"Protect" displayed. I need help. (1 Viewer)

[trent-s]

I have a Sony reciever and its about 5 years old but used to work really well. Recently it displays Protect and turns off pretty much. I was thinking its the power suppy or something like that. Has anyone ever had this same problem? What should I do, get it fixed or is it cheaper to buy a new one?

Thanks for the help

 

[ChrisHeflen]

You might wanna check to see if any of your speaker wires are crossing or touching (neg. to pos.)at both the receiver end and speaker end.

 

[trent-s]

There arent any wires connected at all. It just plugged in and that is it.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

protect occurs to protect itself from frying.

The reasons are almost always two things:

1) short. Check all your wires and connections. Also possible that your speakers have melted and short circuited, you may experiment by isolating speakers this way.

2) heat. Is the receiver enclosed, near a heat source, on carpet, etc?

Does the unit shut down during loud passages? This would point towards some short or low-impedance load that is stressing the receiver.

Lastly,

What? How can you have a receiver in use with nothing connected to it... you obviously have speakers connected to it, yes?

 

[trent-s]

Well I used to have wires connected and then it began its little spell. So I took it out and looked at it. So nothing is connected to it right at the moment. Is it possible that the power supply has gone out and is causing this? I have noticed it gets really hot sometimes. Does anyone know how much it would cost to replace?

 

[Matt^Brown]

Trent may I ask what model of Sony you have? I have an older 935 or 975? I don't remember what the number was exactly and I am at work right now so I can't check it. None the less I have had several problems with it over the years and the protector message has been one of them.

I originally received the receiver from a friend who had upgraded his system since the Sony had broke and the protector light was on. I got it for free which was a price I could not pass up and it was my first piece of HT equipment. I took the receiver to a local shop and had them work on it. It cost me $120 dollars to get it fixed. I have no idea what the problem was but they solved it.

Over the 4 years that I used and abused it I had it go out two other times. One time the rear channels went out and then the protector light came on, the other time it got really hot then the protector light came on. Both times I took it back to the same shop and had it repaired. Each time the price was different and the second two times that I took it there it only cost about $60.

Several months ago I finally bought a new receiver and moved my Sony out of my HT setup. About a week after I moved it I decided to set it up for stereo use in another part of my house. It worked for about 10 minutes before it started smoking and then the protector light came on again. I have not came to the conclusion yet on if I will have it fixed again or not.

The point to this long story is that you may just want to buy a new receiver. I personally am on a really tight budget but I found that there were several nice receiver in my $300 - $400 price range. In the long run it probably would have been cheaper to buy a new receiver years ago instead of dumping all the money I have into my Sony. Just for reference I did not buy a Sony this time.

 

[trent-s]

That was my other idea. What are some good brands of recievers for the $200 to $300 range? I was looking at Yamaha and Pioneer. Are any of these good?

 

[Matt^Brown]

I personally bought a Yamaha 5740 and am happy with my choice. Bestbuy had it on sell for $288 which I felt was a very good price. If I was going to spend more then that on a rec. I would look into the Pioneer 1014. I have never owned a Pioneer but it gets great reviews on this site.

 

[trent-s]

I believe that was one i am looking at. Any other good ideas.

 

[James Camm]

I had an 835 that went into protect mode every now and then since has been replaced with onkyo 601 , have never looked back.

 

[PeteZ]

I have a Sony STR-AV1070 that I used to have as my main receiver. I experienced some strange problems with it. The volume would go up or down by itself. It would suddenly turn off by itself, or I believe a message would come on the screen as you described. I took it to a local electronics repair shop. He told me it was the grounds that had worked their way loose. Sony is notorious for not soldering the grounds in their older models, they only screwed them down. Anyway, the guy was very cool. He charged me $70, soldered the grounds, and the unit has worked like a charm as my bedroom receiver for the last 5 or 6 years. It was worth it for me, but if it is not a higher-end Sony unit, I would just upgrade to a new unit. I hope this helps!