I think I blew a channel (1 Viewer)

[David Flora]

My wife and I were watching a dvd the other night through our Onkyo TX-DS989, and all of a sudden we heard a pop out of one of the surround back speakers, and since there is a constant loud hum coming out of it. I've tried to hook other speakers into that line, but they just give off the same hum. Common sense tells me that the channel is blown and I need to take it in, and I know this is probably an obvious question, but I thought I'd see if maybe there is anything I could do here before I take the time to unhook everything and send it in to get fixed. Any advise would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[PaulXH]

Check the fuse for that channel.

Paul

 

[David Flora]

I'm not very versed in electronic parts and fixing them, but how easy is it to check the fuse? If it is blown, is it easy to find a replacement and fix it myself? I don't want to screw up my receiver, but if it's fairly simple to fix myself, I'm all for it

 

[Arnold_R]

Well, unless you were using the multi-channel input from your DVD player, I would suggest checking the cable for that channel. If not, it does sound like that channel is blown and will need to be repaired. Your story kinda bums me out as I had an Onkyo 919 for 7+ years running all 4 ohm speakers and didn't have any problems! I've upgraded to the 989 last month and hope this doesn't happen to my 989. Were you playing at Reference levels? After the pop, did you notice if the internal fan was on? What are the impedance of your speakers? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm really curious how or why this happened.

Arnold

 

[David Flora]

Well it was really strange. I've only had my Onkyo for just over 2 years and I've never had a problem. My fan was going at the time of the pop, but my fan turns on during movies. My receiver is highly ventilated and sits on the top of my rack, so I don't believe it had anything to do with it being too hot or anything like that.

We were just watching Star Wars AOTC and the volume was very low, so it wasn't like I was blaring my system.

My surround back speakers are just two crappy little JBL speakers. For now that's all I could afford to put back there. This just sucks. Unfortunately there are no close Onkyo-certified repair shops within 50 miles of where I live. Would it be a possibility to look at this myself or am I asking for a lot of trouble?

 

[Chu Gai]

since you'r out of warranty, i'd simply open the cover of the unit and look inside to see if there's any fuses that can be replaced. while you're looking you might want to see if there's anything that looks burned out...maybe a capacitor that opened up (look for vertical tube like structures) and spilled its' guts. If it's a fuse, simply remove it and take it down to Radio Shack where they'll give you a replacement.
All this assumes you've disconnected the receiver from the power and have waited something like 30 minutes for any residual charges to have dissipated.

 

[Jack Briggs]

And to see if your fuse is blown, look at it in good light. Is the element broken in half? If so, that's your "problem."

 

[Arnold_R]

Wow, that's really strange! It appears it must have been a fluke. If it's out of warranty, I would check inside for anything obvious(burnt, smell of smoke,...). I agree with Chu that it's a good chance it'll be a capacitor. But since it's only that one particular channel, it may also be a grounding problem caused by a cold solder joint. All the solder joints should be shiny in appearnce. If it's dull, you can just re-heat the joint (using a soldering iron) and apply a little solder. Good luck and I hope it's something obvious.

Arnold

 

[JackS]

I won't say it's not a fuse, but I 've had fuses blow in amps and in every case the channel was dead (no hum). Still this is easy enough to check. Also I think I would unplug the receiver for at least 12 or preferably 24 hours before taking the top off. The fuses should be in easy sight and in the case of a six channel receiver, I would think that there are 3 fuses to each side. Best of luck ,Jack