re: KAT34 problem

[hotvalve]

Hi all,

I wondering if any of you good folks could assist?

I have a KAT34 kit that I built in the early 2000's. Its been my pride and joy since then and has never really given me any issues apart from having to replace a few bulging electrolytics about 5 years back.

The amp has been packed away for the first half of this year as we have been doing some decorating. I finally got the chance last Friday to plug everything back in and fire it up in addition to a new turntable and phono preamp.

Everything sounded great for the first 30 mins. One of the records ended and after about 10 mins there was a loud speaker buzz. I dived across the room for the off switch and could see lots of blue arcing within the rectifiers (I think it was the rectifiers but to be honest I was in such a rush to get to the off it may not have been!). After turning off there was the smell of burnt components and a puff of smoke from the chassis suggesting something had gone into meltdown.

Anyway...I have had the house upside down looking for the schematics and build instructions to no avail. I've also done a search on the forum but not been able to turn up any schematic details so far.

So...

- would anyone out there have a scan of the original build instuctions with schematics? , from memory the Kit34 was the same schematic but with additional inputs and volume control?

- I not done any post mortem yet as far as opening the amp up to look for damage but if the sparking was in the rectifiers would anyone have any clues as to possible cause?

Any suggestions would be really helpful. Its been a fantastic amplifier and I'm keen to get it mended as for the limited time it ran with a turntable it sounded even better than it did with CD's.

Regards
Stu