Creek 4330R - first, remove the cover, using a regular philips screw driver...
Wonder yourself with some details of the Creek's insides. This Toroid beauty lives on the right side of the amp, and weights a lot! It provides the power your music requests.
Guilty! This is a fuse, probably seen on its "true size". Small stuff that can set you back in money and time. If you don't know how to replace this 0.1 USD worth hardware, you'll risk exploitation...
HQ Sound for PC - fixing small hardware problems
Sometimes things just go wrong... One of the most common problems that may happen to those who go for high quality sound on their PC, is an amplifier failure. Should you panic, if it happens? Read on.
Most PC setups use nothing but simple, small and cheap active speakers to deliver the high dynamics of games' environments, CD-Audio, DIVX titles and >= 128 kbps MP3 streams. Of course if it isn't DIVX or MP3, it is RM (RealMedia), ASF (Advanced Streaming File) or some other format, but the message is that sound quality is a true need of most of nowadays' desktop machines.
You really should go for high quality sound hardware, if you are a serious gamer. Dump your lightweight plastic speakers, with integrated amplification, and go buy an affordable' high quality stereo amplifier, plus some good quality passive speakers! The difference will be so overwhelming, that you'll thank yourself for the rest of your computer days.
But lets get more precise, though sound advice is really not the topic I want to stress.
An "affordable high quality stereo amplifier" is strong sentence, that mixes two words that we tend not to believe, when married: "affordable" and "quality". It this for real? Yes!
My experience says that most stereo amps on the [600 USD - 1000 USD] range are safe buys. However, if you don't want to take any chance, go for a Creek or for an Audiolab. It happens that amongst some other amplifiers, I own a Creek 4330R and an Audiolab 8000A, and I can assure you that they are great buys!
Each of the above machines, can probably cost less than 600 USD, and deliver the most serious, accurate, solid, and non-polluted sound that you'll hear, nearly in *absolute* terms! Yes, they ARE comparable to some amps costing 5 times more... Combine one of these amps with decent speakers, and you'll have a revolution on your hands.
I am using a Creek 4330R with a pair of Energy E-XL 16 speakers, just for my PC. This is a relatively affordable system, probably weighting less than 1000 USD. Choosing the speakers will be safer, because high quality offers are becoming the rule. Names like "Monitor Audio", "Infinity", "Paradigm" and so on... are almost an assurance of this-is-what-it-takes, but less popular brands, like the "Energy", can be superb choices.
The Energy E-XL 16 are some black boxes, not pretty to most eyes, featuring two units, one bass reflex overture, golden connectors, magnetic shield... and a sound that is strongly resistant to high volumes, and sudden agressions... meaning that they will fit perfectly on a PC world! They have credible bass - not monster bass - they are secure and coherent from low to high frequencies, they don't scream and they are built to last... I love them!
So, a quality sound system for your PC, will cost you a few hundred dollars, but it will be worth it!
When cheap speakers break their suspension or membrane, you feel sad for one hour, than you replace it, for 5 bucks... Unfortunately, unless you're a millionaire, having the same attitude towards a stereo system, is not acceptable: if it breaks, you'll have to fix it. This is their only disadvantage I can think of...
Now, let me tell you about how you can minor or even cancel this disadvantage...
Well, fixing a stereo system can cost you days without your beloved gear, if you handle the affair on the hands of the experts that represent the brand. Most of the times, you'll feel like doing just that, if the problem happens when you are still under guarantee conditions, or if the case is "dead serious"...
However... there is one particular scenario, where you can fix it yourself, needing nothing more than a pair of fuses and a screw driver... This scenario is the one you're most prone to face :)
Well, it happened to me: the Creek 4330R just blew it, one morning, the precise moment I pressed its power button. But I got it fixed in a minute! How?
Most amps have fuses for the protection of their core electronics. The fuses are placed in such a fashion, that when a serious power source problem happens, they literally blow and cut the power to the device's core. When a fuse blows it makes this "blop" sound that you'll really have to identity for yourself.
When you notice this "blop" and then you can't get sound from the machine, you're probably facing a "I just need to replace the fuse" situation. That was my problem.
Fixing a fuse situation is matter of opening the amp, locating two small transparent "pills with a broken burnt wire inside", getting them out, writing down their reference (4A, 220V, for my Creek), and replacing them for equal or equivalent stuff, that is other fuses with slightly less or slightly higher amperage.
Yes, it is that easy. Fuses are almost free (they are so unexpensive, that they usually sell on quantities of 10-100) and easy to replace. Don't mail your amp to some repair dude, while not checking if it was just a fuse...
Check the pictures of how I did it with my Creek 4330R.
Nowadays amps look a lot like motherboards. They lay components over a mainboard, filled with familiar solutions, such as feature connectors.
The black docks are where the fuses will fit. Some amps don't provide fuse bays: they just accept the fuses between metal plates, but don't receive them on plastic supports, as Creek does.
The beautiful heatsink that does get warm, after hours of musical stress :)