Harman Kardon and overheating

[bigbassdave]

Hey guys,
So I am still trying to think a couple months into the future here and decide which receiver to get. I really love the look of the HK series and am looking mostly at the avr 635. I have read on here that they do run very hot and I have experienced that numerous times at circuit city where I work. However, this had not actually been a problem until yesterday when I went to the sound room to demo the 635 and seconds after cranking up the volume the receiver shut off. I assume it was going into protect mode. Well today I tried it again and same thing. It just shuts off when you crank it. Even if its been sitting for a long time. I'm guessing this is because the geniouses who set up the sound room stacked the very large monster power center right on top of the receiver and its not able to breath properly but I just want to know if other people here have experienced the same thing and if their HK reciever is properly ventilated or not. If this is going to be a problem I will look to other brands but I do really like the HK's and they would match well with my Infinity speakers. One final thought; have you guys heard of the new avr 740 being released in Feb? It looks interesting.

 

[SideWinder]

My buddy has a HK and his does the same thing. When I went over to his house for a demo he told me that if he plays a movie in DD or DTS that he can pretty much crank it but once he put a cd in and cranks it, it will shut off. I dont know what is causing it but after look at all his wires it has to be something internal. But for it not to shut down with a dvd playing is odd. just cd or radio.........

 

[Ax-man]

I'm guessing this is because the geniouses who set up the sound room stacked the very large monster power center right on top of the receiver and its not able to breath properly

Yea, then they'll want to sell this 635 for $700 as an 'open box' special.

I've ran my 4 ohm speakers through my 635 without any issues whatsoever, Cd's, DVDs...loud volumes. But I don't stack other components (or anything else) on top of my amps and receivers either.

 

[Dan Banquer]

HK shutdown

I would try some forced air cooling and see if that helps.
d.b.

 

[jcPanny]

Receiver Heat

If you look at the manual of any mid-fi receiver, they recommend at least 2-3 inches on each side of the receiver for proper ventalation. If your infinities are more than 4 ohms and remotely effecient then they should be fine.

 

[sdy284]

I run into the same problem with my AVR230 going into protect mode if i have the volume around -25dB & up (-20, -15 etc) Watching a movie in DTS or DD, it will go into protect & listening to the radio (2ch) it'll go into protect. My center channel is about 2 inches above the reciever (i have a metal entertainment center with metal bars as shelves, so the shevles containing heat isn't a problem) also, there is nothing on either side of the receiver. I've checked & double checked my wire connections to see if there were any bare wires touching where they shouldn't & they all checkout fine. What is really puzzling is in my old apartment, i didn't have this problem. I could crank it to 0dB and it wouldn't go into protect mode. Any ideas?

 

[macersl]

My AVR 335 has never had this problem. I have about 5” room on top and nothing on the side. Stereo and surround work fine. I did have this problem with a Sony at one time. I would ask the store to move the Monster unit away and then test it.

 

[droeses58]

I have the avr 635 and am very happy with it, it has never over heated, however it does get quite warm to the touch.

Those of you with over heating problems, make sure there isn't a heating duct near by, blowing hot air into the area.

 

[bigbassdave]

Well this is a little discouraging. Sounds like about half of the people on here with HK experience have had some kind of overheating problem. I listen to music loud and usually crank the volume on movies. Like I said I really like the HK receivers and I like the fact you can find them at a very good price on ebay straight from the factory refurbished but I don't want to have to set up a noisy ghetto looking fan to blow on it all day. Its real hard to find Denon products refurbished for near the price of the 635. Any other suggestions? Also, have you guys read anything on the new 740 coming out in FEB? It looks good. It upscales all incoming video to 720p or 1080i and is a 7.2 receiver rated at 7x85watts. Msrp is 3 grand though!

 

[Mantool]

Overheating or Overdriving?

My avr-435 can not handle a 4 ohm load at high volume and goes into autoprotect. My avr-435 is warm to the touch, but have never had the internal fan run once.

 

[bigbassdave]

That makes sense about the 4 ohm load but the speakers I was trying to demo in the store when the unit shut off are the same as the ones I have on order and they are all 8 ohm. The front speakers are rated at an efficient 91 db. That's why this concerns me so much.

