H/K AVR525 Issue (1 Viewer)

[Mathew Shelby]

I received my Harman Kardon two weeks ago and I finally had an opportunity to use it. Last night while I was watching the 24: Season 1, the display lights went dim. The fan kicked in as well. This happened twice during one of the episodes (the receiver wasn't working too hard-volumer around -30) Currently, I have the receiver housed in a component rack that has glass on the front and open in the back. I know the instruction manual says this receiver should be out in the open. Has anyone else had this problem before? Is there a problem with my receiver or is the problem due to where it housed.

BTW, next week when I get paid, I plan on going to buy an open component rack, if that is what everyone thinks will solve the problem.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

It could be several things, here's a couple of questions for you:

1) How much space do you have directly above the receiver? The venting (except for the fan) all goes up, so it should have several inches of headroom.

2) What kinds of speakers and sub were being driven? What kind of power ratings (Ohms, range, etc.) do they have?

3) Were any other electrical appliances (including vacuum cleaners) turned on or off? Large appliances that use a lot of power when they turn on can either suck power or cause surges.

4) Is anything plugged into the outlets on the receiver?

 

[DonJ]

HK's are high current receivers so they stay pretty warm I have mine sitting on top out in the open. But no I have not had that problem mine is a HK AVR320.

 

[Sacha_C]

"Were any other electrical appliances (including vacuum cleaners) turned on or off?"

Who would use a vacuum cleaner while watching a movie? lol

 

[Mathew Shelby]

There are venting problems as the receiver is sitting in a glass shelf with not much space between the shelf and receiver. When I get a little more money, I will plan on rectifying the problem by building or purchasing a component rack. The speakers I am using are Polk towers and Polk surrounds in a 7.0 setup (no sub as of yet). The only thing turned on that could draw a substantial current was a halogen lamp beside the viewing area.

BTW, I was watching Fear.com last night and I opened the glass doors and this fixed the problem, so I guess there is not a problem with the reciver itself, just where I have it housed.

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Sacha_C: I've been in plenty of places where roommates, SOs, or parents have been vacuuming while others were watching a show or movie. Vacuum cleaners in particular seem to cause either huge surges or drains on electronics.

Mathew: if you don't have a sub, then you might want to make sure that your speakers are set to "Large" for bass reproduction (at least the towers).

 

[Mathew Shelby]

Jesse,
I have the towers set to Large...do you think I should set the bookshelf speakers to Large as well? Do you think this will distort them?

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

No, keep the bookshelf speakers at small. The Large and Small settings determine how much low-frequency comes from the speaker, which many bookshelf speakers are not designed to do.

 

[Bo D.]

HK has had numerous QC issues in recent years, the only way I would own any of their products is if it was given to me. Just my 2 cents