problem with hi fi amp

the evil belly

i figure this is as good a place as any for this. i've and old cyrus 1 amp powering my stereo. everything bar the amp was bought new in the past 2 or 3 years. the problem i'm having is that the right channel is distorting at higher volumes. the left one is fine. it's not the speaker, cables, interconnects or fuses cos i've checked those all ready. despite being old it's doing a grand job except when i crank the volume up, so this isn't a problem on a day to day basis. i'm debating if i should shell out for a new amp or try and have this one repaired. so does anyone have any ideas as to what might be wrong. is it even worth repairing? i don'y have the money for a new amp at the moment anyway but i'd like to know if this amp can be fixed or not and if it can then what kind of money am i looking at?

emaherx

dose the amp have independent analog volume controls?

robbie1876

AV Import in Dublin 12 repair Cyrus. They are on 01 4192350.

Most causes of distortion at high volumes tend to be the speakers. I know you said you checked them out, but try swapping the L and R channels at the back of the amp to be sure. It's unusual that just one of the channels would distort from the amp, but not impossible.

ZENER

I agree with robbie on the swapping thing above - can you hear the distortion in the headphones ? I did a bit of searching and it appears there is a stock fault with that amp concerning a resistor somewhere in the output stages - details were vague but I'll try again later. Can you describe the distortion in any way ?

ZEN

the evil belly

Originally posted by robbie1876
Most causes of distortion at high volumes tend to be the speakers. I know you said you checked them out, but try swapping the L and R channels at the back of the amp to be sure. It's unusual that just one of the channels would distort from the amp, but not impossible.

i've swapped over the speakers already as well as the cables and interconnects. the distortion is similar in sound to if you turned your car stereo up as load as it will go. it's not really that bad from a distance but if your in the same room as the speakers is really bad

ZENER

Is their any imbalance in the levels/tone/clarity at non-distorting volumes?

What about headphones - do they distort ?
BALANCE to the distorting channel, do you notice any distortion ?
Is their a tone defeat loudness defeat button - does it make a difference ?
With no input is there any noticable difference between the two channels?

Is any help suggestion we offer relavent, are you capable of delving in at component level to render a repair ? If not then better off doing as robbie suggests and drop it in at AV Imports.

ZEN

the evil belly

this is an old amp, no balance button, no tone buttons, just volume and input selects.don't use headfones often but i don't recall them distorting but thats not to say they dodn't distort i just can't remember. on a technical level i can change fuses etc. but thats about it. i'd be very reluctant to mess around with what i don't understand (and probably break) and big pudgy fingers are never useful around electronics anyway. can anyone give me a rough idea of what it would cost me for AV to take a look at it, i know it's hard to say without better info but i'm only looking for a ballpark figure. the amps in cork also so i'd have to bring it to dublin which adds more time and money to the problem.

ZENER

Reading your last post it occurs to me that the problem may be with a selector switch. What input sources are you using - cd - tuner ? Do they all distort or is it confined to one set of inputs? It's possible that some contact spray may be all that is required on the selector switch.

ZEN

robbie1876

That's a good point from ZEN, it's worth checking the source on different inputs just in case.

AV Import have an estimate service, they'll look at the amp for you and provide a no obligation estimate. Alternatively, have you tried speaking to an engineer in Cyrus about the problem? They might have knowledge about a specific problem relating to the distortion you describe, and may have a quick fix that you can do yourself.

the evil belly

i know it distorts on cd and minidisc and i think it does on the radio too. i haven't been onto cyrus about it but it's something i'll do before spending my hard earned cash on repairs.