 

[12gauge]

avr 230 shuts off too

i actually just joined this forum to post almost the same question. my 5.1 setup on my AVR230 shuts off when turned up on movies when a loud bass or action scene comes on & then i have to turn it down & it ticks me off. i'm on the market for a auxillary amp know because of it. cold or hot it will do it. i dont think it has anything to do with heat, it must be some sort of overload.

i'm not an audiophile by practice, just want to become one.

i'm open to all suggestions to test. all 8ohm speakers.

 

[12gauge]

I run into the same problem with my AVR230 going into protect mode if i have the volume around -25dB & up (-20, -15 etc) Watching a movie in DTS or DD, it will go into protect & listening to the radio (2ch) it'll go into protect. My center channel is about 2 inches above the reciever (i have a metal entertainment center with metal bars as shelves, so the shevles containing heat isn't a problem) also, there is nothing on either side of the receiver. I've checked & double checked my wire connections to see if there were any bare wires touching where they shouldn't & they all checkout fine. What is really puzzling is in my old apartment, i didn't have this problem. I could crank it to 0dB and it wouldn't go into protect mode. Any ideas?

did anything change on the speakers or wiring or set up? i have AVR230 & it does the same thing.

 

[jaxter]

Hey guys,
So I am still trying to think a couple months into the future here and decide which receiver to get. I really love the look of the HK series and am looking mostly at the avr 635. I have read on here that they do run very hot and I have experienced that numerous times at circuit city where I work. However, this had not actually been a problem until yesterday when I went to the sound room to demo the 635 and seconds after cranking up the volume the receiver shut off. I assume it was going into protect mode. Well today I tried it again and same thing. It just shuts off when you crank it. Even if its been sitting for a long time. I'm guessing this is because the geniouses who set up the sound room stacked the very large monster power center right on top of the receiver and its not able to breath properly but I just want to know if other people here have experienced the same thing and if their HK reciever is properly ventilated or not. If this is going to be a problem I will look to other brands but I do really like the HK's and they would match well with my Infinity speakers. One final thought; have you guys heard of the new avr 740 being released in Feb? It looks interesting.

I own a AVR 235 and have never experienced this issue, even when the volume is set at 0dB. These recievers do run relatively hot, but with at least a couple inches of air space all the way around them and proper ventilation they should work fine. I would also be curious as to what speakers are hooked up to these recievers when they are shutting down. If there is a significant impedence dip in the response of the speaker it could be causing enough current to go through the reciever and thus causing it to over heat.
The H\K recievers are really not built to handle really low impedence loads, but then again most mass market recievers are the same in this respect. If there is an impedence dip in the speakers, say down to 2 ohms, then this is a possibility. The usual dip in the impedence on a typical speaker is usually in the bass region around the tuning resonance of the box and woofer combination. If the reciever is crossed over into a powered sub then this almost never happens. Although some speakers do use impedence compensation in their networks , many do not because of costs, and then they may have large impedence variations as well as possible dips that will require a large amount of current the drive the speaker at the frequencies where this dip occurs.

 

[jaxter]

Infinity speakers

Hey guys,
So I am still trying to think a couple months into the future here and decide which receiver to get. I really love the look of the HK series and am looking mostly at the avr 635. I have read on here that they do run very hot and I have experienced that numerous times at circuit city where I work. However, this had not actually been a problem until yesterday when I went to the sound room to demo the 635 and seconds after cranking up the volume the receiver shut off. I assume it was going into protect mode. Well today I tried it again and same thing. It just shuts off when you crank it. Even if its been sitting for a long time. I'm guessing this is because the geniouses who set up the sound room stacked the very large monster power center right on top of the receiver and its not able to breath properly but I just want to know if other people here have experienced the same thing and if their HK reciever is properly ventilated or not. If this is going to be a problem I will look to other brands but I do really like the HK's and they would match well with my Infinity speakers. One final thought; have you guys heard of the new avr 740 being released in Feb? It looks interesting.

One more thing.
If you are going to use Infinity speakers then there should be no problem at all. The Infinity speakers are made by the same manufacturer and all H\K recievers are tested with Infinity and JBL speakers to ensure the combination will always work together. there is also a mandate on all of the Infinity and JBL speakers (at the consumer electonics level) that none of their speaker designs dip below 4 ohms.
Just make sure that there is some air space all the way around the reciever.
remember most large stand alone amplifiers have their heat sinks on the outside of the unit, whereas most recievers have them on the inside, so air flow over the heatsinks is very important. Just like the heatsinks on a CPU.

