Amp Overload! Help! (1 Viewer)

[CharlesKin]

Denon DRA-395 Stereo multi-room receiver (4 to 16 ohm)
Pair Polk Audio Atrium 45's (8 ohm)

I wired two zones myself while building my house.
The first time i hooked up the receiver to one pair of speakers, it worked fine unitl the receiver quit! After repair (they said some transistors had blown or something) it did it again!

What is happening? Is my wiring bad? I know the speakers are compatable.

 

[John Garcia]

Have you checked all your wire polarities? Hook up one backwards and what you described is entirely possible. That would be the first thing I would check.

 

[CharlesKin]

I've checked and double checked polarities...I don't think that's the problem.

Any more suggestions?
Would a short do this? ( Even though i used a multitester to check for that)

 

[John Garcia]

What wire AWG did you use over what length? Does the receiver work fine if you just hook up some other speakers to it or possibly take it over to the Atriums and hook it up directly with new wires?

 

[CharlesKin]

I've put one of those boom box stereos over the runs to the speakers with perfect success. Why will that thing do it and not my 300 dollar receiver? Haha, who knows. But it is 16 gauge wire over...about 30-35 feet.

 

[CharlesKin]

I just got it back again. The repair guy said that only use zone 2 when there are speakers connected to it. I never had zone 2 hooked up, and it's possible i may have turned it on when i was using it, but why would this blow the receiver? Any help?

 

[alan halvorson]

Reversed polarity causing an amp to blow? I don't think so. Certainly not a good thing to hear, but no harm will come to any amplifier. Heck, the preamp I used for many years allowed me to reverse polarity of both speakers at the same time or either one individually; I did so many times, while playing, just to see what the effect would be, without harm.

A short certainly could be your problem. Check for little strands of wire sticking out and touching what they ought not at both the receiver and speaker ends. I can't answer about the Zone 2 thing but I don't see why it would matter to an amp if there was or wasn't a load.

On the other hand, a $300 receiver just isn't built very robustly and that may be your real problem.

 

[Adil M]

With both zones on, the stereo receiver is most likely set for 8 ohm impedance. Your Polks most likely dip low based on Polk's history?
Did you nail in the speaker runs you installed yourself? Nails can cause shorts.

I am not the biggest fan of the Denon Stereo Receivers.