"Cydrome Leader" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:


"Cydrome Leader" wrote in message
...
Arfa Daily wrote:
Had an Allen & Heath PA20-CP 2 x 500 watt powered mixer in today. Has
two
completely separate and identical power amps, one of which was running
very
hot very quickly. No schematics, but problem was quickly traced to an
open
circuit resistor, by comparison ohms checks between the two amps. In
order
to replace the resistor, it was necessary to remove the offending ("B")
power amp to get to the board underside. The power rails and ribbon
from
the
mixer desk section were on removable connectors, but the 4 pole speakon
connector was bolted to the rear panel and the wires were soldered
directly
to the board. When I came to unsolder these wires from the socket, I
noticed
that the "B" channel one was wired the opposite way round to the "A"
channel
one. I noted this down to check on later.

When the amp was tested ok, I bolted it back in, and reconnected the
speakon
socket the same as it was when I unsoldered it. The wires lay exactly
where
they originally were, and looked absolutely factory-original, even down
to
the one which went to the uppermost connector tag, having a rubber
sleeve
on
it, exactly the same as on the "A" channel. Except the two channels
were
definitely wired arse-about-face to one another. On both channels'
speakons,
the "1-" and "2-" pins were linked, as were "1+" and "2+". But on
channel
"A" the ground wire was connected to the "+" pair, and on the "B"
channel,
the ground was on the "-" pair.

I fired it up again, and put a sine wave in, then hooked up two
channels
of
my 'scope, one to the "A" output and one to the "B", both with the same
polarity, and was surprised to find that the two signals were
completely
anti-phase, which meant that with the reversed connections to the
speakon
sockets, they would be back in phase again to the outside world.

I then went back to the power amps' front ends near where the ribbon
connector was, and found the same thing. At the same point on each amp,
the
signals were in opposite phase to one another. I then spotted three
little 3
pin header blocks, with one pin pair on each designated "B", and the
other
pair "A" and a little 1 or maybe an I next to the "A" in a sort of 'to
the
power of' position. On the B amp, these three jumpers were set to "B",
and
on the A amp they were set to "A", so clearly, these jumpers reverse
the
phase of the signal coming in from the desk section. The two amps then
process the signals in antiphase to one another right to the final
output,
where the 'correct' phase relationship is again restored, by wiring the
speakon connector 'wrongly'.

I have puzzled over this, and can think of no good reason for doing it
that
way. I did wonder at one point if it was anything to do with being able
to
make the amps bridgeable, but I downloaded a copy of the user manual,
and
there is a dire warning paragraph towards the end, specifically saying
that
under no circumstances should any attempt be made to operate the amps
in
bridge. It also warns against making any connections between the two
amps
or
any speakers connected to them, although in actual fact, the 'ground'
side
of each output is truly ground, and is common to both amps, the whole
(dual)
power supply, and all metalwork.

What am I missing here ? Not of any real consequence, as the unit is
mended
and back in its original condition, but for academic interest, it would
be
good to understand the designer's thinking.

Arfa


are these amps run from one power supply?

Sort of. It's one bloody great torroidal tranny, for sure, but it looked
as
though there was enough filter caps on the board for it to be otherwise
two
independant supplies. Certainly, two sets of + / - / gnd cables came out
of
the psu for the two amps, but I must admit that I did not look at its
design
closely enough to see if there was two sets of secondary windings, and
two
rectifiers. The ground was certainly common to both amps, and one leg of
the
output on each amp was that same ground.

Arfa

It looks like others answered what I sort of suspected where they wanted
to try to balance out the + and - rails when the audio peaks. I've never
actually seen this before though.

That reminds me- does anybody unnderstood what Carver's "power steering"
was supposed to be or mean in their amps?



Probably refers to "rail-switching" where higher voltage power supply rails
are switched in on demand. (during musical peaks).

Has several advantages including being able to get away with a smaller power
transformer and smaller heat sinks. Reduces power dissipation at idle and at
low power.

It's said that such amps can sound nasty - not sure I've ever noticed that.

Mark Z.