[splumer]

Originally Posted by HerrProctor

So i had an old friend in town this past weekend, and I guess at some point he drunkenly knocked my stereo amp down on to the floor. He proceeded to complain about how bad my speakers sounded, even though he broke it and didn't tell me, but I digress. Anyways, what its basically doing is this:

The sound sort of fades up and down and every so often the left or right channel will partially cut then come back. This is the best interpretation I have of what it's doing, but I've never really heard anything like it. Some inputs work better than others, some barely produce sound at all. If i plug the inputs into some channels, it plays (crappily) selected on other channels as well as the one it should be set on. I took off the top and things look unbroken, there's no obvious damage. I didn't pay much for the thing, but any advice is much appriciated. If it requires repair I can't do, its in the dumpster.

I'd make sure first that it is, in fact, the amp that was damaged and not any of the cables. I assume it was fully connected when it took a dive, so it may have yanked a cable or two on it's way to the floor. Check all those connections first, and then hook up your headphones to it and check to see how it sounds to narrow it down.

Another thing to think about it where did it land? Well, on the floor, obviously, but if it landed on any output jacks or control, those may be damaged. It doesn't take much to damage those. I work for an AV company and our gear, when it gets damaged, usually gets damaged in that way. For a board to break it's usually got to take quite a fall.

It might be worth it to take it somewhere and at least get an estimate for repairs, or maybe pay for a diagnosis and do the repairs yourself.