PS2 audio problem fried my receiver?

[djseafood]

So, I went down this whole road of replacing my old trusty HK AVR 20 as well as my Infinity bookshelf speakers after the speakers kept blowing and I determined the front left channel on my HK receiver was toast.

So I got a new Onkyo TX-SR506, Polk Monitor 40's and a Polk PSW505. Not a bad upgrade. But as soon as I hooked up the PS2 through my receiver I noticed there was no audio from the left channel again. My wife chimed in and asked if it was dangerous and my initial thought was "Oh no, I just need to check the cables." Then I thought of the repercussions and immediately shut everything off. I checked the cable from the PS2. It's a brand new Monster cable that has component video out and L/R RCA audio. It previously had the stock supplied composite video/audio and that cable also had the problem so I'm pretty sure it's not in the cable. I then borrowed the Toslink from my DVD player and hooked it up to the PS2 and "voila!" problem solved. The optical out gives me full stereo where the L/R audio from the combined audio/video out is dropping the Left channel.

So, okay, I figured that much out but my real question is could there be some distorted signal that is in-audible being output by the PS2's left channel that fried both my receiver and the subsequent speakers hooked up to it? If so, that really pisses me off, but secondly do you think it's safe to continue using if I hook up audio to the optical out? I'm just skeptical of the whole thing now and am not going to risk over $700 in new components to test out a $129 PS2.

Does anyone know of places that can test the PS2 or repair it? Or would it be even worth it? Game Stop looks like they sell refurb's for around $60.

Thanks in advance for any help. If I don't get an answer at least maybe this will serve as a warning to some and prevent future loss!

 

[j_garcia]

I would say that if there is no sound at all, then the likelihood of it being the PS2 is very small - try connecting it to a different input to see if it does the same thing, but it sounds like it is a problem with the PS2 or the connector on the PS2 itself. Optical is being processed by the receiver and since you say it works, then it shouldn't be a problem at all. I've never hooked up my PS2s via anything but optical. Price to repair the PS2 will be roughly the price of buying a new one if not more.

 

[djseafood]

Thanks for the input j_garcia. Yeah, since it's only a problem with the left channel coming from the PS2 I believe the problem lies in the PS2 itself. So, what you're saying is the receiver is processing the optical output so it should be safe? Is an optical output less likely to put out a distorted signal that could damage the receiver? I can see how the analog could introduce noise that could be harmful, but since the optical is digital, would any noise be manifested by dropouts in sound? Just trying to learn a little more on the subject and how it works.