[Rob N]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sorry to hear of your problem Matt, when these amps work right they sound fantastic. However as we have found out the maker cut corners, lied and who knows what else. Sure hope you can get it opened up and that it has the correct transformer. Good luck.

That's why he made them so difficult to get into

 

[mrarroyo]

I got lucky w/ my MPX3 in that I was able to open it up w/o any problems.

 

[PhilS]

To the OP: one option is to try to get it repaired. Maybe somebody could talk a look at it and see what it would cost to make it "safe." It might be a worthwhile investment. For example, if you could sell it "as is" for $100 (I'm just pulling that number out of thin air), but it costs only $100 to make it "safe," you might be able to sell it for a lot more than $200. Many of these amps sound great, and if you can make it "safe" by means of a repair by a reputable tech, you may find the amp has some resale value.

EDIT: Looks like it's been sold now. Never mind.

 

[FallenAngel]

Yeah... I took a dremel to mine to cut slits into the screws with minimal damage to the case.

 

[Konig]

I think people should be more discerning with singlepower amps instead of treating all of mikhail's products as toxic waste. I bought my ES-1 in 2007 and it still brings a smile on my face every time I listen to it.

I still waiting for someone who can build a SS version that sounds as good as ES-1 so I can forget totally about tubes.

 

[bdr529]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Konig /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think people should be more discerning with singlepower amps instead of treating all of mikhail's products as toxic waste.

they are more like hand grenades IIRC

 

[spritzer]

The ES-1 can be made to sound quite good but that is no thanks to Mikhail. All he did was to butcher a great Stax circuit from the late 60's plus lie/cheat etc. If you haven't looked inside the amp then I'd do so as there could be some rather dangerous issues hiding in there. In my unit the main coupling caps were 400V units when 1000V is really needed.

 

[Frihed89]

Bolder Cables, AKA Bolder, is repairing some SP amps, Supras, Extremes, MPX3s, and perhaps your model. He's located in Colorado and you can PM him through Head-Fi.org.

In the meantime, if you can open up your amp and take pictures, post them on the SP Supra damage control thread page and see what kind response you get. A few MPX3 owners have posted there and have been helped to fix their amps.

Good luck. It is entirely possible that yours is 100% OK. SP has received so much deservedly bad press and Mikhail's construction flaws were often "random" that it's hard to know if an Amp is OK or not, without closer inspection. That's why folks are cautious. But the repairs can be relatively minor.

 

[928GTS]

What I don't get is why people are telling him to take it to a stereo repair shop. It doesn't make any sense because of the fact that if we told this to everyone then there would be nobody around to service amps. Nobody would have passed down the knowledge necessary to service them and then the new generation of electronic and audio enthusiasts would be left with their hands up in the air.

Everyone started out from square one and I'm sure many of the older hands around here remember messing around in their parents console radio/record player or taking various bits and bobs from surplus and electronic stores and creating frankenamps. People learn from getting their hands dirty and sometimes that requires that you get burned once or twice. I remember the time I accidentally touched a charged filter cap in one of my father's amplifiers and got about ~450V into my hand. Ever since then I have treated each electronic project I've gotten into with extreme respect and have always worked slowly and methodically because I remember what that shock was like.

Education is always the key before going into things like these and for many of these "old hands" there wasn't even that back then. Sometimes they didn't have that local electrical engineer or repairman back then so they just dug into it on their own and found out through discovery.

However with the Internet these days I would highly recommend that you look up some pages on basic amplifier and electrical safety repair before you delve into this. Electricity is something that needs to be treated with extreme respect but as long as you follow a few simple rules,take your time and move slowly you will not only be fine but you will also learn a lot in the process and have the pride of knowing you fixed it yourself.

There are quite a few articles online about how to properly discharge a cap. Generally it is not a very good idea to just short circuit the cap with an insulated wire as this might cause some pretty nasty sparks. You'll need to read the articles for a better explanation but using a thick gauge insulated wire along with a 1 or 2 watt resistor in line with it will help bleed the charge off slowly and prevent any light shows. Check the voltage across each cap you discharge afterward to make sure that the voltage has been lowered to an acceptable level. Do this with EVERY capacitor and never assume that a cap is discharged just because it may be right after a cap that you have just discharged. The best way to be safe when dealing with electricity is to be slow, careful and thorough.

Don't take it to a repair shop,save your money,read up a little bit,arm yourself and try it yourself. If after taking a good look through it you still cannot figure out the problem or complete the modification/upgrade THEN take it to a repair shop but make sure that when the repair tech finishes the job to explain to you what was wrong and show you what they did so that you'll have knowledge for it in the future.