Scary thread about Buttkicker Amps

**Jerm357** · **05-30-07, 09:14 PM**

I dont know how many of you look through the Subwoofer threads at AVS, but I stumbled on a pretty scary one about Buttkicker amps. And since I know there are some people around here that use them or thinking about using one, you might want to read this. I just dont want anyone burning there house down. Now I know that there not all bad (The official word from Guitammer is that there is a recall for serial numbers from A0005570 to A0005815), but this pic speaks for itself....

Heres the link to the thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=852780

**Sonnie** · **05-30-07, 11:17 PM**

Holy smoke! :raped:

**ISLAND1000** · **05-31-07, 12:08 AM**

Wait a minute . . . . . . isn't that a barbeque grill just inches from the amp!? I smell a brat here somewhere . . . . .

**Hakka** · **05-31-07, 12:33 AM**

Where's the power cord??

**Jerm357** · **05-31-07, 11:31 AM**

Read the thread. It actually had flames comming out the top and smoke was filling his house so he grabed it up and ran out side with it.

**aceinc** · **05-31-07, 10:52 PM**

As they teach in school, "Electronics are made of smoke, for electronics to work you must keep the smoke inside, once you let it out they stop working."

Paul

**Blaser** · **06-01-07, 08:46 AM**

Well... That does not necessarily mean that BKA-1000 is not a good amp, but it may rather mean that any manufacturer/users is affected to a some degree by the QC Bell Curve (known for engineers).

**joetama** · **06-01-07, 12:00 PM**

Wow... That is amazing...

Seems they have some seriously faulty components in those recalled models...

**Chrisbee** · **06-01-07, 01:06 PM**

Breakfast in America: Buttkickers medium rare.

**ccdoggy** · **06-01-07, 02:06 PM**

I just guessin but it seems that with that much power goin through it it gets hot, really hot. and some component that was supposed to be rated to withstand it, turned out it couldent take it.

and thus you have a BK flame kissed.

**Jerm357** · **06-01-07, 05:30 PM**

The scary thing is that his did'int even fall between the recalled serial numbers.

**salvasol** · **06-01-07, 06:38 PM**

Quote:

Jerm357 wrote:

The scary thing is that his did'int even fall between the recalled serial numbers.

Well is not a surprisse to me

I always think that sooner or later you will get a defective product of any kind .... from small appliances to big products ...

**phaseshift** · **06-02-07, 09:15 AM**

Darin on that forum should at least ask for a root cause analysis. What was the real cause for the failure and from there, what other issues contributed to the reported fire and obvious smoke.

That looks pretty bad, but it does not say that all of that brand's products are bad. I really think the telling thing is how the company handles this. We all run into problems now and then, the difference is how we handle them; no different for companies selling products to consumers.

**Owen Bartley** · **06-04-07, 09:48 AM**

I thought there was only one "BK" who could advertise flame broiled goods. Evidently, I was wrong.

**drf** · **06-06-07, 03:01 AM**

Quote:

aceinc wrote:

As they teach in school, "Electronics are made of smoke, for electronics to work you must keep the smoke inside, once you let it out they stop working."

Paul

And the smell of burning ants, once you can smell that you know your resistors have passed the point of no return.

all I can say about that pic is that that's a nice looking BBQ!! and we Aussies pride ourselves on everything to do with BBQs.

**Darin** · **06-08-07, 11:07 PM**

Wow, that's weird. Came here to read Ilkka's latest comparo, and found a thread about my amp.

So I guess while I'm here, I'll address a couple of things:

Quote:

ccdoggy wrote:

I just guessin but it seems that with that much power goin through it it gets hot, really hot. and some component that was supposed to be rated to withstand it, turned out it couldent take it.

FWIW, I really don't think it's heat related. The BK amp is a digital design rated to 2 ohms, running under a light 4 ohm load. It always ran very cool. You can't really tell in that pic, but the smoke was mostly coming up from around the rear of the transformer, but the grill area directly behind where the smoke was coming out had a lot of charred stuff... above the capacitors. I think one the the capacitors blew, causing some kind of short that overheated the transformer. I wasn't in the house when it self destructed, but there was some kind of black "precipitation" all over the inside of cabinet afterwords that couldn't have come from the smoke. It just about had to be some kind of violent blow, followed by a small internal fire.

Quote:

phaseshift wrote:

Darin on that forum should at least ask for a root cause analysis. What was the real cause for the failure and from there, what other issues contributed to the reported fire and obvious smoke.

That looks pretty bad, but it does not say that all of that brand's products are bad. I really think the telling thing is how the company handles this. We all run into problems now and then, the difference is how we handle them; no different for companies selling products to consumers.

I do want to say that so far, they've been great. They sent me a replacement right away, with a pre-paid shipping slip to send the bad one back. They specifically said they want to look at it to see what happened, so I hope they do share what they find. But I haven't yet sent it back. We've had great weather here, so I haven't driven my car in weeks. The amp is pretty heavy, so there's no good way to safely carry it with me on the motorcycle so I can ship it from work. We are expecting rain next week though, so I'm sure there will be a day next week when I can get it shipped out.

I'll post back if I get any results back from them.

**Sonnie** · **06-08-07, 11:15 PM**

Hey Darin and welcome to the Shack!

So you are the dude with the smokin' amp.

Do keep us updated on what happened. It seems like this amp is fairly popular for a sub amp and has performed well for most people.

Glad you decided to join in with us here at the Shack.

**Jerm357** · **06-08-07, 11:39 PM**

If any thing at least this thread roped in another shackster.

**Exocer** · **06-09-07, 09:18 AM**

Welcome Darin!

Would you still recommend the BKA? I would think that with how they took care of you, that people should still consider buying from them...I say this because a lot of people have been responding negatively to your situation.

**bigguy** · **06-09-07, 10:12 AM**

Quote:

aceinc wrote:

As they teach in school, "Electronics are made of smoke, for electronics to work you must keep the smoke inside, once you let it out they stop working."

Paul

LOL... we went to the same School...

might have had the same teacher...

Dan

**Darin** · **06-09-07, 11:52 AM**

Quote:

Exocer wrote:

Welcome Darin!

Would you still recommend the BKA? I would think that with how they took care of you, that people should still consider buying from them.

Hi Ex! Based on my experience alone, certainly. It's a lot of amp for the money, and good support goes a long way. The only hesitation I would have would be if this particular amp had a much greater chance of something like this happening vs. the competition. As much as you may like the product or the company, you still don't want to burn down your house.

Someone in the other thread mentioned that this has happened to other people, but I haven't researched it, so I don't know for fact that such a situation is much more likely with the BK than othe rproducts. So at this point, I can't say that I'd caution people against the BK. BUT, I will say at this point, I may become a little less complacent about proximity of my equipment to combustibles and leaving my equipment on when I'm not home, regardless of the brand.

**Chrisbee** · **06-10-07, 01:08 PM**

My EP2500 only manages 5 degrees F above ambient even with a wimpy fan.

It wouldn't boil an egg or make decent toast let alone burn a burger.

Should I send it back?

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