Why do I ALWAYS have such bad luck?! :'(

[tpg]

Hmm... Issue resolved... not exhausted today (I was running on little sleep yesterday)... Amp is working... back to normal here.

[JJkizak]

Bad Luck? Watch "Paydon" in "Silverado"

JJK

[mikebse2a3]

I am sick of this. I am 99% convinced that I should quit ALL of my hobbies. Things are piling on once again, and I'll warn everyone in advance, I need to vent some.

Ok... so I've been thinking I need a decent power amp that'll sound good. I looked at tubes and such, but decided Class A solid state was where my current flavor-of-the-month was laying. So, I decided to build a Pass Labs Aleph 30 clone. Selecting parts was going ok, but a fear and doubt was continuing to grow and surge in the back of my mind: "Can I really build this thing successfully? Or will this be a catastrophic failure that will cost me hundreds of dollars?". And so, I continued looking... Well, I stumbled upon a Forte Audio 1A 50WPC Class A amp on eBay. Forte Audio, an offshoot from Threshold Audio, offered amps designed by Nelson Pass. So, it should be just as good. And thus, I snatched it up. I went to pick it up, sounded great at the seller's house. No problems- dead quiet. And then I got it home. [:|]

I hooked it up (and contrary to my parents' belief I KNOW HOW TO HOOK UP A ******* AMPLIFIER - sorry for the all caps and reference to a not-so-friendly four letter word, but both had to be done). And that's when the problem started. I got some pretty wicked sounds out of it at first, and had feared that I blew the woofers in my speakers. Luckily, this has not been the case so far. I have a bad buzz and hiss from both speakers whether the source is connected, disconnected, playing, muted, anything. It is easily audible above music at my normal listening level, which is probably 70-80dB. If I disconnect the source, I get nasty sounds that scare me. Well, I was dissapointed. It sounded good, quite warm, but fuzzy because of the buzz. A buzz and hiss problem should be easily fixable, right? Oh, if only it were so simple!

Matters became worse... much worse, in my opinion. I was checking it out to see what was up and guess what... The left channel does not get hot AT ALL. Well, most would say that is a sign of good heatsinking. But, those who know Class A know this is NOT the case. Class A amplifiers are designed to run in the 110-120 degrees Farenheit region, even at idle. And, the left channel heatsink is, in fact, COLD. The right heats up quite a bit. To further complicate matters, when I power the amp off with the source still playing, the right channel (the channel that appears to be operating correctly) dies within two or three seconds. This seems quite normal to me. However, the left channel keeps running and playing music for 30 seconds to a minute after power is completely removed - even unplugged from the wall! You cannot tell me that is a normal sign for a Class A amp. The caps in the amp are not that big at all (in fact, I was amazed at how small of capacitance was in te power supply). And, while its still running in this way, it shows -3V DC offset on the left channel.

I build amps and work on amps... so I am quite familiar with their operation. And, I've been studying Nelson Pass's amps because I had planned on building an Aleph. In other words, I know what goes on within the amp, for the most part. There are many, many folks who know FAR more than me, but I am no fool. I can tell when an amp is not working correctly. My parents think I am the one with the problem and that the amp is fine. My mom, being the irrational and often very rude person she is, even went so far as to yell at me about it telling me " always do this" (find fault with things I buy, she means). Now, this is true to a degree- I often find fault with things I buy. BUT, I wouldn't find fault with anything if things I bought would just have been built correctly in the first place!

Three times I have had this problem, that I remember. First, I bought the Dual 1214 (or something like that) turntable, which, unknown to me, did NOT come with the base. So, I had a turntable that had flutter (I think that's what it is) out the wazoo. My speaker cones moved in and out so much you'd think I was listening to rap (cheap shot- and BTW, I never listen to rap). So, I finally sold the TT for a huge monetary hit, as is customary for me. Next time around, I bought a Harman Kardon AVR335, which had a horrible hiss/squeel when ANY of its analog inputs were used. Well, of course, I couldn't have this. So I had to get rid of it...

