How do I know if I need a new home surround sound reciever?

Question

I have a 7-10 year old Yammaha 5.1 400-500W? which my parents have at their house that has been used on a 5.1 Bose surround sound system since it was opened out of the box. They had told me that they had blown the center speaker in which case i did not believe them and hooked it up to another receiver in which case it worked fine. When checking the speakers I noticed that the Front Left speaker was also making the sound that they discribed as "blown" which is just very staticy and interference. The front Right, rear right, rear left, and subwoffer all seem to function normally? Is it possible that the reciever just needs to be replaced? I did check the connections on the speakers and made sure they were ok. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Answer 1

It may be possible that the issue does not lie in the speaker or the receiver. I have seen some Bose 5.1 speaker systems with an issue in the Acoustimass (woofer) module.

The way the Bose 5.1 systems work is all the speaker outputs from the receiver are sent to the Bose woofer. Inside the woofer is their own cross-over: a circuit that separates the high frequencies (which are sent to the small speakers) and the low frequencies (which are sent to the bass speaker). It is possible that the cross-over in the Acoustimass module is on it's way out.

To test this, take a different speaker (not the Bose ones, a different make if possible) and connect it directly to the center channel output of the receiver. Use a different speaker cable and everything. If it works fine, the receiver is ok.

Another way to do this (if you don't have a different speaker) is to go to the back of the receiver and swap the speaker cables from the center channel to a known working channel.

Example: If the Front Right speaker works fine, swap the cables in the Front Right and Center speaker outputs in the back of the Yamaha. If the center channel still has the issue, the Bose is at fault. If the Front Right speaker is now not working, it is the receiver.

If you find that the Bose is at fault, you can check the small speaker itself by swapping it with another known good Bose speaker.

As a side note, do not connect the small cube surround speakers directly to a receiver rather than to the Acoustimass module - their impedance is extremely low by design and they can easily cause damage to the speaker or amplifier if used in this fashion for a while.

If you find that the Bose is at fault, give their tech support a call. They have decent support and will at least give you some moderately-fair repair or trade-in options.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I would check the speakers on another receiver first or try a known good speaker on each channel of the receiver. Did the speakers connect through the subwoofer? If they did there could be a problem with the sub. There is also the possibility to have the receiver repaired by a service center. Just because it s older than most does not mean it is useless, although new receivers have been getting cheaper.

Answer 3

Could be you do need a new receiver.
But sometimes connections get loose or dirty therefore, you might check out and see if this is the case.
You might want to change speakers instead of receiver , and see if your right speaker will play in the center position, and to double check see if left speaker will play in the center position.
If they both play fine in the center position then it is not the receiver but the speaker itself. But if they all sound bad in the center position then it's probably the receiver at fault.

Answer 4

Hi. If you have checked the speakers with another receiver i would say the original may be faulty.You could try to get it repaired but it is an older model and i would replace it with one of the latest 7.1 Receivers. The OnkyoTX SR805 is being released soon and it looks great. Onkyo are well respected makers of fine equipment and i feel this one would be just right.Have a look below to check it out.The recommended retail price will be about $1099.00 But you will probably get it cheaper at different outlets.If that price is over your budget the next best one is the Onkyo TX SR804,which is available for $659.00 .discount price


http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m=TX-SR805&class=Receiver&p=i

http://www.shop.com/op/~Onkyo_TXSR804B_7_1_Channel_THX_Select2_Home_Theater_Receiver-prod-40666181-54077403?sourceid=298

Answer 5

It is possible that all your receiver needs is a good cleaning from your description of the static and interference. I recently had a similar problem with my Proton 300 radio. A repair shop charged me $35 to clean out the pots. The radio sounds good as new now.

Answer 6

No I wont circulate watch your video to get your view count selection to circulate up. A "ribbon cable" isn't a regular component to a house theater equipment. is this the type you connect the audio equipment? If a amp shuts down while audio equipment are linked, yet keeps to be on while the audio equipment at the instant are not linked - then you definately've a quick. check out the wires going to each speaker. risk is you will hit upon a niche the place the two bare wires are touching one yet another. it is an on the spot short and a receiver will circulate into 'safeguard' mode and close off to stay away from injury. in case you could not hit upon a quick (and that they at the instant are and returned no longer ordinary to % out). cut back the ends off of each and every of the wires on the speaker end, strip and re-connect taking discover irresistible to do a neat job without bare wires uncovered to the touch.

Answer 7

If the the system is used frequently, I would say you got a good life out of your system. I would try another speaker cable to cover all basis.

Otherwise, it does sound like you need to buy another receiver.

Answer 8

Most likely it is the speakers that are blown. They could be re-coned, but for those speakers it's not worth it. It is possible that one or more channels on your receiver is shot, but that is less likely.