 

[12gauge]

mine shuts off with nothing on top of it & nothing to the side of it sitting directly on 3/4" hardwood flooring.

I have a mismatch of speakers currently:
center = accustic reasearch, 1 tweeter & 2 3.5"
front = 2 Design accustics, which have a tweeter, 1 3.5" mid & 8"sub
rear= 2 JBL's, tweeter & 3.5"

i was thinking maybe the fronts were too much for the amp. but i dont really know how it works. less than 24hrs of reasearch right now

One more thing.
If you are going to use Infinity speakers then there should be no problem at all. The Infinity speakers are made by the same manufacturer and all H\K recievers are tested with Infinity and JBL speakers to ensure the combination will always work together. there is also a mandate on all of the Infinity and JBL speakers (at the consumer electonics level) that none of their speaker designs dip below 4 ohms.
Just make sure that there is some air space all the way around the reciever.
remember most large stand alone amplifiers have their heat sinks on the outside of the unit, whereas most recievers have them on the inside, so air flow over the heatsinks is very important. Just like the heatsinks on a CPU.

 

[mulester7]

......the bottom line is, slave amps give you 4 ohm stable, with now-we're-talkin' down to 2 ohm stable below 4 on many models....that translates to a better handling of the elements with authority....and, a bolder crisply-biting presence that's more transparent.....you come waaaaaay closer to the recorded group's live speakers.....

 

[12gauge]

......the bottom line is, slave amps give you 4 ohm stable, with now-we're-talkin' down to 2 ohm stable below 4 on many models....that translates to a better handling of the elements with authority....and, a bolder crisply-biting presence that's more transparent.....you come waaaaaay closer to the recorded group's live speakers.....

recommendations for slave amp? im looking at that adcom 7605 & the new av123 light amp. both 5 channel amps.

 

[bigbassdave]

so I asked one of the "home audio guys" at my store how long the 635 in the showroom has had this problem and he says to me that it is not a problem at all. Bewildered I asked him if he felt the huge monster power center sitting on top of the HK was the reason for it shutting off or overheating. He told me no. He then said that the reason it shuts off when you crank the volume is so that "stupid people" dont blow up their speakers. Can you believe that?? He said that the receiver is designed to shut off when you crank it up so you won't damage your speakers. I was pretty much at a loss for words. I'm sorry to say that stores like Circuit City, Best Buy ect dont have any kind of training program that I am aware of and many times we as the sales people are placed in areas of the store selling stuff we know nothing about. I told them when I was hired that I felt I could help out with Home Audio or video. They said I would be selling mp3 players which I had told them I knew nothing about. I have learned much in the time I have been there however and feel I can genuenly help people looking to buy them but for a couple weeks I was lost. I wish stores like mine would hire people based on what they know or at least what they love and then train them to be "experts" on the different products. Anyway enough venting. Thanks for listening

 

[mulester7]

My avr-435 can not handle a 4 ohm load at high volume and goes into autoprotect. My avr-435 is warm to the touch, but have never had the internal fan run once.

.....one of those small plastic fans for about 5 bucks from WallyWorld on low blowing on and over the top of the amp cabinet can have a dramatic effect and make NO noise at all....on low.....crank the tunes, the fan clicks to high easily.....

.....that 9 inch metal-cage fan with stand by Lakewood at Wal-Mart, is the best personal and amp fan I have ever had....sits wonderfully on the night stand and makes me pull that cover up, buddy, I love it....I also have one on top of the component cabinet to cool amps blowing through the middle of 2 and 2 stacked with wood blocks between them about three inchs apart....the fan....three speeds, and all three speeds move an amazing amount of air for a 9 inch fan, especially high.....metal blades....great fan....Lakewood....12 bucks-WallyWorld....what?....yeah, I know it's the dead of winter and they probably won't be on the shelves, BUT, I gotta' get you chowderheads thinking about that Lakewood fan NOW, and you might muster the smarts to make a move by late Spring.....