Albert E

Front speakers...no sound in "surround" mode. Help!

Howdy folks,

I'm new to this forum and new to the "Home Theater" rage.
That said, I have hooked up my share of equipment now and then.

Anyway, I bought a Technics SA-DX 930 Home Theater receiver from a Sears Service Center for half of what it normally would cost. It had been returned for repairs although Sears would not or could not tell me what had originally been wrong with it.

Everything worked fine just using it as a Stereo rcvr and to run my tape deck and PS2 off of with two Sony floor speakers hooked to the "A" channels.

So, as we all know will happen, I got interested in all it's other features and found myself buying a six-pac of speakers from Cerwin-Vega. The AVS 5.1 Home Theater package.

I have two front speakers hooked to the "A", the two surrounds hooked to the "surround", center speaker hooked of course to the "center" and the sub plugged in and working just like the manuals say to do it.

The problem is the two front speakers wont work in the "surround" mode or any of the SFC settings. No sound at all except a very soft hissing if you jam your ear up on the grill. And that's with a 5.1 movie or game playing out of the PS2 or the DSS satellite system selected. That's also whether I've got digital or analog selected. No sound out of the front speakers hooked to the "A".

As soon as I switch to "stereo" mode, the center and surrounds drop out and the two front speakers work just fine. I have read and re-read every manual and instruction sheet, searched the "net", and unhooked and re-hooked everything many times with the same results every time.

I have the satellites and the center set as "small". There is no small/large setting for the sub. and the satellites are also set to "low impedance" per the manual since they are 4ohm speakers all. I have tried them all on large with the same results. I have checked all speakers and wires and connections and polarity's a million times. No front speakers audio in "surround" mode.

When I bought the receiver I did not get a remote control for the receiver. I did get a manual and according to it I can only set the individual speaker channels volume and delay with the remote.
Could it be as simple as whoever owned this receiver before me turned down the front speakers volume for some reason and now, without the remote, I have no way of turning them back up?

I may be reaching here but it's the only thing that I can think of.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be highly appreciated.
BTW, everything is hooked up with the pricier Monster cabling except the speakers are temp hooked with the wiring that came with it. Looks to be 16 gauge with tinned ends.

Thanks in advance,
Al

DavidES

Try setting the impedance to the setting for 8 ohm with volumne low. See if that works. If it doesn't than
I think your receiver has a failure in the switching from 2ch to surround operation. The L/R Front amps are fine but they are switched into different modes especially if 2ch mode uses Class A biasing (hint: higher wattage output than in surround mode) and Class AB in surround like my receiver does. That may have been the original failure.

You can see if a tech can fix it for you especially if you can find and buy a service manual or just buy a new one. You'll have to weight the pros-cons. If this receiver is failing that much, I'd replace it and keep old one for 2ch operation.

List of places to get service manuals.

David S.

Albert E

Thanks David,

I have tried the higher impedance settings and that didn't work either. I was messing around after I posted last night and found out that the right side of the "b" terminals don't work either. Looks like I might have bought a lemon!

Do you think that my theory of the "a" (front) speakers being turned down with the remote could be possible?

I'll check back after work here.

Al