PE 250 Watt Sub Amp and FIRE! (1 Viewer)

[John Zachary]

Ok, all the talk here and on another board many of us frequent about a potential fire hazard with the PE 250 Watt amp (or the MCM amp, which apparently is exactly the same) has begun to concern me. What's the deal? Can I stuff a small sealed enclosure to the max with polyfil and put that amp in there with the polyfil touching everything without worrying about starting a fire?

Would a safe solution be to put a layer of fiberglass insulation between the amp and the rest of the box (just friction fit in in the box or maybe even staple it to the back wall) so that the polyfil never touches the amp?

By the way, did your amp have different binding posts on the front? There's no holes in mine to use banana plugs.

 

[Brian Bunge]

John,

Why would you be using the binding posts? Do you not have a subwoofer output on your receiver?

Brian

 

[Patrick Sun]

Not everyone has a 5.1 receiver/pre-pro, and will have to rely on high-level speaker outputs to move their bass around.

 

[John Zachary]

I will be using the line-level imputs, but if I decide to use the amp with a 2 channel system in another room, it doesn't. Not a huge deal, just an observation.
So what do you guys think about the fire thingy? Something I shouldn't be worried about?
Pat, you're the one who started all this!

 

[Joe Tilley]

John, I wouldent worry about the poly fill too much your amp should not get hot enough to set it on fire.I have this amp and Ive had mine very hot with a pece of foam laying on it without knowing and not had a single thing happen. Something you should think about to is this amp will stay pretty cool unless you are playing something with constant bass at pretty high volume,mine hardley get warm at all if Im watching a movie or listening to music at normal levels.

 

[ColinM]

I wonder about a catastrophic failure that could cause a fire on it's own, not related to heat generated by a properly functioning amp.

Are these things made with any quality in mind? Are they finished well, or do they look cheap in person?

Mine is coming in UPS right now, so I'll answer my own question soon....

 

[ColinM]

It's a good looking amp! Nice finish - not like the third world stuff I was expecting.

The capacitors are smaller than I expected - a pair of 6800pf. I'm not an EE or anything, but I thought for 150 into 8 there'd be bigger ones.

- C

 

[John Zachary]

The amp is actually very nice. A very thick cast aluminum plate with the components all affixed solidly. A very stout amp--and one that could sell for much more.

I never thought about the flammability of polyfil until Pat's post earlier this week (or was it last week) and was just curious. I have a 1.6 cubic foot sealed box that I have a Shiva in and this amp, and I have it stuffed with almost 40 ounces (1.5 pounds per cubic foot) of polyfil, so it's definitely jammed up against every component of that amp.

Pat, what are more details about that horror story you heard?

John

 

[John Zachary]

Colin,

Is your amp from Parts Express or MCM? And does it have 5-way binding posts, or are there no "holes" in the front of the posts for banana clips?

John

 

[Patrick Sun]

It's been over half a year since that original thread on someone's amp burning up. I hardly even recalled it until someone resurrected that thread. I don't have first hand knowledge of any plate amp going tango-uniform and exploding into a ball of fire. These things are UL rated, and chances are that it won't be a fire hazard, but anything's possible, but the occurrences are few and far between.

Most of the time, is something blows in the plate amp, it's an under-voltage-rated capacitor.

 

[ColinM]

PE, holes in the jacks. No boost, factory.

- C

 

[ThomasW]

Ok, all the talk here

All what talk?

This type of post with it's HYPER-EXAGGERATED title is the way rumors get started.

No one I know has had ANY actual fires (meaning the kind that need a fire extinguisher to stop) as a result of issues with plate amps.

So lets post more responsibly and not feed the fears of an already paranoid world

 

[John Zachary]

Thomas,
I assure you that I did not intend to start any rumors by my post. There have been previous posts both in this forum and in others mentioning the risk of fire with plate amps, disabling the bass boost, and the addition of polyfil. I think that it is in everyone's best interest to know whether or not there could be a potentially dangerous hazard with that combination. Likewise, it is important to have your mind put at ease by the knowledge that there are no such problems. To not be concerned (that's concern, not paranoia) about such a topic would be to not value the life of yourself and of your family.
If there is no risk (and by no risk, I mean no more risk the the inherent risk with any electrical component), then there is no risk. Simple as that. However, I do apologize for any paranoia that I may have caused and will refrain from yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded [Home] Theater [Forum].
John

 

[Leif Wall]

I've been using this amp to power my SVS and I've got mixed feelings about it. Watching movies is excellent. Listening to music absolutely blows. After 1-2 hours the amp will start shutting off. It's so hot you could probably fry an egg on it. It was good while it lasted, but I think I'll switching to a better amp.