A/V receiver woes

[Don C]

I did something to my Onkyo receiver so that I could get no sound at all playing from it. No speakers, no phones. Must be something I did because it was working, then one day it wasn't. Cannot figure out what.

Anyway, it gave me an excuse to upgrade to a receiver with Airplay 2 so I bought a Denon AVR-S650H to replace it. I already have one of these in another room and like it so I thought I get a matched pair.

Picked one up at Best Buy (same price as everywhere else) and spent hours installing it. Well, the installation itself did not take hours, but cleaning out the closet where it goes had several years of dust and wires running every which way, so I did some cleaning and organizing of wires.

Got everything up and running and discovered that the subwoofer channel(s) did not work. No subwoofer sound on either connection. Called Best Buy tech support and they eventually suggested taking it to the Geek bench and even made an appointment for my visit.

Thought that the Geek's might check it out, but apparently they did not have a speaker that they could (or would) bring to test it so they took it back and ordered a new one.

That baby came the very next day (this morning)! Set it in the closet with the back facing me so I could connect all the wires; when I turned it around I discovered that it would not turn on. Got a flashing red light; unplugged it then back on and the light turned to flashing green. Not good.

Called Denon tech support and we tried a factory reset process but that did not work. He finally gave me information for places to send it; nah, I took it back to Best Buy (mind you the ice storm was just beginning). Same guy I talked to yesterday took it out of the box, plugged it in and it turned right on! Geesh!

Boxed it back up brought it home and am getting what I got before. Nice little flashing green light instead of powering up. Guess once the roads are safe again, I'll take it to BB again but it is a mystery why it worked there but not at home!

Oh, the woe of it!

[Sarcany]

Tried plugging it in at another outlet? Checked that outlet with a good tester?

I'm thinking bad/hot ground fried your old receiver and maybe the first replacement, too. Latest one tripped on the bad power and something cooled off enough to power up by the time you got to BB.

[mrbigstuff]

What does the manual say about a flashing green light?

[Don C]

Not the particular outlet. I have plugged it into several different ones with the same result including different circuits.

[RAMd®d]

If you saw it power up properly at Best Buy, then I'd suspect something's wrong at your house, even though you tried different outlets.

If you don't have one, a cheap line tester like:



might come in handy, not to mention a DDM to check the line voltage.

One plugged in, a slight kinetic assist might reveal something, but you've had a run of bad luck here.

Another thought - the flashing red light meant you misconnected the speaker wires and the rcvr short circuit protection mode was activated.

At Best Buy, did the green light blink before going on steadily?

But now at home it just blinks?

If you haven't tried already, unplugging the rcvr for several minutes to maybe a half hour.

Disconnect all the speaker wires and then plug the unit in with it facing you so you can see the display and power indicator the moment you apply the juice, and see what you get.

Is the outlet and/or plug polarized — one slot or prong wider than the other?

If not, reversing the plug might make a difference.

Your other Denon operates ok?

Assuming nothing is damaged in the rcvr (not a given though) try testing it as above but on an outlet that's definitely on a different circuit breaker.

[Will Collier]

Is this happening before or after you hook up the speakers and/or components? If it's after, it sounds to me like something is shorting. Check your wire runs, particularly for the speakers.

If it's before, yeah, power. Check it at a different outlet in your house, not on the same circuit as the one you've been using.

[MrNoBody]

Don C. just an fyi; if BB doesn't make it good & you're fed up with them,
Accessories4Less has that model as a factory refurb w/ 1yr P&L warranty for
$329.99 + Free Shipping. https://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-...eos/1.html

(iirc, several MRF members report good results with A4L.)

[mrbigstuff]

If this is the first electronic component that you've noticed acting weirdly, I'd have serious doubts it has anything to do with power. Just grab a toaster and plug it in to check if you don't have a test light. I think it's either cold or that you are inadvertently hitting a sleep function button or similar.

And try other outlets, obviously.

[Don C]

Thanks for the suggestions. I have nothing connected to the receiver. I plugged it into power directly out of the shipping box. The manual does not mention a flashing green light, only the solid green when it is working correctly.

As mentioned I have tried outlets in different rooms.

I left it on overnight and this morning it was running ready for the setup routine. But I unplugged it (have to do that to move back to the audio closet anyway) and plugged right back in to the flashing green.

I will consider the Accessories4less.com opportunity. I have to say that working with BB means I can run it to the store for immediate attention, and the overnight shipping was certainly quick.

[space-time]

Make a movie to show to the geek squad guys.