Blown receiver

[matt houser]

I have a Marantz SR 6013 that I purchased one year ago, I just had to use my CPS warranty after a transistor blew out, when it arrived off the truck today, everything was normal, The factory default English display showed on my monitor but as soon as it went into the next screen, the “do you hear anything” mode, it popped, everything exactly the same as a month ago, I smelled the burnt transistor, same pop sound that seemed to come from the back left surround/sub area, this time though both subs were unplugged, Ruling out any potential of the subs causing the issue, I just want to make sure there’s nothing in my set up that could be causing this nightmare, it’s actually a pretty basic set up though, A couple HDMI cables, The speaker wires were connected very cautiously and carefully, just a basic 5.2 set up, The one last variable, and I don’t know if anything external can even cause a transistor to blow but I do have a mini DSP in between my two subs and a single output from my receiver, any chance of a defective mini DSP possibly causing this type of issue??? One last thing to note, in the last month I have tested my outlets to ensure proper grounding and have good power strips in place just to be safe, anything that raises concern in my set up or just more unfortunate luck on a unit that I’ve only owned for a year

 

[snakeeyes]

Did you rule out a speaker wire short? Check the entire length of that surround cable. Sometimes animals chew on them. It’s not just the ends that can be where the short is.

 

[matt houser]

Did you rule out a speaker wire short? Check the entire length of that surround cable. Sometimes animals chew on them. It’s not just the ends that can be where the short is.

I do have quite a bit of distance of wiring that I can inspect but I am curious, i’ve heard of receivers kicking themselves into protection mode when a wire is crossed, do you suppose that if it was a faulty wire that it could have caused whatever transistor this is to fry, and if so, I thought there would at least be some sort of circuit protection mode or something instead of the receiver just popping

 

[Pandaman617]

I do have quite a bit of distance of wiring that I can inspect but I am curious, i’ve heard of receivers kicking themselves into protection mode when a wire is crossed, do you suppose that if it was a faulty wire that it could have caused whatever transistor this is to fry, and if so, I thought there would at least be some sort of circuit protection mode or something instead of the receiver just popping

The odds of a MiniDSP shorting anything out is remote, however with extended lengths of wire I would indeed carefully inspect each run to ensure they’re not shorting out. That being said I’ve tripped my x4300h two times into protection mode completely by accident hot swapping speakers like an idiot and had my banana plugs make contact enough to create a short. Both times it blinked red at me (the power LED), I pulled the power main, let the capacitors drain by letting it sit for 90 seconds and then powered it back on with no issues and it’s been going strong for 3+ years now.

 

[Teetertotter?]

A "Cold Solder," joint on the PC board somewhere? Sometimes it will not show up right away, but over time, it may happen. The board needs to be thoroughly inspected for any Cold Solder joints. Just my suggestion.

 

[TLS Guy]

I have a Marantz SR 6013 that I purchased one year ago, I just had to use my CPS warranty after a transistor blew out, when it arrived off the truck today, everything was normal, The factory default English display showed on my monitor but as soon as it went into the next screen, the “do you hear anything” mode, it popped, everything exactly the same as a month ago, I smelled the burnt transistor, same pop sound that seemed to come from the back left surround/sub area, this time though both subs were unplugged, Ruling out any potential of the subs causing the issue, I just want to make sure there’s nothing in my set up that could be causing this nightmare, it’s actually a pretty basic set up though, A couple HDMI cables, The speaker wires were connected very cautiously and carefully, just a basic 5.2 set up, The one last variable, and I don’t know if anything external can even cause a transistor to blow but I do have a mini DSP in between my two subs and a single output from my receiver, any chance of a defective mini DSP possibly causing this type of issue??? One last thing to note, in the last month I have tested my outlets to ensure proper grounding and have good power strips in place just to be safe, anything that raises concern in my set up or just more unfortunate luck on a unit that I’ve only owned for a year

Did the receiver go into protection on both occasions? The only transistors that blow with any frequency are power transistors. However the sub out is a preamp out, so no power transistors. Even a short on a sub out would not cause anything to fail.

