Speaker popped >.<

[outdropt]

I'm one to leave my speakers on when I'm not home. I leave for work this Monday, nothing out of the ordinary with my setup.

Ableton's still open and my PC is setup to never shutdown.

When I come home my dad says he had to go in my room and shutoff my speakers. They were making this noise, almost as if it were a repetitive beat. He also said they were extremely hot.

I go up and turn them on and my right speaker has the limiter light on, and there is sound like amplified static (The static you hear when the volume is turned up all the way). I turn it off and open up the actual speakers. Nothing wrong, all the connections seem correct.

I open the amp on the back



And i see two popped capacitors sitting there off the main board.

I'm pissed. Let this be a lesson, don't leave your speakers on when your not around.

Looking into a replacement board. If I cant find it ill have to take out the trusty volt meter and soldering kit.

Just felt like venting. End rant.

[Hashkey]

WTF? turning off your monitors is so hard?

[Aphile]

man, i'm religious with powering down my interface and monitors when I leave.

[fragments]

I typically turn off everything and unplug my power conditioners from the wall.

[outdropt]

I know. I know.

[YeahItsMe]

Lol you never sutdown you computer?

All technology will overheat after being left on too long... It'syour risk

[Simulant]

Lol you never sutdown you computer?

All technology will overheat after being left on too long... It'syour risk

You can't be serious! I leave my shit on for days at a time sometimes, never had any problems!

A surge protector is probably a good idea for a lot of people tho, that way you're pretty much covered.

[Crimsonghost]

There is no reason to NOT turn your shit off when you're done with a session.

Let this be a lession.

[YeahItsMe]

Lol a surge protector won't help you when when your graphics card starts melting or your fans shut down. These are the things you avoid when powering down. To be 100% safe you probably have to unplug everythin from their outlets.
Even if you're not doing anything, the computer is still workin its hardest to be ready for you at any second.
Don't take your equipment for granted guys. This should be a lesson for all of us...

[Simulant]

Lol a surge protector won't help you when when your graphics card starts melting or your fans shut down. These are the things you avoid when powering down. To be 100% safe you probably have to unplug everythin from their outlets.
Even if you're not doing anything, the computer is still workin its hardest to be ready for you at any second.
Don't take your equipment for granted guys. This should be a lesson for all of us...

When your computer is idle, it's drawing a lot less power than when at 100%. Especially a modern cpu. And why would a graphics card melt? This is paranoid delusion!

[Crimsonghost]

Wait, is the op talking about putting his comp in sleep mode? Or just leaving it fully on?

Sleep mode is fine. It's actually been reccomended to do this instead of shutting it down after every use (at least in the past 2-3 years, not sure about now). Just make sure you're plugged into a surge protector.

Leaving the speakers and interface on is still a no no IMO.

[Terpit]

dduuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[Huts]

I leave my PC powered on for months at a time unless I know I won't be home for a while (weeks). I always power off my speakers though, sketched out about something like this happening

[Taiken]

and unplug my power conditioners from the wall.

this

[Icetickle]

I shut down my PC when I finish working but speakers are always on.. :S

[outdropt]

The thing that sucks the most is that i wasn't there so i don't know what caused it.

Its not like the board is fried, just 3-4 capacitors popped, I'm thinking it was a surge of some sort.. Generally that or a short would cause capacitors to blow.

And people that think they know a lot about computers.. Most tech's i know leave their work stations on, some people say it's more volatile to continuously power on and off your PC rather then let the PC sit on constantly with low power settings. You need to power down sometimes to clear out any charge from memory but besides that windows 7 and most PC's can handle constant power..

[YeahItsMe]

Yeah but how often are these guys buying new computers? I'm just saying that the linger you leave it on, the more likely somethin bad can happen.

I don't want to have my computer on for more than 4 hours at a time, but I will if I'm deep in a session. I do things as preventative measures. The way I look at is is, would you leave your tv running for days/weeks/months straight? No because it will degrade piece by piece, like any other piece of electronic.

I am capable of eating 10,000 calories a day, but don't because I'm don't want to be fat and I'm not teaining like Michael Phelps

By all means, leave your computer on, you're the one taking the risk, not me

[Icetickle]

Its not like the board is fried, just 3-4 capacitors popped, I'm thinking it was a surge of some sort.. Generally that or a short would cause capacitors to blow.

Not so hard to fix if only that is the problem...

[outdropt]

Its not like the board is fried, just 3-4 capacitors popped, I'm thinking it was a surge of some sort.. Generally that or a short would cause capacitors to blow.

Not so hard to fix if only that is the problem...

Yeah and it should be pretty cheap too.. The most expensive parts of a speaker are the transformers if you have active amps, because its just a solid ball of copper. I'm hoping i can find the actual board somewhere, i've had a hard time finding it so far.



None of the large capacitors went bad from what i see, it was only a few of the smaller ones. I'm hoping there was some sort of fail safe like a fuse so it wouldn't do any major damage to the board/speakers.

[Simulant]

None of the large capacitors went bad from what i see, it was only a few of the smaller ones. I'm hoping there was some sort of fail safe like a fuse so it wouldn't do any major damage to the board/speakers.

The thing I'd be worried about is - what caused it in the first place. You might replace the capacitors and find they go again.