clipping without sound?

sponger

Hit the pause button on the CD player the other day and cranked up the volume just to see where it ends. I stopped at +20 since at that point the background hiss became noticeably disturbing. We're talking literally 1-2 seconds at most crossing the 0 threshold before bringing it back down to the usual -50-ish.

Then a burning smell briefly passed by me. It did not stick around long enough for me to locate the source. It didn't smell like a typical burning smell either.

It was so unlike a burning smell that I thought it was probably dust cooking off the power supply or something. This AVR no doubt has major dust bunnies lurking inside.

I haven't done any test tones. But, the tweets sound OK with my ear held up to them. Played Dark Side of the Moon SACD and the cymbals along with the alarm clocks all sound great. I think the female vocals from Great Big Gig would sound funny, but they didn't.

Partially toasted tweets? Shortened lifespan of the AVR amp? Self-dusting mechanism?

I guess my question is whether or not a few seconds of hiss from a paused CD for just 1-2 seconds can do any real damage.

Thanks.

sponger

So I found a 20hz-20khz sweep online and there didn't seem to be any problems. The Sigs get up to 40khz or something I think. But I figured if there were any problems I'd hear them <20khz anyway. I'm hoping it was the AVR since that's on its way out anyway. Thanks again.

F1nut

Yes, there is clipping without music playing. That was a stupid thing to do. Don't do it again.

Viking64

F1nut wrote: »

Yes, there is clipping without music playing. That was a stupid thing to do. Don't do it again.

Not even to engage the self-dusting mechanism on the power supply?

Clipdat

He can do it again, just don't have speakers connected when doing it?!

F1nut wrote: »

Yes, there is clipping without music playing. That was a stupid thing to do. Don't do it again.

mhardy6647

Clipdat wrote: »

He can do it again, just don't have speakers connected when doing it?!

F1nut wrote: »

Yes, there is clipping without music playing. That was a stupid thing to do. Don't do it again.

Actually, at this point, I reckon the OP can do it over and over again with impunity -- the internal components in the amplifier did their job and protected the fuses by burning out themselves.



PS I further reckon that many of us have had power transformers, output transformers, etc. burn out so that the fuse didn't have to pop.

I have.

tonyb

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Clipdat wrote: »

He can do it again, just don't have speakers connected when doing it?!

F1nut wrote: »

Yes, there is clipping without music playing. That was a stupid thing to do. Don't do it again.

Actually, at this point, I reckon the OP can do it over and over again with impunity -- the internal components in the amplifier did their job and protected the fuses by burning out themselves.

Now Doc, don't encourage bad behavior.

Sponger,
The guys are just having a little fun, at your expense, so don't take it to heart. Certainly wasn't a wise thing to do, but lesson learned eh ? We all made dumb mistakes in our audio journey, just let this be a good lesson seeing too that you came out of it without any major damage.

mhardy6647

anything that doesn't kill one makes one stronger...

so far, so good.



Yes, I totally agree with Tony, in all seriousness.
And, in all seriousness, I am not really sure based on the description, what happened to the amplifier in this case.

sponger

As I recall from communications 101, there are sympathetic listeners, and there are critical listeners. I think it goes without saying which bucket audiophiles fall into. So, I don't take the retentiveness personally. Great input and yes I learned my lesson.