Receiver shuts itself off on loud movie scenes?

[ScottFern]

I have a Pioneer VSX-815 7.1 receiver hooked up via optical to my PS3 and I stream movies from my PC to my PS3 via PS3 media server. Now, whenever I play a movie on occasion during a loud scene in a movie the receiver will shut itself off and briefly display "OVRLOAD" meaning it was somehow overloaded?

Now, the obvious answer is I have a short somewhere in my cables, but I double checked them recently. I suppose I could always go back and reseat all the cables to the back of the receiver. The other answer is I am simply overloading the receiver and it doesn't have enough power to produce the sound to all 7 speakers? This is after all a $250 receiver I bought 3 years ago.

Let me know what you think!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If it's there, the short might not be visible.

You might try disconnecting one speaker wire pair at a time from the back of the receiver and playing the same scene again to see if it's one channel in particular that is causing the issue.

How loud are you playing your movies? I assume you don't have an SPL meter, but is it really, really loud? Does it only happen when you have things turned up really high?

What speakers are you using? What's the impedence rating? The sensitivity rating?
How big is the room / how far away are the speakers?
What's your speaker configuration? 5.1? What do you have the crossover set to?

 

[vi edit]

Are your speakers 4 or 6 ohm? Sounds like the amp is clipping and going into protect mode.

As yoyo suggested, what are your speakers set at? If they are all set to large, maybe try bumping them back to "small" so that your recevier isn't trying too hard to digest and power the stuff under 80hz.

 

[ScottFern]

I am using JBL SCS300.7 and the ohm rating is 8 ohm. I never set the crossover I did the auto calibrate setup.

This usually happens when the volume is reasonable and not crazy loud. Speakers are roughly 10 feet away from the TV/receiver.

 

[vshah]

how much space is there for airflow, especially directly above the receiver?

 

[ScottFern]

how much space is there for airflow, especially directly above the receiver?

4"

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I am using JBL SCS300.7 and the ohm rating is 8 ohm. I never set the crossover I did the auto calibrate setup.

This usually happens when the volume is reasonable and not crazy loud. Speakers are roughly 10 feet away from the TV/receiver.

Check to see what the crossover setting is for them. I sure hope the auto calibration system didn't get speakers with 3" drivers to full range

 

[The-Noid]

Check to see what the crossover setting is for them. I sure hope the auto calibration system didn't get speakers with 3" drivers to full range

That would be quote.

 

[Nohr]

Last time this happened to me the receiver would shut down only when playing 5.1 material at a fairly high volume. Took me a hour to figure out that a spiked foot on one of my surround speaker stands had pierced the speaker wire. At least it was a simple fix.

 

[spidey07]

To mirror what others are saying here's what can cause it

1) short, you already knew this, but all it takes is one strand too close to the receiver chassis and at louder volumes it will arc to ground (chassis). So make sure you don't have any loose stands anywhere
2) simply playing it too loud, this just means you don't have enough power for the volume you want. Similarly even if your speakers say 8 ohms, impedance varies with frequency and your speakers dip lower than that.
3) not enough power to run your speakers they way the crossover and size are configured
4) Overheating, for testing you could put a fan blowing air into it.

 

[sdifox]

There shouldn't be any overload issue with those speakers. You have an issue either in wiring or in the receiver itself. Put the dvd in a loop with the segment where your receiver clips. then pause it. Remove one speaker wire from the receiver, play and see what happens. Do it with all 5, rotating one out at a time.

there is just no way those puny speakers can soak up 100W RMS all at the same time.

Also, what gauge of wire are you using?

 

[spidey07]

I looked up your speakers. Their efficiency is only 88db so it's highly likely you simply don't have enough power for the volume you want, especially if you room is of any size. Those are pretty inefficient speakers.

Your receiver is listed at 100 wats at 1khz, so highly doubtful it can actually deliver 100 watts in real use.

 

[Rubycon]

Check for blown tweeters. With 12dB/Oct passive crossovers an open tweeter voice coil will cause a severe dip in impedance (spike in amp load!). This will be very apparent during louder passages and can trip overcurrent protection on receivers.

