Has anyone "blown" an amp or receiver using 4 ohm AR's or multiple pairs etc.

[Chris1this1]

 I'm not disagreeing that obeying amplifier specs is important,  however, has anyone  personally had amplifier failure when cranking up to right before clipping?  Just interested in hearing stories and what types of failures. 

[DavidR]

Not with AR speakers but back in college with my first pair of Bose 901_II. I had a Nikko STA-8080 receiver (IIRC was 45wpc). It would clip so bad with volume the amp would actually shutdown (no sound) and then slam back on. Needless to say it didn't last long. THAT was my learning experience.

[Chris1this1]

I can definitely picture that since the 901's have that demanding eq curve, and I've had my amp(s) go into temporary protection, but nothing has blown up. Did the Nikko survive the abuse?

[DavidR]

Oh no. The amp died. Lesson learned.

[lakecat]

Hi Chris........yes, I have a Sansui G-8000 that does 120wpc and at around 50-60 watts of bass heavy music....the AR3a's shut down the Sansui. After letting it rest, the Sansui came on so protect mode worked....but 4 ohm was too much for it with that music. It is a totally recapped receiver also.  I also had a Sansui 9090DB that did the same thing with the 3a's...except I had to take it in for repair as it wouldn't come back on....but wasn't recapped either....so a $75 repair bill. I also had a Sansui G-7000 early in my learning experience that shut down with the Heathkit version of the 3a's on even lower wattage. 

So I threw in the towel and bought a McIntosh 2205 for the 4 ohm speakers and have never had a problem. I leave the other receivers to the 8ohm speakers I have. I do have a recapped Sansui 9090 in my bedroom hooked to a pair of AR3a's but it is mostly acoustical music and never played loud.

[ar_pro]

I managed to get a Dynaco ST-120 to go POW!! and begin smoking with just a single pair of AR-3a's.

The Dyna was being driven by a Crown IC-150 preamp, and I'm sure the bass was cranked. 

Deep Purple's Machine Head may also have been involved. 

[lARrybody]

26 minutes ago, ar_pro said:

Deep Purple's Machine Head may also have been involved.

Instead of Smoke on the Water it was Smoke on the Dynaco

[AR55]

I had a Pioneer A-9 integrated amp (110 wpc) that would constantly overheat and twice blew output transistors when powering a pair of AR-98Ls speakers.  I had upgraded from a Pioneer SA-7500 to the A-9, because I was concerned that the SA-7500 @ 40 wpc could not handle the 98's at high volume.  The A-9 was tested by Stereo Review and showed no problem handling a 4 ohm load.  After getting the A-9 fixed the second time under warranty, I sold it to a friend who used it to power some 8 ohm KLH's.  He never experienced any overheating problems. 

Years later my daughter asked if I could put together a vintage stereo system for her.  I got the Pioneer SA-7500 out of the closet, cleaned it up (Deoxit is great stuff) and gave it to her along with my old 98Ls' and a Dual 621 turntable that my brother no longer wanted.  She has owned it for 5 years and the SA-7500 barely gets warm.

[lrmccloudjr]

Just put a Crown K2 on my AR9s. Now they sound awesome!   My Sunfire receiver will drive them-but not like the Crown.  Endless power 800 a channel tight bass, and the amp never breaks a sweat!!!

[DavidR]

Good Damping Factor with Crown amps.

[Chris1this1]

This is all great info. I have limited experience driving the 4 ohm AR's, only had some for a little over a year so far. Although I've had LST-2's forever, they are 8 ohms and anything I would power them with played well with them.  I can say that when I was using an Onkyo integra A8087 integrated (100wpc) to drive 4 ohm LST's it would occasionally go into protection, but never get damaged.  I wouldn't say this was an upgrade, but  I am now using a Kenwood Eleven GX, 125wpc, rated to handle 4 ohms, but this thing has never missed a beat, and I prefer the way it sounds to the Onkyo. It gets hot by the time an album is over, but no issues yet. I've even connected two pairs of LST's to it and it survived, although I'm sure that is pushing my luck. 

[tysontom]

On 2/12/2018 at 7:35 PM, ar_pro said:

I managed to get a Dynaco ST-120 to go POW!! and begin smoking with just a single pair of AR-3a's.

The Dyna was being driven by a Crown IC-150 preamp, and I'm sure the bass was cranked. 

Deep Purple's Machine Head may also have been involved. 

I'm embarrassed to say that I "smoked" an AR Amplifier with a pair of AR-3as playing (loudly) Switched-On Bach by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos.  This great old recording went on to sell a million copies, by the way!  The AR Amplifier's bias got out of wack and before the fuses could blow, the output transistors and associated components went up in smoke (literally).  Returned it to AR (this amp had one other failure under warranty), and AR scrapped it and sent me a brand-new AR Amp, all at no charge.  Needless to say, the AR-3a (and even more so, the AR-3) can cause trauma to amplifiers not designed for low-impedance, reactive loads.  The AR Amp was designed for low impedance, of course, but it had a serious bias issue that took AR some time to correct.  Regardless of that issue, that amp worked extremely well with any AR speaker, of course!

