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Tandberg 3012 - Hot fins

Hello guys,

I recently stated using a vintage Tandberg 3012 integrated amp and noticed that the cooling fins located on the left side of the amp in the area of transistors (4 each) gets very hot (almost to hot to touch). The amp works great and sounds superb but I am wondering if this heat issue is normal or if it may later become a problem or is indicating that something is soon to fail. I used the amp this winter with a cooler room temperature and the heat in the reported area was definitely not as high. I just want to know if this is normal for this amp.

Thanks,
sympaticonorm
mcintech
128 posts
 
I would venture to say that if this is a dual mono amp, (having 4 transistors and an identical heat sink on the other side), and if the other channel's heatsink is not the same temperature, that you have a bias issue or a component failure somewhere.
If that heatsink is the only one and all O/P devices are on it, then it could be normal.

Nonetheless, if an amp is over 10 years old, bias current and DC Offset need to be measured before usage.
rrog
1,958 posts
 
It would be helpful to know what speakers you are driving with this amplifier. If your Tandberg 3012 is running hot I doubt you are driving Klipsch speakers at a moderate level. So, tell us what your speakers are and how many pairs of speakers you are driving at the same time.
sympaticonorm OP
103 posts
 
I am using it with Proac 3.8 speakers at low levels (I hate loud music). This winter, I was using it for a couple weeks with Proac 2 speakers. I will be going back to my CJ MV60SE amp soon. I am just playing around with my equipment.
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