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Lavardin amp rip cremated ----what now ?

My much loved Lavardin IS ref amp self destructed and I need a similar but not necessarily identical replacement . Suggestions welcomed . Speakers are quite sensitive Living Voice Avatars .
I’ll have it please. I love such challenges. I once followed the original designer’s project for years.
That would be a great project.
 
If I had a broken one of these, I would most certainly have a go at fixing it. Whether I could retain the magic sauce, I don't know. Might be able to make a nicer sauce:):

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Looks like a lateral mosfet amp (no TO220 drivers and no thermal compensation).

JOB225 is probably similar.
Ditch that Blue Alps and go TKD for starters.

The designer has rivited the transformer RF cover (which I assume is stainless) and then varnished the rivets. Not beyond the wit of man, just a pain.

I'm reminded of the 8 off DAC chips inside the Metrum Octave - part numbers all ground off. Lovely :-/
 
Ditch that Blue Alps and go TKD for starters.

The designer has rivited the transformer RF cover (which I assume is stainless) and then varnished the rivets. Not beyond the wit of man, just a pain.

I'm reminded of the 8 off DAC chips inside the Metrum Octave - part numbers all ground off. Lovely :-/
The tamper proof PSU case is probably hiding a no-name SMPS. :)

But it's kind of annoying that you have to drill rivets and get metal shavings all over the place to service it, just to keep it a secret.
 
There's absolutely nothing special about the amp circuit, nice box though.
If it was mine I'd pull out the electronics and build something nice into it. Lots of options, Doug Self Blameless or a nice simple classA.
 
The tamper proof PSU case is probably hiding a no-name SMPS. :)
.

Doubt it. There are 4 diodes near the main smoothing caps. There's no need for those unless the wasp box contains an inverter (AC-DC-AC) which is very unlikely indeed.
Based on pics of earlier models there is just a toroidal transformer in there.
 
Doubt it. There are 4 diodes near the main smoothing caps. There's no need for those unless the wasp box contains an inverter (AC-DC-AC) which is very unlikely indeed.
Based on pics of earlier models there is just a toroidal transformer in there.
I meant that as a joke that Lavardin wanted to hide that there was something really mediocre inside.
 
If it was mine I'd pull out the electronics and build something nice into it. Lots of options, Doug Self Blameless...

Many years back the Audio Sythnesis designer told me that he had built a Blameless to see how it sounded. "Extremely bland" was his verdict.
Make of that what you will, but I doubt it would please a Lavardin owner.
 
If the PSU was indeed a broken SMPS (I hate those) I’d replace it with a linear, regulated one, as the original designer intended. He also published a series of articles on amplifier PSUs, mind you.
 
Just to give the background . L hand channel stopped working for no obvious reason . Sent to trusted technician . He said inside was all blackened and burnt and totally unrepairable --- only suitable as a boat anchor . I am now on the prowl for a replacement , either the same again or perhaps smaller Naim , [PRAT is important to my listening ] , Hegel , or other suggestions . Speakers are reasonable sensitive .
 
Looking further at the pic... The amp is a pair of class A/B push/pull boards mirrored (upper and lower in the pic, about the blue Vishay PSU caps). It doesn't look a million miles away from the RCA/Naim/NCC200 circuit, but with more front end transistors and a couple of other embelishments.

I should think that either Avondale, Witch hat or Class A could easily fix it. Odds are that a pair of the output devices have simply gone pop.
 
He said inside was all blackened and burnt and totally unrepairable --- only suitable as a boat anchor
This is not the correct answer.

Translation: 'I can't be bothered'

An acceptable answer might be that your now no longer manufactured Toshiba/ Sony output devices have burned and I'm afraid that the only way to get the parts would be from another scrapped Lavardin
 
Just to give the background . L hand channel stopped working for no obvious reason . Sent to trusted technician . He said inside was all blackened and burnt and totally unrepairable --- only suitable as a boat anchor . I am now on the prowl for a replacement , either the same again or perhaps smaller Naim , [PRAT is important to my listening ] , Hegel , or other suggestions . Speakers are reasonable sensitive .
Can you post a photo of the inside of the amp? E.g. upload to postimage.org and then paste a link here. It could help narrow things (and options) down.
 
Just to give the background . L hand channel stopped working for no obvious reason . Sent to trusted technician . He said inside was all blackened and burnt and totally unrepairable --- only suitable as a boat anchor . I am now on the prowl for a replacement , either the same again or perhaps smaller Naim , [PRAT is important to my listening ] , Hegel , or other suggestions . Speakers are reasonable sensitive .
Hi John, is your IS for sale though IT is not working? :cool:
 
The board was have to be destroyed for it to be unrepairable. One can bridge burnt tracks and rebuild missing tracks. The board is just a substrate support and link components. Not economical to repair is another thing altogether
 
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Just to give the background . L hand channel stopped working for no obvious reason . Sent to trusted technician . He said inside was all blackened and burnt and totally unrepairable --- only suitable as a boat anchor . I am now on the prowl for a replacement , either the same again or perhaps smaller Naim , [PRAT is important to my listening ] , Hegel , or other suggestions . Speakers are reasonable sensitive .
Hi John, is your IS for sale though IT is not working? :cool:
 


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