--Tom Tyson   

[ar_pro]

1 hour ago, tysontom said:

I'm embarrassed to say that I "smoked" an AR Amplifier with a pair of AR-3as playing (loudly) Switched-On Bach by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos.  This great old recording went on to sell a million copies, by the way! 

I love that record - it's been a favorite for decades!

W. Carlos' follow-up, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer might be even more of a technical & artistic accomplishment, demonstrating the significant capability of the early Moog equipment and 8-track Ampex.  The CD is out of print, and crazy-expensive, but LPs are plentiful on eBay - highly recommended!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well-Tempered_Synthesizer

[JKent]

On 2/16/2018 at 9:38 PM, tysontom said:

Switched-On Bach by Walter (now Wendy) Carlos. 

My introduction to classical music! I was in college, visiting an on-campus art exhibit. I was fascinated by a theremin but then noticed the weird and beautiful synthesizer music playing in the background. It was Switched on Bach and I went out and bought it. My wife's lunk head cousin later borrowed it and ruined it but by then I had moved on to listening to traditional instruments. But I always remember the extraterrestrial sound of the Moog.

PS: This has been on my mind for a couple of days so I just ordered a copy on ebay.

[JKent]

On 2/17/2018 at 8:03 PM, JKent said:

I had moved on to listening to traditional instruments. But I always remember the extraterrestrial sound of the Moog. . . . This has been on my mind for a couple of days so I just ordered a copy on ebay.

Well my copy from ebay arrived today. Vinyl in pristine condition, as advertised. I put it on the turntable and asked my wife if she wanted to hear a blast from the past. After several seconds, her assessment was: "What were we thinking? We weren't even on drugs!"

Yeah. I have to agree. I suppose it was ground breaking at the time but it's truly awful (sorry Tom and ar_pro).

Kent

[ar_pro]

19 minutes ago, JKent said:

Well my copy from ebay arrived today. Vinyl in pristine condition, as advertised. I put it on the turntable and asked my wife if she wanted to hear a blast from the past. After several seconds, her assessment was: "What were we thinking? We weren't even on drugs!"

Yeah. I have to agree. I suppose it was ground breaking at the time but it's truly awful (sorry Tom and ar_pro).

Kent

Ha, ha!  

De gustibus non est disputandum ! 

[JKent]

19 hours ago, ar_pro said:

De gustibus non est disputandum

verum 

chacun à son goût

[stupidhead]

didn't enjoy it then and still don't.

maybe I'm not couth

[lakecat]

I guess the German band Tangerine Dream is out!...;)

[lARrybody]

When I was a senior in high school I took a class in Latin and Greek Derivatives.  I was amazed how many of our English words have roots and prefixes based on these ancient languages.

Wish I could remember half of what I learned back then. Thank goodness for google.  As far as German artist the only one I ever  liked was  Nena-99 Luftballons.

[JKent]

1 hour ago, lakecat said:

I guess the German band Tangerine Dream is out!...;)

I'll admit I have several of their records. There was a time when I was "into" New Age and Space music.

6 minutes ago, larrybody said:

Wish I could remember half of what I learned back then.

Yeah--I took Latin in 9th grade. Woulda flunked it but I sat next to the smartest girl in class 

[lakecat]

49 minutes ago, JKent said:

I'll admit I have several of their records. There was a time when I was "into" New Age and Space music.

Yeah--I took Latin in 9th grade. Woulda flunked it but I sat next to the smartest girl in class 

Yea....have their album downstairs and haven't touched it in over nearly forty years....nor the acid....;)

We had a horrible old Latin teacher in 9th grade and no control over class. I was misbehaving with a pretty girl next to me and she called me out to come up to the front of class and read a passage in Latin. It started out...Two wise birds......so only knowing how to count to four in Latin....I began to say....."Duo wiso birdos". She screamed, "No!!!!!"....and came over and hit my arm....and had me sit.....lol. 

[mike tarelli]

On 17/02/2018 at 4:26 AM, ar_pro said:

I love that record - it's been a favorite for decades!

W. Carlos' follow-up, The Well-Tempered Synthesizer might be even more of a technical & artistic accomplishment, demonstrating the significant capability of the early Moog equipment and 8-track Ampex.  The CD is out of print, and crazy-expensive, but LPs are plentiful on eBay - highly recommended!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Well-Tempered_Synthesizer

Thanks Tom and ar_pro I had forgotten about these albums. Only Carlos I had was on "Clockwork Orange" soundtrack. £5 for an LP of "The Well - Tempered Synthesizer" and two Cds of "Switched on Bach" I & II. Bit more expensive! Wonderful! Now to try and blow something up!

Mike