OT: Revox A77 weird smoke inquiry

[Revfever <revfever@ubergadget.com>]

Sorry for some more OT stuff, but I have a little bit of dilemma and  
need to toss this out there for some help. I have long had a  
wonderful Revox A77 reel tape recorder and awhile back,
I went to power it up again (and use it for creating some new music)  
and when I turned on the power switch a *puff of smoke* shot up out  
of the back! (Yow!)  I immediately turned it off. but have been  
wondering what may have happened? I have a good tech friend of mine  
who is going to be looking into this weirdness, but he has never   
dealt with a Revox A77,
and so far, has not determined the root of what caused this happen?  
Does anyone on the LD list have a Revox A77 and who can tell what  
happened, and / or know of anyone else,
or anywhere on the Web to go to to ask? So far, we have done a little  
websearching, but have yet to find anything useful to solve this  
mystery so that the problem can be fixed.
Any help is *greatly* appreciated! TIA!

Cheers,
Rev. Fever
Portland, OR