Crown xs500, is my input fried?

[ChrisPbass]

//// I am not a soundman by any means...but I can run a "PA" to a certain extent.


I have a crown XS 500, 500 watts per side.

I was using it for PA purposes. I was running monitors on the side that I think i blew. This side was getting the OUTPUT of a Alesis 6-8 channel multi-mix (something like that) HEADPHONE send.

so the headphone OUT of the Alesis was going to the input of the Crown.

The other side of the amp was running mains so I did not <hear> anything strange, especially since I didn't have a monitor pointing at me. I looked at the Crown amp and noticed the clip light coming out.

I deduced that the headphone out from the mixer was clipping in a <big> way. It was clipping on the multi-mix AND the amp. I turned off the mains and there is now almost nothing coming out of the monitor side of the amp. There is signal but you can only hear it if you crank the amp and even then the level of hiss pretty much drowns it out.

What have I done? Is it repairable? I can't imagine that the cost of repairing would even be worth it considering the cost of a new/used comparable amp.

[BassmanPaul]

Take it to a tech and get an estimate.

[RickenBoogie]

and remember this one basic rule, headphone jacks are meant for headphones, nothing else. Only use inputs and outputs that are designed to do what you're looking to do. +1 on a call to your local amp technician.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

A headphone output is similar to a line-level output, except it might be stereo. It's not likely to damage an amp input.

[ChrisPbass]

Would sending a clipping line level signal to the amp blow it?

[BassmanPaul]

Personally I doubt your input is "blown". Your amp certainly has a problem that needs to be rectified. The question is whether you want to pay the price of the repair to an older model amp.

[craig.p]

On Paul's point, in the world of commercial sound, it's not uncommon to keep spares on hand that are only half-working and that can be put into service if/when something else goes down.

[ChrisPbass]

I'm a hobbyist here...no money is changing hands here. I realize I can take this somewhere and pay someone and they will tell me what is wrong with it but I'd like to avoid that.
I figured that somebody here might be able to say
OK - power amp / symptom - this is *likely* or *possibly* your problem. It's not worth it to fix it blah blah blah

I don't even really need to fix the thing as its already been replaced. Just kinda curious...and since this is a forum and people like to type.