jclayton76 Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 So I picked up a pair of Chorus IIs yesterday that are in excellent condition but when I hooked them up to my Peachtree Nova integtrated amp they just didn't sound right. The audio was very low for the volume position and seemed muffled. A quick check of the drivers with my ears confirmed the tweeters were not working. Not a problem as I had already planned to order some titanium tweeters from Crites along with new crossovers. So I took the tweeters out to check they were indeed dead and not just unplugged. Ohm meter read nothing so yeah, dead. I left the tweeters out and continued listening last night. This morning I decided to listen to some more stuff and noticed the volume was strangely low, even at 12 o'clock on my volume knob which is very loud with my JBL L36s. I turned the knob up to 2 or 3 and it was still low. Then I noticed a flash inside my amp and the sound was gone, not a pop but just muted. I then saw my amp volume knob turn itself back down (never seen that happen) and white smoke poured out the top. I raced over to unplug everything and get the amp away from my system and potentially out of the house if it caught fire. I noticed something rattling around inside as I carried the amp, so that's probably not good. I'm guessing I blew a trasistor or something as the tube that's part of the preamp stage was still glowing after the amp failed and it looks fine. I'm wondering if running it without the tweeter plugged in lowered the impedance to a level that killed the amp. I checked the impedance on both Chorus II speakers and it was just under 6 ohms without the tweeter in. I would think this isn't too bad for a modern amp but maybe it is. Hopefully some of you on here can shed some light on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Welcome to the Klipsch Forums! I'm sure you'll get some help here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minermark Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Welp, just from reading that i can surmise your amp shopping, hit the Bay for a reasonable tuber, you should be able to rock just fine with something around $500 or less, just shop, take your time, rebuild you klipsch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted August 10, 2014 Moderators Share Posted August 10, 2014 Welcome and sorry to hear this, at least you didn't start a bigger fire. From what you say it does not sound good, once you let out that magic smoke it's never the same. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MORE KLIPSCH PLEASE Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Hi, sorry about your amp. Also welcome to forum. I am a newer member but have had many Klipsch speakers over the last 25 years or so. This is a great place for info. Now for my 2 cents. I love the Chorus speaker. I have both 1s and 2s. Most of my amps are of the Carver line-up. I love the sound the carvers give these speakers. I don't know what type of music you listen to or the volume you like. But when it come to chest pounding bass and sonic impact the Carver TFM 55 will bring those Chorus II to life. I will also hook up my Carver 400t cube and enjoy the tunes. Anyway that's my 2 cents. Best of luck Mark.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pzannucci Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Sounds like your amp didn't like the impedance of not having the tweeter in the circuit. Since that choke is across the tweeter line, the speaker may have been operating at close to a dead short. I'm not sure without measuring but from the sounds of it, not good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I'm with pzannucci in principle. Actually there is a third order filter for the tweeter. When the tweeter is removed there is series L and C across the amp. This will cause a short circuit at some frequency, which is probably close to the crossover freq for the tweeter. This was pointed out by a moderator here a long time ago. OTOH, I'm not quite sure this will kill an amp. The notch should be fairly narrow. I see the speakers are used and recently purchased. It is possible there are other problems as described. A bad tweeter alone is not likely to cause what is described. Is the midrange working? WMcD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avguytx Posted August 16, 2014 Share Posted August 16, 2014 Why don't you contact Peachtree and see what they'd charge to repair it? That's a real nice amp and a great pair of speakers and almost a shame to get something different. I run a Carver amp myself on my CF-4's (and soon KLF-30's); I have the M-1.0t upgraded to the MkII Opt 002 which puts out 400+ watts/channel. I used to run the TFM-55 on other speakers for years and they are great amps. But like any older amp, they'll need service at some point. But I know what you mean about letting the magic smoke out of something. It sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jclayton76 Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Ok, so an update. I sent the amp to Peachtree for repair for $250, I don't like to spend that much especially since I'm probably going to a tube integrated solution in the near future but as it was the amp had little to no value. At least now they'll go through and bring it back up to spec and it'll have a year warranty. It's only 3 years old, so kinda weird something happened so soon. I'm with mdeneen, I think it might have just been a terrible coincidence. On the bright side, my new Crites titanium tweeters and crossovers came in Friday and I spent all day yesterday and today listening to music on the Chorus II's through my 7 year old Harman Kardon AVR which actually does a pretty good job. The only thing I've noticed that I don't like is the serious lack of low-end with these. I can't believe a speaker with a 15" woofer can't produce some wall shaking bass. The bass does sound clean and tight, and I paired them with a cheap sony 8" powered sub I have and it actually complemented it pretty good but I'll still probably look for a 10" or 12" sub. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minermark Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Sounds like you would be a very, very happy owner of a pair of La Scallas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jclayton76 Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Sounds like you would be a very, very happy owner of a pair of La Scallas. I would, in fact the first pair of Klipsch I ever heard were the La Scalas. They belong to my father-in-law and I heard them when I was 16, which was in 1992. He still has them but they are no longer hooked up, they just sit sadly in a spare bedroom. He told me he'd give them to me if I ever had a place big enough for them, which I don't. My house is only 1650 sq. ft. and the living room is only 15' x 20'. I'd gladly try them out in the living room but the entertainment center my wife bought only allows for speakers 20" on each side, which the Chorus II's are just small enough to fit. My next house I'm definitely going to plan for enough room for the La Scalas or even Klipschorns. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minermark Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Sounds like you would be a very, very happy owner of a pair of La Scallas. I would, in fact the first pair of Klipsch I ever heard were the La Scalas. They belong to my father-in-law and I heard them when I was 16, which was in 1992. He still has them but they are no longer hooked up, they just sit sadly in a spare bedroom. He told me he'd give them to me if I ever had a place big enough for them, which I don't. My house is only 1650 sq. ft. and the living room is only 15' x 20'. I'd gladly try them out in the living room but the entertainment center my wife bought only allows for speakers 20" on each side, which the Chorus II's are just small enough to fit. My next house I'm definitely going to plan for enough room for the La Scalas or even Klipschorns. That is great news, let him know you are on for those speakers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.