Having problems with Pioneer VSX-23TXH, no sound from front speakers...

[etecnifibre]

OK, here is my setup, first off....
Paradigm CC690 center
SA-35 fronts
3 SA-ADPs surround and rear
Sub12
Pioneer VSX-23TXH

I got my Emotiva XPA3 amps in a few days ago, so started hooking everything up. I had no sound from the left front speaker. I messed around with things, no sound from either front speaker. So I swapped some more things around and now no sound from my entire front stage. I have eliminated everything except the receiver. I believe the preouts aren't giving the signal. I hooked the fronts up directly to the receiver, sound is there. I changed cables, inputs on the amps, switched actual amps, no help. Sound in the rear speakers and from the sub is excellent.

Is there a setting I'm missing or are my preouts hosed for some stupid reason?

 

[AVRat]

Change sizing for the fronts to large, then try running the pre-outs to the sub as a test.

 

[etecnifibre]

I'm not sure more testing is what I need. I've pretty much eliminated everything besides the preouts.

I might just go with a new preamp/processor.

 

[TLS Guy]

OK, here is my setup, first off....
Paradigm CC690 center
SA-35 fronts
3 SA-ADPs surround and rear
Sub12
Pioneer VSX-23TXH

I got my Emotiva XPA3 amps in a few days ago, so started hooking everything up. I had no sound from the left front speaker. I messed around with things, no sound from either front speaker. So I swapped some more things around and now no sound from my entire front stage. I have eliminated everything except the receiver. I believe the preouts aren't giving the signal. I hooked the fronts up directly to the receiver, sound is there. I changed cables, inputs on the amps, switched actual amps, no help. Sound in the rear speakers and from the sub is excellent.

Is there a setting I'm missing or are my preouts hosed for some stupid reason?

You need to test the amp. It would be very unlikely for three preouts to fail.

Connect a source to each XPA input one by one and see if you get sound. My bet is your Emotiva amp is the problem.

 

[etecnifibre]

You need to test the amp. It would be very unlikely for three preouts to fail.

Connect a source to each XPA input one by one and see if you get sound. My bet is your Emotiva amp is the problem.

I've eliminated the amps as the problems. I'm wondering if tight fitting RCA cables somehow caused a solder connection to be broken while connecting them to the receiver?

 

[jeannot]

Have you tried a reset on your receiver? I know my Denon shuts down its pre-outs when I insert headphones, may be your receiver is confused somehow.

 

[TLS Guy]

I've eliminated the amps as the problems. I'm wondering if tight fitting RCA cables somehow caused a solder connection to be broken while connecting them to the receiver?

This is a weird one to say the least of it.

If you broke the ground, you would have hum. To loose the whole front stage, you would have to break three solder connections. That is most unlikely.

Have you tried a reset? If not do so.

Next question: - was the equipment on when you connected and disconnected the lead?

I wonder if you had a static charge on you when you plugged the leads in and blew the pre out op amp chip. If that happened I would have thought you would have felt a shock or heard a spark as you put the lead in the plug in the socket.

The only other way this could happen is if those Emotiva amps can leak DC to the input over time when the cable is not terminated. Then when you plug it in, the op amp chip is blown.

You need to make sure equipment is off when you pull plugs in and out. If not then strange and damaging events quite commonly occur.

 

[etecnifibre]

This is a weird one to say the least of it.

If you broke the ground, you would have hum. To loose the whole front stage, you would have to break three solder connections. That is most unlikely.

Have you tried a reset? If not do so.

Next question: - was the equipment on when you connected and disconnected the lead?

I wonder if you had a static charge on you when you plugged the leads in and blew the pre out op amp chip. If that happened I would have thought you would have felt a shock or heard a spark as you put the lead in the plug in the socket.

The only other way this could happen is if those Emotiva amps can leak DC to the input over time when the cable is not terminated. Then when you plug it in, the op amp chip is blown.

You need to make sure equipment is off when you pull plugs in and out. If not then strange and damaging events quite commonly occur.

I did try the reset, and I did connect with power applied. Won't do that again.

The good news is that I found the same receiver at my Paradigm shop for 500 bucks. I think I can also sell my other receiver for a couple hundred. Everything else is cool on it.

 

[TLS Guy]

I did try the reset, and I did connect with power applied. Won't do that again.

The good news is that I found the same receiver at my Paradigm shop for 500 bucks. I think I can also sell my other receiver for a couple hundred. Everything else is cool on it.

Before you connect the next receiver, I would ask your paradigm shop if they have a high impedance FET or tube VOM. A scope would also do. I think the inputs of your Emotiva should be checked for DC leakage. It is certainly possible your Emotiva is faulty and was the primary cause of this failure.

 

[etecnifibre]

OK, I just took one of my surround cables, unplugged it from one amp and plugged it into the other amp, and left my front speaker hooked up to the amp, got sound just fine through the speaker. So it's definitely the preout causing the problem.

I had an Adcom amp before, tried hooking it up with terrible hum problems, kept throwing the circuit breaker, etc. Could be that's what fried my front left preout, and could have weakened the other circuit. (I used to work electronics to the component level while in the Navy, and that's not uncommon.) I've seen them work, not work, work again, etc. Those were always the hardest ones to find and fix.

 

[TLS Guy]

OK, I just took one of my surround cables, unplugged it from one amp and plugged it into the other amp, and left my front speaker hooked up to the amp, got sound just fine through the speaker. So it's definitely the preout causing the problem.

I had an Adcom amp before, tried hooking it up with terrible hum problems, kept throwing the circuit breaker, etc. Could be that's what fried my front left preout, and could have weakened the other circuit. (I used to work electronics to the component level while in the Navy, and that's not uncommon.) I've seen them work, not work, work again, etc. Those were always the hardest ones to find and fix.

Now we are getting to the bottom of it. That Adcom, probably did fry the pre out buffer amp. The preamp buffers are likely on four channel buffer amps, with just three channels for the front three. Something fried that chip. The possibilities are the Adcom, the Emotiva or static.

I still would check the Emo though, you don't want to blow another receiver.

With something like this never assume, get hard data.

 

[etecnifibre]

Got my new receiver and installed, everything sounds great! Now I just need to fix the other one or sell it with bad preamps.

 

[MDS]

It's possible that the receiver shuts off the pre-outs for particular channels if the speaker setup menu is set to indicate that a speaker is connected to that channel. That would be unusual because as far as I know most receivers maintain the pre-outs and you can connect speakers to the receiver itself and at the same time use the pre-outs to drive an amp connected to other speakers.

But...you never know. Try setting the front channels to None/Off and see what happens.

 

[etecnifibre]

MDS thanks for the input, but I'm done with it now, bro. The only thing I have left to do is to get someone help me lift my TV back onto the wall.

As for settings, I never changed anything in the first place, and to have only one speaker f'ing up to begin with, little odd. It was def. a hardware problem.

 

[modfurn]

Have you fixed the problem already?
How did you manage to solved it?