Adcom GFA-545 distortion light and hiss/buzz

[vr6ofpain]

here are the pics:

4x


'Innards':

[psonic]

Oops sorry, I figured you had little electronics experience since you weren't sure what power supply filter caps are. Yes, that's them and if you have experience with discharging them, go for it - although I honestly don't know if that is what has failed in your amp. Could be a number of things, but it they would be a prime suspect...

you may want to try one of the audioasylum boards...

[vr6ofpain]

Oops sorry, I figured you had little electronics experience since you weren't sure what power supply filter caps are. Yes, that's them and if you have experience with discharging them, go for it - although I honestly don't know if that is what has failed in your amp. Could be a number of things, but it they would be a prime suspect...

you may want to try one of the audioasylum boards...

I think I am going to call Adcom's service people. See if they would be willing to give me any advice. I really don't think I would be willing to spend the money it would take to ship it to them and back. There are a few Adcom auth. service centers in southern California. Maybe I'll try some of them. Honestly though, if the repair(including shipping is going to be ~$150....or more. I would rather try to source some replacement caps (this could be hard) and just swap them out anyway...to see if that was the issue. I have read that capacitors can start to 'die' after ~20 years. This amp is 19.5 years old. Maybe it was its time...though I might try to bring her back. Definately going to be boxed up for some time, since I am moving in a week and won' have time to deal with it. Guess I will just keep listening through my Grado's as I usually do.

I need to see how much smaller the filter caps in my Kenwood receiver are...just for kicks. I know they are not 10,000 microfarads because these are about as tall as the receiver itself. Then again....maybe I will just splurge on a newer receiver....and kick the 2 channel way. Time and money will dictate I guess.

Thanks for the info.