 

[Modelworks]

Could be insulation on one of the coils in a speaker failing. If it heats up or vibrates just right it could short the winding dropping resistance to very low levels.

 

[ScottFern]

I looked up your speakers. Their efficiency is only 88db so it's highly likely you simply don't have enough power for the volume you want, especially if you room is of any size. Those are pretty inefficient speakers.

Your receiver is listed at 100 wats at 1khz, so highly doubtful it can actually deliver 100 watts in real use.

What about the Denon AVR-890 receiver? Would that be sufficient for my speakers? I am looking at getting that receiver.......

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

How about figuring out if it's really a lack of power from your receiver first?

 

[ScottFern]

How about figuring out if it's really a lack of power from your receiver first?

Sorry I am not a Zen Master of home audio like you guys are. What should I be checking? I checked all the speakers physically and speaker wire connections????

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You might try disconnecting one speaker wire pair at a time from the back of the receiver and playing the same scene again to see if it's one channel in particular that is causing the issue.

Did you do that yet?

I saw you say that you inspected things, but did you do this procedure?

(The point of this one is that if you have 5 speakers connected, it may be just one of them that has a short in it... or something else as an issue)

Connect 4 of the 5 and rotate out which one is disconnected. See if there's one speaker you can disconnect and have the problem go away.

If you disconnect at the receiver end, then you have it narrowed down to either a problem with that particular run of speaker wire or the speaker on the end of it.

Sdifox also suggested this procedure. Different wording:

There shouldn't be any overload issue with those speakers. You have an issue either in wiring or in the receiver itself. Put the dvd in a loop with the segment where your receiver clips. then pause it. Remove one speaker wire from the receiver, play and see what happens. Do it with all 5, rotating one out at a time.

 

[sdifox]

Did you do that yet?

I saw you say that you inspected things, but did you do this procedure?

(The point of this one is that if you have 5 speakers connected, it may be just one of them that has a short in it... or something else as an issue)

Connect 4 of the 5 and rotate out which one is disconnected. See if there's one speaker you can disconnect and have the problem go away.

If you disconnect at the receiver end, then you have it narrowed down to either a problem with that particular run of speaker wire or the speaker on the end of it.

Sdifox also suggested this procedure. Different wording:

You know I don't read your posts ^_^

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You know I don't read your posts ^_^

D:

 

[IronWing]

Weird coincidence. I started getting Overload messages from my receiver this week. It is a Technics stereo 100W. It would play for a few minutes and then Overload. Cycle power, repeat. The stereo has been in the same configuration for nine years so I thought it might be dying. One speaker catches the outflow from a heating duct so I cleaned the dust off that speaker's contacts and tried again with the same Overload problem. So I tried to figure out what had changed. The only change I could think of was the addition of a rock tumbler on the same circuit. So I relocated the rock tumbler to a different circuit and no more Overload. So check to see if you're overloading the circuit feeding the receiver.

Reading up on how the tumbler operates I can see how it might piss off any electronics on the same circuit.

HOW A MT-4SV WORKS

The MT-4 Mini-Sonic Tumbler operates without shafts belts, pulleys, eccentric weight or even a motor—no moving parts, so the MT-4 will far outlast other types of tumblers. It operates on a unique principle employing interrupted electrical current that provides vibration as the driving force powering the rotation of the load. Operating frequency is in excess of 3,500 vibrations per minute.

 

[ScottFern]

Turned out it was a cable that had been exposed and was touching the other wire.

P.S. I bought the Denon receiver anyway. Much better unit!

 

[sdifox]

Turned out it was a cable that had been exposed and was touching the other wire.

P.S. I bought the Denon receiver anyway. Much better unit!

So I guessed right. Do I get your old receiver? :hmm:

 

[ScottFern]

So I guessed right. Do I get your old receiver? :hmm:

I actually have it listed for $60 in the Classifieds section.

 

[sdifox]

I actually have it listed for $60 in the Classifieds section.

shipping to Toronto will cost more than 60.