And now I have purchased yet another thing that doesn't work properly and may, ultimately destroy my speakers in this case. I am not hooking the thing back up to my speakers for anything. NO WAY. I wish I could go back to yesterday and NOT BID on the thing. Or just send it back. But, I get the feeling I won't be able to, and I'll be screwed again.

To further make matters worse, I cannot ride my bike anymore because I am disgusted with the thing. I have replaced the tire tubes FIVE TIMES in the past three months. That is a lot of money in inner tubes. I am sick of riding because everytime I go out, it costs me another $10 for a new tube.

Well, I guess I am finished ranting. I am trying to wear myself out so I can actually fall asleep, but in actuality I am far too upset to sleep. Why do these things always happen to me? Ugh... My head hurts... and my chest hurts... I need to got to bed. [:'(]

Hi tpg

Your probably feeling better today bust just incase I thought I would mention a couple of things that you already know. First: Most things are relative and in your case if these are the worst things that are happening to you then all you need to do is look around and realize there are problems in life far worse than what you have going on now. We can wake up everyday and decide to be happy or sad and after some of my life's trials I have learned to let alot of stuff slide. I CHOOSE to be Happy and not sit and dwell on things that I have no control over or can't change: In other words its a waste of time(LIFE) to go around upset like we all can do at times!

You know if we have things they can and will break and so like above if while riding your bike you have had some troubles with inner tubes then try to figure out if there is anything you could do to prevent it and then let the problem go. Be Gratefull You Can Ride some of us Can't!

The Turntable problem you mention actually turned out to be a learning experience and as long as you learned something from the experience it wasn't a waste! One way we humans advance is to make mistakes and LEARN FROM THEM!!!

I wouldn't go back and change alot of my mistakes because of what I learned from them but I also wouldn't want to repeat them either once I learned my lesson!

You are correct about the AMP. If one channel is Cool, Buzzing and Has a DC Offset of (-3)volts then something is off in that channel due to a failed part or connection in that channel and though I haven't seen the schematic for that amp I would guess from your description that I would check out the first stages and bias circuitry of that channel for starters. Anyway you know the nature of electronics failure can sometimes be the Unit is Working Fine and you turn it off and the Next Time You Turn it On its not. You Listened to it and it was good then you get it home and it has problems; This is just that nature of the beast and has nothing to do with anything else!

Anway tpg I would say we all have felt like things are just against us but thats really not the case. Its just stuff and in reality and relative to other things in life its not that big a deal!!!

mike[]

[JulieHeartKlipsch]

tpg said: "My parents think I am the one with the problem and that the amp is fine. My mom, being the irrational and often very rude person she is, even went so far as to yell at me about it telling me " always do this" (find fault with things I buy, she means). Now, this is true to a degree- I often find fault with things I buy. BUT, I wouldn't find fault with anything if things I bought would just have been built correctly in the first place!"

Remember that one of the Ten Commandments states that you must honor your mother and your father. If you happen to actually be smarter than your parents (like every teenager thinks[]) then be patient with them. They brought you in to this life and deserve your respect. If you happen to be less smart than your parents, then consider how you must appear to them when you are throwing a temper tantrum. All through life you will find people of all stripes and sizes but you will never find anyone who loves you like your mom!!!!!!!!!!

J.

[tpg]

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[fini]

Buying banana plugs always makes me feel better, too! ;^)

[jt1stcav]

I know how you feel, but you aren't the ONLY one with such bad luck. Try getting laid off from a well-paying job of 17 years, filing bankruptcy and selling off practically everything you own, only to get a lower paying job and not have any savings whatsoever anymore, et al.

Once I had excellent credit and was able to pay all my monthly expenses with money left over to put away into an IRA fund. I had no whims whipping out my American Express Gold Card and purchase just about anything I wanted, knowing that I'll have the funds by the end of the month to pay the purchase off. I could travel or eat out on a daily basis and not worry about having the funds to do so.

But you can never foresee your future, and I never planned on having my career fall out from under me...I never saw it coming! Life is so full of nasty surprises, but instead of letting it get you down, you need to regain your confidence and stand firm, and know that eventually everything will get better. Whether it's a faulty amp time and time again, or losing everything you've worked hard to own suddenly disappear, you need faith to get by. Things will work out for you in time.

Hang in there...