DTS Shutdown (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Hansman]

I know lots of posts here have dealt with receiver shutdown ('cause I searched for 'em ), but last night my Pioneer VSX-409 receiver/amp shutdown while playing the DTS track for Lost in Translation. This has happened before, but usually just will plain ol' 5.1 Dolby. What I did was turn off the surround, and just listened to stereo. This worked (as it had before), but my question is does the demand that playing surround place on an amp stress it so bad it generates more than usual heat? I guess it must, but how to overcome this? I'll try the usual suggestions (set speakers to small, check wiring for shorts, etc.) but I just wondered if anyone had any other ideas. Thanks.

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FWIW, this amp (when in surround mode) is powering 2 Polk RT1000i's, a center, and two bookshelf rears, no sub.

 

[John S]

The easiest thing you can do is add a powered sub. This will most likely take more than enough strain off the amps for excellent results.

 

[John Garcia]

Your receiver is most likely underpowered for your speakers (the mains are drawing the most current) and is overheating.

 

[Jeff Hansman]

Well, if the amp is rated at 5 x 100W, would the mains still be pulling more power than the amp can handle? I don't know enough about 'real world' ratings to know whether that 5 x 100W is accurate, so perhaps someone can tell me if another amp will really provide more power per channel. In the meantime, I'm going to run some tests with different discs, ventilation, volume, presets, etc. to see if I can pinpoint this problem.

 

[John S]

Whatever it is, I'll bet a powered subwoofer is your most prudent fix for it.

 

[ChadLB]

What speakers are you running with that receiver? Most pioneers only like 8 ohm speakers if they are less they will overload/shutdown etc....

 

[John Garcia]

speakers in question, per first post:


IIRC, this amp was rated at 1Khz, meaning it will not deliver it's claimed power with all channels driven. You are risking damage to your speakers more than the receiver, as distortion due to too little power can quickly cause damage. I listened to the 811/41Tx and found even that one to be weak in terms of power.

A sub WILL help some, but the long term answer is a better receiver.

 

[Dean Wette]

That's the problem with a lot of amps/rcvrs. They spec a power rating that's different from when all channels are driven.

People keep commenting (wrongly) that my receiver is somewhat underpowered at 70 WPC when they can get something XXX watts for less. But mine is 70 WPC at 8 ohms, and 100+ at 4 ohms...with all channels driven. At 1 or 2 channels driven, the available power increases substantially.

You have to watch what manufacturers mean when they say XXX watts of power.

Moral of the story is: watts are not always watts. Be careful out there.

Dean

 

[Jeff Hansman]

Thanks for all the replies. Those and my limited knowledge of these electronics tells me my best choices are a better, more powerful receiver or running in stereo. Unfortunately, neither of these are practical right now, but it is of some interest that the tech I spoke to at Polk recommended a new receiver as well. *Sigh*

 

[Brad E]

Do you have your receiver in an enclosure? Try installing a fan and see if this cures your problem.

 

[John Garcia]

Well, a sub might help some, and may be a less expensive short term solution. By setting your mains to small, you will offload that demand from your receiver, which is struggling to provide all the power to your mains, which are trying to handle all of your bass. A powered sub will draw no current from the receiver, and with the receiver under less strain from driving lower bass of the mains (more available headroom), it will perform better.