J

Jake9611

Audiophyte
Hi there, I have a problem and it's frustrating me very badly! I have a Pioneer VSX-515-K. I heard good things and read good things on reviews about this receiver and I ordered one roughly 2 months ago. I had two Technic 12" towers hooked up to it and it ran them flawlessly. I could crank them to the max and my amp never once had a problem. (The wattage says "150W Music" on the technic speakers)

I ordered some Cerwin-Vega CLSC-12's in and they showed up yesterday. (They are 300W peak and 8 ohms). I hooked them both up and now when I turn my receiver up to about -25db....bang, the amp shows overload and powers off. Also, the receiver turns back on no problem after this happends. The thing that really upsets me is that they aren't even close to distorting either and the fuses won't blow out on the speakers meaning they aren't clipping. I've got new 12 gauge speaker wire, checked for shorts, hooked each up individually, the ohms match up, checked the speakers with an ohm meter (they show 8 with is correct), i've put new fuses in the speakers and i've even done little things like changing the crossover. It's currently set at 80 and the bass is at 4/6. The only thing that actually works a little bit is turning the bass down to basically the lowest setting on the receiver. It allows me to turn the volume to about -20db instead of -25db.

I've tried everything I could think of! If you do the math my receiver is supposed to be powering the speakers 73%, which makes me unable to see why the receiver is overloading......I also tried hooking one speaker up to a buddies amp and cranked it with no problems and his is an old 100Watt X 5 Technic amp! I just can't figure it out and its making me sad lol.

ANY suggestions at all would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks!!!
 
B

brendy

Audioholic
The 515 is a low power receiver.The overload warning means that you are asking too much of it with the Cerwin Vega speakers.Clipping will occur without blowing speaker fuses.Ohm rating can not be measured with an electical muti-meter.If you do not have a sub why are you using the crossover ? Turning the bass control up increases the power demand.How the Cerwin Vegas perform with a different amp is not a valid comparison.Just have to adjust to the limitations of the 515 until you can get something better.
 
mike c

mike c

Audioholic Warlord
Jake9611 said:
... I hooked them both up and now when I turn my receiver up to about -25db....bang, the amp shows overload and powers off. ...
Thanks!!!
when you say hooked them BOTH up, do you mean:

BOTH left and right speakers of the cerwin vega
or
BOTH the cerwin vega and the technics speaker?

because if it was the second one, you'd have been asking for 4 ohms from the receiver. that pioneer most likely cant handle 4 ohms (two 8 ohm speakers = the amp sees 4 ohms)
 
M

markw

Audioholic Overlord
Agree with mike c

Jake9611 said:
had two Technic 12" towers hooked up to it and it ran them flawlessly. I could crank them to the max and my amp never once had a problem.

I ordered some Cerwin-Vega CLSC-12's in and they showed up yesterday. (They are 300W peak and 8 ohms). I hooked them both up and now when I turn my receiver up to about -25db....bang, the amp shows overload and powers off.
Check your manual for the dos and donts of running two sets of speakers. It sounds to me like when you're running both speakers you're pushing a four ohm (or less) load and this is a no-no, particularly when it's run loud.

BTW, the speakers power ratings have no bearing here. Neither do the fuses or the crossovers. The only thing you've said that makes sense (and reinforces our postulation) is that turning the bass down gave you a little more headroom. By cutting the bass you relieve a LOT of stress on the amp, which can be applied to the higher frequencies.
 
Buckeyefan 1

Buckeyefan 1

Audioholic Ninja
If you've disconnected the Technics completely, and connected the CV's, your Pioneer should power them without a struggle. Completely disengage the bass management, and run the speakers through two channel stereo. Make sure there are no speaker wire strands touching each other at the Pioneer and the speakers themselves. Your CV's are rated at 92dB which is not a difficult load for your receiver - especially in 2 channel mode. How large is your room?
 
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