Parasound HCA-1000A on the fritz

PrazVT

I mentioned this in another thread - but I haven't been able to decide what to do about it. Basically, while my crossovers were out being upgraded, I was running my RTi A1s in 2 ch mode when I watched TV. All 3 of my amps (a21, nc2250, the 1000a) do the auto turn on thing via 12V.

So during this period, there were no speakers connected to the A21 or 1000A. Anyway so one time when I turned on the system, saw spark in the 1000A. I only realized something was wrong when I hooked the center back up. The amp powers on and looks normal, but no sound coming out.

After the fiasco with my 2200ii (repaired once, died again, and ended up buying a new A21), my initial reaction was 'let this thing die ..and go get a newer amp' - which is what I did. NC2125 running in mono powering the center.

Now the question is - what do I do with this amp? I paid $275 for it about a year ago and from what I'm noticing, Parasound charges ~$200 for amp repairs, though I haven't asked Richard & Tony about this particular case yet.

I guess I just don't feel right about simply disposing of it...

Outfitter03

Have you pulled the lid on this to see what may be going on. Sometimes with a visible spark there may be an indication inside of where the problem lies with a careful inspection for burn marks.

I have not looked inside of a HCA-1000A but my 750A has rail fuses. When the fuse element goes with glass fuses it can produce a flash of light, so that is worth a look at least. Let us know what you find.

PrazVT

Alright - I'll crack it open and take a look.

Polkie2009

Definitely worth a look Praz, if it is a blown fuse or fuses, next step would be to figure what caused them to blow.

PrazVT

I'll include some pics as I may not readily see the issue - where one of you guys might.

PrazVT

PICS of the amp insides here ...

Are those the fuses inside? Perhaps one of them blew?

Otherwise, I don't see anything melted or burnt.

PrazVT

how do these glass fuses work? I see in the main fuse (under receptacle), the thin filament is in tact (so the amp turns on). One of the smaller fuses inside, the contacts are broken (and looks like some burn residue). Would replacing the fuses fix it? They're marked T5L 250V.

Also, there's a 5th fuse inside on the other side of the caps and it's fine. So looks like the 4 internal fuses blew.

Polkie2009

I'm unable to see your pics, maybe someone else can???

PrazVT

Ok let's try it this way...

PrazVT

Replaced all 4 of those fuses w/ identical ones. The amp powered up alright. Connected it up to the center speaker and powered the system on. No audio and the regular lights are on (ie..no protection light, no overload lights, just AC power green light). Opened up amp again and none of the new fuses have blown.

So it's something more involved I guess.

dpowell

This happened to one of my Parasounds and it sounds like very similar behavior. It ended up being a small (and I mean small) capacitor. Fortunately, I saw what part of the amp the 'fire' occurred in so I was able to track it down quickly.

Contact Parasound tech support. They provided a replacement cap for free as well as the schematics so I could tell which Cap was burnt. Fortunately, I have a local contact with a retired electronics repairman who fixed it for $40.

PrazVT

Unfortunately, I don't have the proficiency to pinpoint which element has fried so I'm at the mercy of either Parasound or another local audio repair shop. Parasound HQ is a 20 min drive from my house and they've helped me out before. It's always a little disconcerting have Richard reply to e-mails directly though lol. Esp when you're asking about a used amp

dpowell

That just shows the level of customer service they provide. You might just look around for any part of the circuit board that looks a bit black. The fried cap in my amp was towards the back of the amp.

PrazVT

Hmmm okay I'll take a closer look at the board tomorrow I did some brown gunk under one of the caps, but the cap itself looked okay. Towards the back, right in front of the vertical board where all the inputs + speaker connections are. But I'll look over it some more tomorrow and perhaps hit up Parasound.

This amp would go well with the new phono pre and cartridge I got my dad for his bday His JBL L166s are languishing under AVR power.

dpowell

On my amp, it was not one of the typical round power caps that you might be looking for. I believe this one was more of a small white square boxy looking cap. It's been awhile since that happened so I can't tell you for sure. It was pretty obvious though once my eyes locked on it.