However, a speaker wire short, or defective speaker is a potent cause of blowing power transistors. There is supposed to be protection, but no protection system is infallible. So avoiding speaker shorts is very important. So doing careful testing of the speaker circuits with a multimeter is a crucial step after an event like this.

If your speaker wiring and speakers are OK, then the tech missed the cause of the transistor failure. This could have multiple causes, including, but not exclusive to failure in the driver stage ahead of the output transistors, a failed dropper resistor, and especially a problem voltage regulator in the power supply.

Unfortunately, receivers are really crammed in, and would be a nightmare to service. That is just one of the many reasons why I never want to own a receiver.

I choose the power amps I use (Quad) because they are very open, beautifully constructed, and a pleasure to service if the need occasionally arises.

I see that receiver is a 2018 year model and is discontinued. Its list price was 1.5K. So a significant investment. However it has a lot of facilities and I imagine, preamps, processing and power supply used over half of that at least. There are nine power amps in it apparently, so that means each amp had to be made for around $50.00 including markup. Not an encouraging prospect. As is now the norm, that receiver did not have 4 ohm rating. Do you know the true impedance of your speakers? That is not what the manufacturer claims they are, which is pretty much invariably fiction.

 

[highfigh]

I have a Marantz SR 6013 that I purchased one year ago, I just had to use my CPS warranty after a transistor blew out, when it arrived off the truck today, everything was normal, The factory default English display showed on my monitor but as soon as it went into the next screen, the “do you hear anything” mode, it popped, everything exactly the same as a month ago, I smelled the burnt transistor, same pop sound that seemed to come from the back left surround/sub area, this time though both subs were unplugged, Ruling out any potential of the subs causing the issue, I just want to make sure there’s nothing in my set up that could be causing this nightmare, it’s actually a pretty basic set up though, A couple HDMI cables, The speaker wires were connected very cautiously and carefully, just a basic 5.2 set up, The one last variable, and I don’t know if anything external can even cause a transistor to blow but I do have a mini DSP in between my two subs and a single output from my receiver, any chance of a defective mini DSP possibly causing this type of issue??? One last thing to note, in the last month I have tested my outlets to ensure proper grounding and have good power strips in place just to be safe, anything that raises concern in my set up or just more unfortunate luck on a unit that I’ve only owned for a year

If your audio went out, the first thing that should be checked is for shorts in the speakers and speaker wires. NEVER reconnect a repaired amplifier to speakers without testing them for shorts.

Do you have pets, specifically, at least one Cat? They like to chew on wires and I have seen this happen many times.

When equipment fails suddenly, luck rarely has anything to do with it.

You didn't mention with transistor failed- without knowing that, it's impossible to say anything about the MiniDSP causing it, other than "I seriously doubt it". Your outlets have nothing to do with this- stop grasping for answers and find the cause intentionally. If you don't have a multi-meter, get one and learn to use it.

 

[Pogre]

Yeah, my first instinct would be to check all of the wiring. When our dog was a pup she got behind the couch and chewed one of the speaker wires just enough to cause a short. Luckily my receiver went into protection, which as TLS pointed out isn't necessarily infallible. I found that out when I lost an amplifier due to user error, but the same type of short a different time. Once again I was lucky tho because that one was still under warranty. It's not uncommon for protection modes to fail.

 

[TLS Guy]

I do have quite a bit of distance of wiring that I can inspect but I am curious, i’ve heard of receivers kicking themselves into protection mode when a wire is crossed, do you suppose that if it was a faulty wire that it could have caused whatever transistor this is to fry, and if so, I thought there would at least be some sort of circuit protection mode or something instead of the receiver just popping

What did you find out, when you tested your wiring?

 

[Verdinut]

Yeah, my first instinct would be to check all of the wiring. When our dog was a pup she got behind the couch and chewed one of the speaker wires just enough to cause a short. Luckily my receiver went into protection, which as TLS pointed out isn't necessarily infallible. I found that out when I lost an amplifier due to user error, but the same type of short a different time. Once again I was lucky tho because that one was still under warranty. It's not uncommon for protection modes to fail.

The whole thing about protection circuits reminds me of a reference to Murphy's Law which Crown supplied with their IC-150A stereo preamp which I used to own. It had excellent specs but the control pots were not of the highest quality: