Poor speaker connection blowing an amp?

It cant hurt the amp. At worst it could arc over the gap, but its current delivery, not v, and the amp's very much in control, not the LS. Think it through.

NT

What amp is it?

Are we talking valve amp, transformer coupled solid state amp, or normal output stage SS amp?

Ron(UK)

the

I could see it as a problem with valve amps as the main "inductor" is on the amp side of a break. I should have limited the question to solid state amps

So, what amp is it? make & model number?

Ron(UK)

normal

the

amps

hypothetical, any amp + speaker + any sort of potential break/poor contact. I forget the maths now but in theory (no R etc) then for an instantaneous break can't the indiced V be near infinite for an infinitesimal time after the break. So a few hundred volts a nS or so after a break could be induced and easily arc across a practical, poor contact, rather than a theoretical clean break.

-- Diverse Devices, Southampton, England electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on

That's why I hate impedance selectors... wired around the one on my Marshall. Terminal strip and jumper wire is the only way to do it right a la old PA's. __ Steve .

We've seen it in all kinds of gears. The more extreme cases are in dance club sound systems. I've seen Crown power amps with big craters in the cases of stainless steel TO-3 case transistors. When one of those subwoofers lets go there's a lot of energy looking for somewhere to go....

Ron

If it's a tube amp, you could get flyback voltages causing arcing at tube sockets, perhaps punched through insulation in the output transformer...

In 25 years in the repair industry, I've yet to see a failure where a TO-3 ends it's life that violently.

Got any pics? :)

JW wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Agreed. Everything else around it will melt and burn to a crisp before the TO-3 even discolours. On the other hand, the plastic package TO-3P (looks like an oversized TO-220) will flames out in a kaleidoscope of colours.

"N Cook" wrote in news:erelv6$smj$ snipped-for-privacy@inews.gazeta.pl:

SS amps of the power MOSFET variety are suceptible to fail under those conditions. This is due to the low (20-30volt) gate-to-source breakdown.

Depends on how fast it goes, doesn't it. No, I don't have pic's but there's sure to be some out there. It really isn't that rare.

Ron

Ron

Sweet Blues pedal demo up at

sure

I`ve seen plenty of those big old Peavey poweramps with the T03s melted right through the can.

Ron(UK)