I was asked a week or so ago to have a look at a "expensive Amplifier" that had a crackle. I reluctantly agreed and this huge wooden box was delivered to me containing a heavy chassis with lots of chrome cans. The cans appeared to be glued in place!
To access the underside I had to remove the glued on plastic bottom. What I found you can see in the pictures. The output transistors are held in with a sort of cement , this also provides isolation from the chassis!
The two small circuit boards are not even fitted straight and one is further away from the chassis than the other.
The cans have capacitors and mains transformers in them also held in place with cement.
The bridge rectifiers are glued in place the whole thing to me looks horrid.
The biggest laugh is the two large black boxes on the top, all they contain is a LED and a phono socket!
The big beefy screened mains lead goes into a chock block connector and the screen is not connected either end.
The fault was an intermittent crackle on one channel I found it was due to one of the connections to one of the chassis mounted capacitors to be very badly soldered and loose.
I soldered the wire back on glued the bottom back on and put it back in it's foam padded wood box.
I just told the owner it was OK now I didn't say what I thought of it!
What do you think? am I right ? surely this is just a dressed up pile of crap?
maybe the empty plastic boxes once contained snake oil and it has leaked or evaporated!?
The last pic shows the capacitor that had the dry joint or loose wire to be more accurate this one is held in place with silicone sealant so either they ran out of cement or the cap has been changed.
Sorry that the pics are upside down etc I cannot find a way to rotate them . Maybe a mod would be kind enough to oblige?
Rich