Very Quiet Sound from Right Front Channel

[dgenesis]

A friend gave me his old Sony STR-DE875 receiver with the only thing wrong with it being the right channel doesn't output sound (he thought). Turns out it's just really quiet. Tried checking balance and cranking it right, but that just makes the left channel quieter. Also the other channels seem fine, I attempted to use the surround (rear) channels and force the sound there, but sound processing occurs so it's not the same sound you'd hear in the front.

Is this something easily repairable?

 

[Harvey]

Is this something easily repairable?

If you're talking about repairing it, yourself, it depends on how tightly integrated the electronics are, how technically skilled you are and whether you have the test equipment to go inside and trace the signal.

If most of the circuitry is integrated into a couple of large chips, any failure in one section pretty much dooms the entire system. If you have technical documentation, and the problem is in one small active component, such as an audio op-amp, a bad passive component, such as a capacitor, resistor or pot, or a bad solder joint or trace or wire, it may be easy to repair.

If you're not a skilled tech, and you like the unit, get some estimates from local service/repair techs. If it costs more to repair than to replace, it's not worth the investment.

 

[Ross Ridge]

A friend gave me his old Sony STR-DE875 receiver with the only thing wrong with it being the right channel doesn't output sound (he thought). Turns out it's just really quiet. Tried checking balance and cranking it right, but that just makes the left channel quieter. Also the other channels seem fine, I attempted to use the surround (rear) channels and force the sound there, but sound processing occurs so it's not the same sound you'd hear in the front.

Double check that it's not a problem with cables or particular source by using the internal FM/AM radio and/or test tone. You can also try using the 2 channel analogue direct function, assuming that model has it, which disables most of the input processing.

If you only want to use this with one stereo external source, basically as a power amp, you can try hooking it up to the rear multi-channel inputs and then selecting multi-channel direct, which should bypass any surround sound processing. Again assuming the 875 has that function.

I doubt it's worth repairing.

 

[dgenesis]

That's the info I was looking for, more or less. Obviously hoping for a quick fix, as always. Thanks~