Grrr! I think my receiver has died! (1 Viewer)

[Vanessa]

A couple days ago my Harman Kardon AVR65 receiver started acting weird - i.e. it would sometimes, suddenly start to have a humming in the speakers. If I power cycled it, the humming would go away. I was concerned, but it seemed to go away easily and it wasn't repeatable, so I didn't do anything about it.
Then, yesterday, my receiver powered itself off while playing CDs. When I went to power it on again ***PROTECTED*** kept flashing on the display. I hard power cycled it and it came on again but the humming was present and louder this time. I tried to change the volume and it powered itself off again with ***PROTECTED***. Then I went through to try and trouble-shoot the problem, but came up with nothing. Even with everything disconnected it is shutting off with the ***PROTECTED*** display.
I'm going to try and take it in for repair today, but here's a question - I have been pretty happy with this receiver up 'til now. Sound was great and the small objections to some of its workings were just little bothersome things, like how if there is no signal it shuts off the output, but it takes a second to put output out again, so that I get about a second or two of no sound during layer changes. These little things would never normally be enough to make me buy a new receiver. However, I'd like you guys' opinion on where the line should be drawn between repairing this receiver and just getting a new one. I have no idea how much this will cost to fix, but if the estimate turns out to be pretty expensive, perhaps it would be better to take this as a signal to upgrade?
I don't know, I'm pretty frustrated right now, and maybe I'm just trying to create a silver lining for the dark cloud that has settled overhead...
Vanessa

 

[Matt Gordon]

Cool, you get to upgrade!

Sounds like the output finals on the amplifier end are giving up the ghost.
Look at the features out there that your receiver doesn't have, and compare what you think they're worth to the difference between what a new receiver would cost and what the repair bill will run. Here's the logic:
IF (appeal of new features) > [(cost of new receiver) - (repair bill)] THEN... BUY NEW RECEIVER.
Shallow, I know, but I hope it helps.

 

[BryanZ]

Have to agree with Matt here, with one stipulation. If repair bill + $100 < the cost of a new receiver, get the unit repaired. If not, look around for a new receiver.

 

[Vanessa]

So I called the local repair shop, and while they don't give estimates, they said they'd let me know if it was going to be an expensive repair. I'll take it in tonight, so now I guess it's a waiting game. It always seems that something has to go wrong dang it! Upgraded my Tivo about a month ago and everything was running so well!
Thanks
Vanessa