My BHK 250 seems to have died. I cannot get it to power on. It was off (although the main power switch at the back was on - it had been shut off via the button on the front) and I had turned off by Rel subwoofer (which was connected to the speaker terminals on the back of the amp) to move it. Plugged the Rel back in and turned it on and that was when I noticed the power was completely off on the amp (the red light was off). I tried turning the main power switch on the back off and on; nothing. It was plugged into a P5 and all of the outlets are green and working. I tried plugging the amp directly into the wall and turned the main power switch on the back off and on; nothing. I removed all of the cables from the back of the BHK; nothing. I checked all of the fuses and they seem to be fine, although I don’t know how you can tell if the ones on either side of the power cord input are good or not since they are solid white (the wire filaments in the other 4 seem to be intact). I did check to be sure that the power cord I’m using is live since it powers other items. In all cases, pushing the front button on the BHK does nothing.
Of course this has to happen on the Saturday of a long weekend when PS Audio support is closed.
Any suggestions, besides calling support on Tuesday?
Do you have a multimeter or a continuity tester? If so, use that to check your fuses.
If not, you should buy a basic tester. Any Home Depot or hardware store will have them. Once you have one, it will come in handy. Just a continuity tester is good for checking fuses and cables. I have used mine for many things, one being to check incoming voltage when my Dectet was tripping the breaker switch. I found out I was getting 126 volts coming in.
Just be careful around live circuits if you don’t understand how to use it. Another words read the manual. Checking continuity is safe, as long as nothing is plugged in.
I had a fuse in my Beta BHK 250 blow and it acted the same as yours. It was the fuse to the left of the power switch (when viewing from the rear). There are a number of fuses on the back, but this one was a 1.6A fuse. When I inquired about it I discovered PS Audio had changed the value from 1.6A to 2.0A. I have not had a problem since. 2.0A fuses aren’t too hard to find. I certainly would check all the fuses if you get a multi-meter, I know the one I blew was ceramic so you couldn’t visually check for continuity, only a meter could check it. Good luck!
Picked up a multimeter and the 1.6 amp fuse had blown. Found an electrical supply place that was opened on a Sunday and they had a 2 amp slow blow fuse and I’m back in business. First time I’ve blown a fuse in any of my equipment. Thanks for the suggestions.
Does anyone know if the BHK is a “fully balanced” amp?
In looking at the Rel manual, it has a slightly different hookup method for a fully balanced amp which I wasn’t using. I was using the regular setup which calls for the black cable in their neutrick cable to be attached to one of the negative speaker terminals of the amp. For a fully balanced amp, the manual says to attach the black wire to a screw on the chassis of the amp. Thinking that may be what caused the fuse to blow. In looking at the BHK manual, it doesn’t seem to explicitly say whether the BHK is fully balanced.
I found another post “Subs into BHK” where someone mentioned a potential problem with Rel subs with some amplifiers and Ted Smith said the Rel setup would not work with a “balanced output amp with no output ground”. Someone asked if that applied to the BHK, but didn’t get an answer; although one person said he was using a Rel with the regular hookup method with no issues. It had also worked for me for about 4 months, but after the blown fuse, I’m a bit leary to hook up the Rel again in case that’s what caused the problem.
If it turns out to be same fuse as others have had blow on them (an original at 1.6 amps), then it certainly seems that PSA’s decision to up the value to 2.0 amps was the right one.
Looks like the first one in this thread was due to the customer’s attempt to ground the BHK output to a REL subwoofer without realizing it is a fully balanced amplifier - which won’t allow that.
This new one, where the amp is suddenly dead, what has happened?
The BHKs have been remarkably reliable so I am always concerned when there’s even the smallest of problems.
This new one, where the amp is suddenly dead, what has happened?
The BHKs have been remarkably reliable so I am always concerned when there’s even the smallest of problems.
On it’s way back to you. I’ve been working with Jeremy and James. Replaced the fuses, the unit powered on (which it did not before), but still no audio. I am getting bass through the CR-1 crossover, so we eventually determined it appears to be something with the amp. Of course, you never know. I could have done some lame troubleshooting.
I’m not worried about it. The amp sounds incredible. I learned this over the past four months. I have my Adcom GFA-555 II for backup.
One thing I have said and will reiterate, PS Audio has impeccable customer service.