Sony: "Protect/Unplug" - messing me up!

Hey I need some adice on my DAVFX80 home theater system. The receiver keeps going into protect mode at random times. Sometimes it goes a day without going into protect mode, other times it does it 2 or 3 times in a day (seems to be independent of volume settings). I did upgade the speaker wire to a larger gauge (monster wire) and I'm wondering if the lower impedence is triggering the protect mode? Could a faulty surge protector have anything to do with it? Any advice please!

 

It's USUALLY caused by a frayed wire somewhere. Since you recently changed wire, that's a good possibility. Double check all your wires, on back of receiver and on back of speakers. Retwist them if tou need to. A single strand of wire touching something it shouldn't, will cause this.
Good luck!

 

Hi JVC, thanks for the tip. After I posted last night I decided to unplug all the speakers from the back of the reciever and let a CD play all night. When I got up this morning the reciever was showing "unplug/protect" again! Does this mean the problem is inside the reciever? Or how about a faulty surge protector?

 

i doubt the surge protector is the problem, as i am sure you have other sources plugged into it.
it sounds more like you have a bad unit then, due to the fact that no speaker wires are connected..

and an FYI... speaker wire size (awg) has nothing to do with impedance!

 

Hey gear79, thanks for the input. Re: the speaker wire gauge, am I better off just going with the Sony in box wires? Or when I get my replacement unit should I stick with the larger gauge stuff?

 

most definately................. by all means.......... throw away all cables thats come with ANY audio equipment (unless they throw in a DVI or HDMI) cable, all the rest is trash... low line junk.
i would not use supplied cables on my worst enemies home theater set up..


speaker wire is speaker wire (in that sense)
home depot and lowes has a good choice... so do best buy and circuit city (in the car stereo dept)
rule of thumb.... 16 awg will do you fine, if you go over 50 feet, step up to 14 awg...

 

Hello guys. I found this thread by searching my home theater problem. My receiver is a Harman Kardon AVR230. It's about 1 1/2 years old, and I have a new problem. Whenever I turn the receiver up past about 12 dB, it goes into "Protect" mode. This never happened the first year that I owned it, and have recently moved and re-set up the system in our new home. Would a best guess be a speaker wire problem or something else? FYI Never had this problem in the old house and was using lower gauge Monster Cable for speaker wire..this time the system was professionally installed by a guy that used his own wire, and although it is 16 gauge, he said it would be fine...? And it's not.
Thanks.

 

sounds like you are guessing right my friend..

welcome to after dawn.

try looking for the obvious, stray wires hanging out, shoddy connections.
if nothing shows up, disconnect one channel at a time then at both locations, speaker output (from avr) and then to speaker itself...

[bold]ONE AT A TIME AND A CHANNEL AT A TIME[/bold]

unless you are a pro at doing it yourself.
best of luck, let me know, i am here to help. i have made this section my home.... and a few other areas in here too.

 

Thanks Gear. So, just to get this straight. You don't think it has to do with the wire itself, but probably a connection somewhere? I know this is a guessing game. It just stinks because I paid this "pro" a heck of a lot of money to set my system up! And the wiring is a bit complex for a measly insurance guy..(two of the speakers are run through insulated walls...about 20 feet)
I guess I will take a look at it and try to figure it out....I doubt the guy that installed it will say it was the result of his work and come back to look at it. I'm sure he will blame it on my component.

 

all you can do for now is a visual and what i mentioned, other then that, call him back up... you paid for a service, demand satisfaction. if i were near you, i'd do it my self, but i am sure we are not.

wire size will really not cause your concern, unless you are using like 18awg, 20, 22....etc.., it will overload and hurt the system.

your looking for a stray wire exposed touching another or a staple (since you sain wires in wall) touching both leads..

good luck

 

Gear...you Da Man! I found a loose wire on one of the subs touching another piece of metal.....seperated the wires...and now am back up in FULL! Thanks so much...

 

i'll send you my bill.........
i should do installs and trouble shooting for a livin, but i chose the automotive field instead.

glad you got it working !

 

Hello All!

I'm new to this forum and hope you can help me out.

After reading some of your posts, I noticed that others have had a problem with their receiver getting a "PROTECT" display.

Today, my Harman Kardon AVR65 began to get a hum in the speakers. After turning it off and back on I still get the display (but no hum). I unhooked all wires except for the speakers... Still got the PROTECT.

What could be the various reasons for this happening? I made no recent changes to the wiring.

I'm afraid that I may need to spend $$$ in my future. Your help would be most appreciated.

 

@ nealb.......

try disconnecting 1 speaker at a time from the speaker first, then at the AVR... (on the same circuit) to eliminate each channel. if still no fix, you may have to get it checked out by a shop.
normally, thats what it is, a bare wire touching metal (the AVR housing) or to the wire itself (positive to negative) grounding out.
worst case scenarion, you have a damaged output or amp failure. do you still have warranty?

 

Disconnected each speaker, one at a time. All speakers disconnected and still get PROTECT.

My warranty is over now, bought it in '00.

Guess I'll have my "fingers do the walkin through the yellow pages" to find a repair facility in the area.

Darn!

Thanks for trying to help me.

Neal

 

sounds like its internal.
just for kicks, run a google on your unit and add the word 'protect' mode... (dont be surprised if it does pop up this page.
you may find a fix there. go to their site as well and do the FAQ and tech help guide.
or upgrade..


just more thoughts.

 

Thanks!

 

Another thing to try...................
It should tell you in your manual, how to reset the receiver to factory settings. This may or may not work, but worth a try, since it's not working anyway. If it works, you'll probably have to redo some settings you made (going through setup again).
Good luck!

 

Thanks all.

I tried all of your ideas, no luck.

Delivered it to a local service center for an estimate.

Wish me luck on the cost !

 

Neal B - guess what...my "protect" problem came back again with my HK AVR 230. I've come to the conclusion that although Harmon Kardon is supposedly "top of the line" equipment, it overheats. I did a web search and found that many others with HK receivers had the same over heating problem. This is very disappointing to me, and I will never again buy HK. Check this link out to research more.
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16599