Receiver "Protect" Mode... (1 Viewer)

[JayKellen]

My friend has a Sony 500 watt receiver, its about three years old. Just recently, it has been going into "protect" mode during loud action scenes, and sometimes, he gets a drop in sound and then it shortly goes back to normal, but this might occur every five minutes or so. Is this cause of concern, what can we do to fix it, should we rush out and buy a new speaker, what can we do?

I should add that his left rear speaker is not as loud as the others, could this be the cause? The speakers are at the same volume, but this one seems less than the others. Thanks for helping us out, we appreciate it.

 

[Ed Moxley]

It's usually a frayed wire at the speaker input or at the receiver input, that's touching something it shouldn't. Has he recently moved stuff around? Take the wires out and twist them good, and make a good, solid contact back again.
Or, if he's moved stuff, the receiver may not be getting as good of a flow of air, as it was, and it's getting hot. Has he changed speakers........from 8 ohm to 4 ohm? 4 ohm speakers, on a receiver meant to use 8 ohm, can run very hot and make receiver go into protect mode.....
Just some things to check. Good luck!

 

[John Garcia]

It sounds like he is simply pushing it too hard. It does not have enough power to drive the speakers he is running at the levels he is asking of it, and this would not be surprising at all with the non ES Sonys.

Another thing to check is the speakers one or more of them may have been damaged, most likely the tweeters. Check each one individually, it should be pretty obvious if the tweeter is not playing.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

Protect mode is not a "problem" with the receiver usually. It is a protection circuit so the receiver doesn't blow itself up basically, by trying to power a short circuit, for instance, or operating in too hot a condition.

Check all the wiring connections, and make sure they are all clean, and no stray strands are wandering to adjacent connectors, causing a short. Make sure the receiver is not sittingon carpet, and that there is plenty of airflow. And try isolating the problem to a speaker if you can by running single speakers, or pulling speakers out of the system and see if the problem stops. It sounds like theres a short somewhere, could be in a speaker, and it can happen without a driver stopping working as well.

Or it could be the receiver going bad, but this is not often the case with these symptoms.

 

[Justin_D]

I have heard of older and even some newer Sonys doing this.

Assuming rewiring the speakers doesn't work, tell him to buy a new one...a non-Sony one!

 

[Hank_P]

Sorry Justin_D, not sure I'm agreeing with the "a non-Sony one". How about a "non Sony ES" one. My Sony ES have been pounding away daily for three years now, with no problems, and no reason to upgrade.

Sorry, but for some reason, that just struck a nerve

 

[Jack Briggs]

Everything's normal. You're overdriving the receiver, and it's protective-shutdown circuit is kicking in.

 

[ToddJ]

I was going to post something, but I found this thread...I recently upgraded to Montster cable for my speaker wire and now my receiver is going into "protect" mode (it is a Sony as well.) any other suggestions on what it might be?

 

[ScottCHI]

speaker wires touching where they shouldn't be, will cause this.

so will a blown driver.