Who will give out schematics for amplifiers?

[22mountaineer 10+ year member]

Looong time no see..

Awhile back I had an mmats 1400.2 that was blown that I acquired in a lot and the guy I had gotten into contact with would only allow me to send my amp in, he would not give me any information at all on the amp.

Business wise this is a very smart idea but I thought I remember seeing someone said mmats was very strict on it but you could get schematics and part numbers off of components for other companies. Do any of you know have experience getting any of this information for any of the companies? I do not have a particular company in mind. Thanks

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[Spooney 10+ year member]

Rockford Fosgate is very good about giving out schematics for their amplifiers as long as it is something that is no longer in production. Whats wrong with the mmats amp? Got any pics. Most of the time you can get by without a schematic if you know what type of circuit you are dealing with.

 

[22mountaineer 10+ year member]

No, I accidentally left it at ft hood. By the time I had realized it they had already trashed it. What I should have done was posted a pic on here and ask someone what the part was and ordered it when I was first working on it. Instead, I emailed them and signed up with ROE (which did me zero good) and got nowhere.

What I am thinking about doing is buying a blown amp and seeing if I can fix it. For a hobby pretty much, I am not in the scene at all anymore, but if I can come across something next to free, and spend a little time and fix it then it will be worth if. If not Ill be out 50-100 bucks and that will be fine too. I have taken quite a few electronics classes, and when I was in the military I fixed the internals on their radios, so I may be able to do it. My only problem is, sometimes there are components in their that I do not know what they are.

Any suggestions for what I am trying to do would also be fine from anyone.

 

[shrowihr 10+ year member]

Man just me being honest... If you don't know what you are doing and dont know what the components are stay out of the amps. These are going into people's cars and if you replace something incorrectly it could catch fire and burn down someone's vehicle.

 

[22mountaineer 10+ year member]

You have to learn somewhere, and its hard to troubleshoot without schematics. If I can read one and repair 30 different cards in a radio, then I am pretty sure I can figure out an amp with two sides. Just because I may not know what a couple of parts are in their isn't going to scare me away from trying to fix one. Put it on the bench, and test it. What does everyone else do?

 

[pro-rabbit 5,000+ posts]

Basic Amplifier Repair

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

The big problem you'll find, in addition to the fact that most companies will be very tight with releasing schematics (and some companies are long gone), is that many of them scratch off part numbers on their IC chips so that people don't know what they use. Really silly at this point since pretty much every far east amp is basically the same thing (according to reliable sources).

Still though IMO as far as the common stuff if you can fix one you should be able to fix them all. Keep in mind, many of the ones that are commonly available blown are blown because they're terrible designs and no matter what you do, you won't be able to change that, so you're opening up some risk on yourself, bringing a piece of crap back to OEM specs still makes it a piece of crap that will probably fail again (making you look incompetent). The reputable amp shops stay away from certain things for a reason.

Also, there's really good money to be made in amp repair if you can get good at it and know how to treat customers right. Good luck to you.

 

[22mountaineer 10+ year member]

Basic Amplifier Repair

I was looking on their for about an hour last night, some **** good information and it really breaks things down if people do not know what it means. Not to mention its not just on amps, that site takes you to all kinds of stuff.

The big problem you'll find, in addition to the fact that most companies will be very tight with releasing schematics (and some companies are long gone), is that many of them scratch off part numbers on their IC chips so that people don't know what they use. Really silly at this point since pretty much every far east amp is basically the same thing (according to reliable sources).
Still though IMO as far as the common stuff if you can fix one you should be able to fix them all. Keep in mind, many of the ones that are commonly available blown are blown because they're terrible designs and no matter what you do, you won't be able to change that, so you're opening up some risk on yourself, bringing a piece of crap back to OEM specs still makes it a piece of crap that will probably fail again (making you look incompetent). The reputable amp shops stay away from certain things for a reason.

Also, there's really good money to be made in amp repair if you can get good at it and know how to treat customers right. Good luck to you.

This is something I want to do for me personally and as a hobby. I do not plan on fixing anything for anyone or going into business for myself, I do that Monday through Friday. I think my taste is well enough that I will stay away from the junk. The problem is finding it. Thanks for you input.