxeplained phenomenon, the board for the left channel developed some kind of short, resulting first in a 'pop' and small 'flash' followed about 20 seconds later by a small flame and black smoke.  Not good.  Thoughts on how to go about fixing/replacing the amp?

BTW...the fuse never blew.

John

Joe_K

Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #1 on: 18 Jun 2012, 06:26 pm »
John,

see http://www.audioc.com/aboutaci1/support.htm

and contact bpassmore@triadspeakers.com for service info.

Let us know how it turns out.

Joe

Mike Dzurko

Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #2 on: 18 Jun 2012, 06:42 pm »
Sorry to hear that John. Joe is right, contact Brent at Triad, he's a good man and will fix it right at the lowest possible cost.

Joe_K

Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #3 on: 26 Aug 2012, 03:04 am »
Hi All,

In some unxeplained phenomenon, the board for the left channel developed some kind of short, resulting first in a 'pop' and small 'flash' followed about 20 seconds later by a small flame and black smoke.  Not good.  Thoughts on how to go about fixing/replacing the amp?

BTW...the fuse never blew.

John
That is scarry! Luckily you caught it, I hate the smell of burning electronics.......

Anyway, I was curious how the repair went?

Joe

tpletch

  • Guest
Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #4 on: 24 Oct 2012, 11:25 pm »
Coincidentally, one of my two Maestro amps just did the same exact thing today.  My son turned on my system to watch a movie and he said there was a pop / flash followed by release of the magic smoke.  When I got home from work, I opened up the case and found the left board died a dramatic fiery death.  I am fortunate that this is the top device in my audio rack or else there could have been additional collateral damage.

Assuming repair may be cost-prohibitive, does anyone know if these amps have special equalization built in or would a high-powered pro amp suffice as a cost-effective replacement?

 Is it likely that the woofer was the cause and/or damaged during the event and is there an easy way to check without hooking up the woofer to my second Maestro amp and putting it at risk?






Pletch

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 7
Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #5 on: 25 Oct 2012, 12:17 am »
Well, just heard back from Brent.  Amp is unsalvageable.

Apparently, the Maestro has a 4 ohm driver attached to an amp designed for a minimum 8 ohm load.  He said other amp could go up in time as well and I should get some fans on the outputs for each board.  This is a little disappointing considering the cost of the Maestro subwoofer..... Thinking maybe replace both amps with a single Crown XLS2000 and figure out a way to EQ flat.

Ryan45872

Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #6 on: 25 Oct 2012, 12:44 am »
Well, just heard back from Brent.  Amp is unsalvageable.

Apparently, the Maestro has a 4 ohm driver attached to an amp designed for a minimum 8 ohm load.  He said other amp could go up in time as well and I should get some fans on the outputs for each board.  This is a little disappointing considering the cost of the Maestro subwoofer..... Thinking maybe replace both amps with a single Crown XLS2000 and figure out a way to EQ flat.

So the amps made for the maestro is not a match for the driver?
could this happen to my maestro amps?
Thanks
Ryan

Pletch

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 7
Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #7 on: 25 Oct 2012, 01:49 am »
Well, I believe there were two diffferent versions of the Maestro amp with the second version possibly being a class D design.  I have the original class A/B design (a bridged pair for 500 watts into an 8 ohm load) which was indicated to be a mismatch for the 4 ohm driver.  I do not know if the second version of the amplifier suffers from the same mismatch however I would hope that the oversight would have been corrected in the revision.

Here is the exact advice I was given to preserve / prolong the life of my remaining working amp:

"Under most conditions it is not a problem but if you push it hard or have something with a lot of continuous bass then it will start to overheat.  Putting a fan on each side to keep the outputs cooler should keep it working well."

I'd rather not risk another flameout and the capital committee has just given approval to commence with replacement so I am going to figure out another way to power the two subs.

Joe_K

Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #8 on: 25 Oct 2012, 02:13 am »
I'd rather not risk another flameout and the capital committee has just given approval to commence with replacement so I am going to figure out another way to power the two subs.

The pictures looks like a power supply board fried? Did it fry itself or did the output device(s) short and take it out too? I'm surprised it's non-repairable or a newer Ice amp isn't available?

The crown amp might be nice, but how are you driving the subs? If from a pre/pro or HT receiver that covers the crossover and level control, but;
From the Maestro manual,
"Miscellaneous:
· A limiter and current sensing feedback circuitry protect the driver from being overdriven and reduce distortion.
· The discreet outputs of the amplifier deliver over 500watts RMS to the woofer with extremely low distortion.
· A temperature switch monitors the output devices. In the event of excess heat the switch will shut down the
circuitry to prevent damage. Once the heat sinks cool the power will be restored. Because the electronics
have been designed and ”tuned” to the woofer and cabinet, the Maestro offers incredible performance in a
relatively small cabinet."

I would feel better with some of the protection circuits, esp the limiter, but I'm not sure how to duplicate them,  maybe someone will chime in ,or  the bassplace here or a DIY site where they're building subs; Like Hometheater shack for one would know more?

Come to think of it Hafler 280's were run in bridged mode for sub amps and worked quite well!

Some thoughts,

Keep us updated,
Joe

Pletch

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 7
Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #9 on: 25 Oct 2012, 02:33 am »
The fried section is the left amplifier board. Based on the pictures, he said any time he has seen that much damage, the traces on the board are damaged and they no longer have replacement amp boards for this model. 

I am using a Denon 4311 for bass management.  If I decide to go with the Crown amp, I think I'll also opt for a Minidsp.  As alluded to in the manual excerpt, the original amp includes equalization circuitry to get the output flat for the driver in the provided enclosure.  The minidsp would allow me to measure and reapply said EQ in the absence of the features present in the original amp.  I do not listen anywhere near reference level so I am not going to lose too much sleep if I don't have the mentioned limiter.

Tim

Ryan45872

Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #10 on: 25 Oct 2012, 12:52 pm »
Do you have any pics of the front so I can see the version you have? My amps you have to remove the front to get to the controls.
Thanks,
Ryan

Pletch

  • Jr. Member
  • Posts: 7
Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #11 on: 26 Oct 2012, 11:04 am »
Here is a photo of the other working Maestro amp that remains in my rack at the moment.  Apologies in advance for the quality of the photography as I snapped this on my phone.

Tim


Ryan45872

Re: Maestro amp burned up....now what to do???!!
« Reply #12 on: 26 Oct 2012, 12:21 pm »
Thanks Tim,
I must have the later version of the amps. So I hope I'm in good shape :| :).
Ryan