Onkyo AVR on the blink; Turntable preamp

[Squishman]

I just need the speakers. I think we should check them out before connecting that receiver back up to them. These recent receivers are not as robust as the older ones I suspect. The amp specs have been downgraded across the board as far as I can tell. There is now far too much the manufacturers don't want you to know. There are a lot of speakers out there that present difficult loads. The original La Scala speakers I know were an easy drive, but these have been mucked about and will be far removed from the originals.

You hit the warranty period within 8 months. If I were you, I would push Onkyo for a new unit. Receivers are pretty delicate gear, and if there are serious problems your unit will always be a mucked over unit. I would put big money on that unit being a total loss to you shortly after the warranty expires.

I imagine Onkyo will want the unit diagnosed beforehand. But that is a good suggestion, rather than hoping they would do that. Depending on what you find out with my La Scalas, I wonder how much older of an amp I'd need. The other option I imagine is to use an external amp, but I don't think this unit has pre-outs. I had been using the zone 2 outs to record LP's to a laptop using an analog to digital converter. I do not know if these could be used as regular pre-outs. View attachment 59840View attachment 59840

 

[Mike Up]

Art also has this one and it sells for about $80 on Amazon-

https://artproaudio.com/framework/uploads/2020/01/Precision-Phono-PS-U-Manual-2-2-22.pdf

Yes, that one adds Moving Coil cartridge compatibility along with Moving Magnet.

 

[Mike Up]

If I were you, I would push Onkyo for a new unit. Receivers are pretty delicate gear, and if there are serious problems your unit will always be a mucked over unit. I would put big money on that unit being a total loss to you shortly after the warranty expires.

Yes, I would push them for a new unit. That's ridiculous to have a receiver die after only a year. I would push them for good customer service (replacement) seeing they need something to offset the poor quality of their product.

If the speakers do present a hard load to drive, the receiver's protective circuits should had kicked in, shutting the amp circuit off before damage occurred. The receiver would had been very hot to the touch as well, right before protective circuits kicked in.

 

[TLS Guy]

I imagine Onkyo will want the unit diagnosed beforehand. But that is a good suggestion, rather than hoping they would do that. Depending on what you find out with my La Scalas, I wonder how much older of an amp I'd need. The other option I imagine is to use an external amp, but I don't think this unit has pre-outs. I had been using the zone 2 outs to record LP's to a laptop using an analog to digital converter. I do not know if these could be used as regular pre-outs. View attachment 59840View attachment 59840

Lets not get ahead of ourselves and get the data first.

 

[TLS Guy]

Yes, I would push them for a new unit. That's ridiculous to have a receiver die after only a year. I would push them for good customer service (replacement) seeing they need something to offset the poor quality of their product.

If the speakers do present a hard load to drive, the receiver's protective circuits should had kicked in, shutting the amp circuit off before damage occurred. The receiver would had been very hot to the touch as well, right before protective circuits kicked in.

Those protective circuits only kick in if there is something really bad going on, like a short in the speaker leads. In any event shut down protection is only the last line of defense and non of those schemes are full proof.

Those circuits are mainly designed to protect speakers from DC offset if a power transistor fails.

 

[Squishman]

Lets not get ahead of ourselves and get the data first.

10-4. In other words, what I was saying about the zone 2 outs, I don't know if they are assignable to the mains. Probably not. Trebdb83 would know. And if I did go that route, then there goes my recording outs! But yeah, cross that bridge only if necessary.

 

[Squishman]

Mike Up, I do not recall it getting hot. In fact, when I came home from work and tried to power it up that day a couple weeks ago, it had these issues.

 

[Trebdp83]

10-4. In other words, what I was saying about the zone 2 outs, I don't know if they are assignable to the mains. Probably not. Trebdb83 would know. And if I did go that route, then there goes my recording outs! But yeah, cross that bridge only if necessary.

Unfortunately, the pre out is for Zone B or Zone 2 and is not assignable for use with the Front channels.

 

[Squishman]

Speaking of recording outs, back in the olden days, you could of course use the tape monitor that probably every single receiver had. Now, with AVR's you have to see if you can find an out for that. Marantz's pre-outs are variable, with puts the kibash on using them for recording. Maybe there is a setting for that though. I imagine all pre outs would be variable on any receiver that has them. Plus a Marantz (5014) I had ran hot. My Onkyo only gets slightly warm, which likely means it burns less energy.

 

[highfigh]

Yes, I would push them for a new unit. That's ridiculous to have a receiver die after only a year. I would push them for good customer service (replacement) seeing they need something to offset the poor quality of their product.

If the speakers do present a hard load to drive, the receiver's protective circuits should had kicked in, shutting the amp circuit off before damage occurred. The receiver would had been very hot to the touch as well, right before protective circuits kicked in.

Most manufacturers replace defective units if they fail a short time after purchase or if the model is no longer available for some reason, they don't replace anything after a year, especially if the cause of the failure is unknown and at this point, it's unknown.

It's also not fair to them to go online and say that their product is of poor quality and they're providing bad customer service. I'm not defending Onkyo, per se, but I disagree with thinking that they owe a replacement, based on a failure. I do have a problem with the AVR being returned with the trigger not working, though. However, it' not the first time I have seen something coming back from an authorized or even a company service center that had a problem.

I think this situation is mainly caused by the manufacturers ending their support for local service shops, but A) it's financially unsustainable and B) the loss of retail stores and service departments was largely caused by the loss of support for local B&M, first going to the big box stores and when they failed (Circuit City, etc), shoppers went online. Sure, the cost is lower, but people are often dissatisfied by their purchase and need to chase their tails in order to find what they think they want.

Onkyo, Pioneer, D&M, McIntosh, Harman International and other brands have been sold at least two times- that's not going to stop and we will see an end to many of these. Some brand names have been resurrected, but they're nothing like what the companies were i n their heyday. With low prices, comes less of something.

There's a saying in construction- "You can have it good, cheap and fast- pick two, because you can't have all three".

 

[Squishman]

I did comment again to Onk support via email to tell them that the shop is backed up for weeks and asked if they could just send a new one or credit for another model if that model is no longer available. I did say I imagine it has to be diagnosed first. I also mentioned that if they did, they wouldn't have to pay for the repair. He apologized for the inconvenience and said that yeah, it needs to be diagnosed before sending a new one or credit. That is what I expected him to say, but at least the replacement issue has been broached and he didn't put the kibash on it.

 

[highfigh]

I did comment again to Onk support via email to tell them that the shop is backed up for weeks and asked if they could just send a new one or credit for another model if that model is no longer available. I did say I imagine it has to be diagnosed first. I also mentioned that if they did, they wouldn't have to pay for the repair. He apologized for the inconvenience and said that yeah, it needs to be diagnosed before sending a new one or credit. That is what I expected him to say, but at least the replacement issue has been broached and he didn't put the kibash on it.

I hate when they put the kibash on it!

I wonder if another call later in the week of the "Just checking in" type might get some action.