faulty? creek cas4040

[jasonC]

hope i have posted in the right place

i bought a creek cas4040 (din version) on the bay but sadly it has arrived faulty.
i do not wish to return it as i am sure the seller sold it in good faith but i am at a lost to the fault.
if it has one as maybe i'm doing something wrong.
one channel has sound and the other channel has very very very low sound.
i took the lid off with the permission of the seller but i can not see any blown fuses nor any burns in it.
any idea what could be the problem?


thanks all

[struth]

Did that amp not have speaker switching, which I think was to mute the speakers if cans were used. might have something to do with that. Just a thought:)

[jasonC]

hi Grant
i hope your doing good
i was going to pm you this weekend as just got back from my trip.
but about what you mention,yes it does have that.
yellow l/r switched speaker posts
black l/r earth speaker posts
red l/r unswitched speaker posts
i have tried connecting using yellow and black which you use if your using headphones and and red and black
both options lead to very very low sound in one speaker and normal sound in the other.

[struth]

If it was fine b4 you got it then it could be a dry joint. its a fair age; think they came out in early 80's. certainly sounds like only the pre is working

[jasonC]

do you think it would cost alot to repair grant as i have no repair skills
i would rather get it repaired then send it back.
can i ask what is a dry joint?

[struth]

do you think it would cost alot to repair grant as i have no repair skills
i would rather get it repaired then send it back.
can i ask what is a dry joint?

It would depend on whats wrong and availability of spares, so I cannot answer that.. Dry joint is a soldered point that has lost its connection with the component normally. you could also have a crack in the pcb as well which is pretty similar. a switch or relay if it has any in the path. Vol control etc.. a number of possibles, including a component failure Jason.. If you can find someone nearby then it may cost £50/60. if its someone you know, then it may cost pennies. Maybe the guy will pay for the repair if you find someone

[jasonC]

the seller has called to say it maybe due to the interconnect.
he said that maybe my din pins are wired wrongly for the creek.
i bought my 5 pin din to phono from a ebay seller so have sent them a message asking
if i bought the wrong cable but i also have a little din to phono adapter, you just connect a regular phono cable into one end.
i used it when i had a naim amp before and it worked fine but with the creek just one channel works fully.
:scratch:

[struth]

Could be. some dins are wired differently. was going to say that there are a couple of line fuses in that I think but do not come into play via the the unswitched plugs.

usual config for a phono din was
1 is Left Channel output
4 is Right Channel output
2 is Common
5 is Right Channel input
3 is Left Channel input
looking from back clockwise...i think... been a while.

[Michael loves music]

Hope you are not left up the creek without a paddle ! Sorry couldn't resist it

[Audioflyer]

Has it got a mono switch what happens to the sound if you press it?

[jasonC]

Hope you are not left up the creek without a paddle ! Sorry couldn't resist it

i'm glad you did as that is a classic, made me laugh :)

[jasonC]

yes it does, pressing doesn't seem to have any effect.
i tried connecting headphones and the sound on both channels is fine.
it is only when using speakers is the sound much more low on one channel then the other,
also it produces loud hum after being left on, with music playing or without, the hum just gets louder and louder.

[struth]

Sounds like pre amp is ok as they often take the phones just before it hits the output transistor. So a bad connection. A line fuse or goosed transistor capacitor resistor. Shouldnt cost too much if the transistors are still available

[Michael loves music]

Hope you can get it sorted Mike creek was a genius

[mikmas]

Could be. some dins are wired differently.

I have the matching Creek CAS3040 tuner - and the DIN output does appear to be wired differently to the standard configuration and wouldn't output to my QUAD 33 - I didn't bother exploring it though because the tuner also has RCA outputs so I used them...

[orbscure]

Perhaps differently configured DIN plugs are the issue... seems you are not alone Jason:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-83644.html
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fcabl&1032207838

[struth]

Perhaps differently configured DIN plugs are the issue... seems you are not alone Jason:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-83644.html
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fcabl&1032207838

If its fine with headphones then the connectors should be ok I'd think. sounds like the problem is further up the chain.

[jasonC]

Perhaps differently configured DIN plugs are the issue... seems you are not alone Jason:

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-83644.html
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fcabl&1032207838

thanks, interesting reading.

[jasonC]

Sounds like pre amp is ok as they often take the phones just before it hits the output transistor. So a bad connection. A line fuse or goosed transistor capacitor resistor. Shouldnt cost too much if the transistors are still available

i think you could be right grant

[jasonC]

Hope you can get it sorted Mike creek was a genius

me too, even on one channel it sounds good so with two channels should sound wonderful.
i saw a few Cambridge audio amps on the bay in which the sellers said were designed by mike creek.
i do wonder what they sound like as i always found CA gear abit bright for my ears

[Puffin]

I have had a couple of these in the past, one died (ie no sound) and it was the output transistors. I managed to get the parts from a Creek repairer and mended it myself. That was about 20 years ago, so it is unlikely that you could get the pukka parts now. Not impossible to source the transistors which are bog standard and nothing fancy. Would be a cheap fix. If my memory serves me correctly the amp was a little dull sounding (to my ears). Mike Creek did some design for Cambridge, one of which had an R-core transformer (if that makes it special?) but not sure which models he assisted with.