Options for a man at the end of a Yamaha Rope!

[cdondanville]

I have about had it with my Yamaha RX-V1, I have had it several years and it has been nothing but trouble. I loved it when I first got it but it started having problems a couple of years ago and has been in and out of the shop and just seems to be defective.

It started with certain channels going out. Trips (3) to the shop resulted in a new backplane, a new capacitor, and a report that nothing was wrong with it. It is now in such a state that not all the 5.1 speakers work at one time, and wiggling connections on the back will cause some loud humming, scratching and popping (Nice!) and usully all the speakers will start working again. The main place to wiggle is where I have the switched video plugged into the component inputs. Sometimes it hums through the speakers and you can rap a knuckle on the front of the reciever and it will pop and stop humming. (grounding problem? short somewhere?)

Gotta love a $2500 amp that you have to wiggle wires on to get it to work. Yamaha has been less than helpful, and I am not a true audio geek (I am a computer geek!) so I am hesitant at cracking it open to see what is up with it. It is not going to the shop however, as it has been on three occasions, that did not fix it and it is now well out of warrantee.

HELP!

So some questions that I would like feedback on are:

1) What may be wrong with the receiver and can I fix it?
2) Is it worth fixing?
3) Given that it is really a lot more receiver than I need, should I get a new one? (I really only need Dolby 5.1 and DTS with component video switching)
4) What should I get to drive my Definitive/Infinity (all powered) speaker set up if I do get a new one?
5) Is the RX-V1 in it's current state worth anything to anyone?

any and all feedback is welcome.

Chris

 

[mtrycrafts]

I have about had it with my Yamaha RX-V1, I have had it several years and it has been nothing but trouble. I loved it when I first got it but it started having problems a couple of years ago and has been in and out of the shop and just seems to be defective.

It started with certain channels going out. Trips (3) to the shop resulted in a new backplane, a new capacitor, and a report that nothing was wrong with it. It is now in such a state that not all the 5.1 speakers work at one time, and wiggling connections on the back will cause some loud humming, scratching and popping (Nice!) and usully all the speakers will start working again. The main place to wiggle is where I have the switched video plugged into the component inputs. Sometimes it hums through the speakers and you can rap a knuckle on the front of the reciever and it will pop and stop humming. (grounding problem? short somewhere?)

Gotta love a $2500 amp that you have to wiggle wires on to get it to work. Yamaha has been less than helpful, and I am not a true audio geek (I am a computer geek!) so I am hesitant at cracking it open to see what is up with it. It is not going to the shop however, as it has been on three occasions, that did not fix it and it is now well out of warrantee.

HELP!

So some questions that I would like feedback on are:

1) What may be wrong with the receiver and can I fix it?
2) Is it worth fixing?
3) Given that it is really a lot more receiver than I need, should I get a new one? (I really only need Dolby 5.1 and DTS with component video switching)
4) What should I get to drive my Definitive/Infinity (all powered) speaker set up if I do get a new one?
5) Is the RX-V1 in it's current state worth anything to anyone?

any and all feedback is welcome.

Chris

That humming when connections are moved sounds like a cold solder joint.

Since you are out of options, returning it to the shop, a new receiver is your only option. Not sure you are willing to try a used component after all this problem.

 

[Hi Ho]

It sounds like you have a lemon. I would have had it replaced, not repaired, after the first couple of problems. If a product has multiple problems inside the warranty period, I don't trust it to last much longer. Yamaha has a good reputation for quality and I bet you just got a defective one.

 

[cdondanville]

Problem Solved

Well, I seem to have fixed it. I found that when I removed the cover the popping and cutting out of the speakers could be traced to the wiggling of a riser and daughter card from the main board that connected to the backplane.

By taking the unit apart, separating and cleaning all the pin connectors on the cards and then reseating them firmly and tightening all the supports the problem vanished. This unit seems to be good as new. I would attribute this problem to sloppy work at the last repair shop that the unit was in. That would have been the Tweeter on Independence in Charlotte, for information.

Of course it was probably the culprit from the first service that led me to take it to them as well. Maybe it is just poor design. Can't say for sure, but for right now I have it fixed.

I love the unit when it works.

Chris

 

[Resident Loser]

Not for nothing...

...and I'm not trying to defend shoddy troubleshooting, but intermittent troubles are the worst...I'd rather have ten PITA troubles with a definite cause than one "...every once in a while"...that's the biggest PITA.

Plug in units are susceptible to oxidization and as you have seen simply unplugging and re-connecting the components can clear up loads of seemingly unrelated troubles. Some Amphenol-type and Cinch-type connectors need just that kind of pro-active(I hate that term) attention particularly in humid conditions and in some cases when the seasons change(as strange as that may sound). Care must be taken, of course, so as not to damage or distort the pins etc. especially on long connectors. Once it's in the shop, few are going to let it go out the door with that as a cause, they have to charge for something, even if it's just for the troubleshooting time to come up with a NTF(No Trouble Found). It doesn't instill much faith in the customers opinion of the shop, but it does happen...sometimes the trouble is cleared inadvertently (and without the techs knowledge) by such dismantling and reassembly.

It's a good practice to do that with ALL of your RCA-type jacks on all your gear periodically...with the power off of course.

I wouldn't recommend doing it on in-warranty stuff or if one is particularly ham-fisted...could do more harm than good.

jimHJJ(...good show...)