receiver cutting out

[prowl33]

I have a yamaha rx-v665 I have had for a year and a half, and recently bought some bowers and wilkins 683 towers. I hooked them up last night, bi-amped them which im sure is wired correctly, used some audioquest x2 speaker wire and all the connections are solid.

During loud scenes specifically with base the receiver cuts off, typically around -10 sometimes -12 volume. My guess is that my receiver isnt getting enough power andjust cutting out? But that's just a guess with my somewhat limited experience, anyone else know of anthing it could be?

 

[TLS Guy]

I have a yamaha rx-v665 I have had for a year and a half, and recently bought some bowers and wilkins 683 towers. I hooked them up last night, bi-amped them which im sure is wired correctly, used some audioquest x2 speaker wire and all the connections are solid.

During loud scenes specifically with base the receiver cuts off, typically around -10 sometimes -12 volume. My guess is that my receiver isnt getting enough power andjust cutting out? But that's just a guess with my somewhat limited experience, anyone else know of anthing it could be?

Get rid of the biamping and see what happens. Passive bi-amping is useless and often causes problems.

Report back after running them straight.

If you have trouble then you will need an external amp, if your receiver has pre outs.

 

[prowl33]

I tried running them straight and same result. I don't have a power center, and through my monster surge protector I have my old pioneer plasma hooked up, with a bluray, tivo, xbox 360, vudu movie box, and my tv has a seperate component box, oh and a network switch. Is my receiver possibly just not getting enough power? Could a panamax power conditioner with a high voltage output fix the problem?

 

[3db]

I tried running them straight and same result. I don't have a power center, and through my monster surge protector I have my old pioneer plasma hooked up, with a bluray, tivo, xbox 360, vudu movie box, and my tv has a seperate component box, oh and a network switch. Is my receiver possibly just not getting enough power? Could a panamax power conditioner with a high voltage output fix the problem?

The answer is no. What is happening is that your drawing more current through the Yammay then what its rated for and the protection mechansim is kicking in.

If these are the only two peakers connected to the receiver, I'm surprised that the protection mechanism is kiking in. However, if -10 to -12 db is more than halfway of the volume control, I can fully understand that the protection circuits are kicking in. Most receivers do not have enough reserves to be played that close to its limit.

 

[prowl33]

I found the bass was turned to +10 and lowering that to 0 helped some, now it.cuts out about -8 which is more than 1/2 the volume level. May just be that receiver can't push more power to those speakers

 

[Entity]

It's odd that you could be causing that receiver to be shutting down with pretty efficient speakers such as the 683's.

Given that the Yamaha maxes out at 0db, -8 is pretty high. I don't think I ever pushed to -8 with a 663, I prefer to keep my hearing ;p

You said in bass heavy scenes...I'm assuming that's in a movie? Have you tried switching to pure stereo (for more output power) and checking if it still drops out?

 

[prowl33]

Yeah that's how I play it is in stereo, I only have those 2 speakers and that's it. And there isn't a huge volume difference in around -25 and -10 which leads me to think the receiver is really topping out.

 

[TLS Guy]

Yeah that's how I play it is in stereo, I only have those 2 speakers and that's it. And there isn't a huge volume difference in around -25 and -10 which leads me to think the receiver is really topping out.

It is not the AC power. Your speakers have a minimum impedance of 3.5 ohms at 100 Hz. So the true impedance rating is 10% above that, which makes them four ohm speakers.

Not only that they have both positive and negative phase angles at different frequencies. So the receiver will see an effective load well below that at some frequencies. These speakers are a known tough load.

If you want to play them loud you will have to get powerful amplification that can deliver good power at four ohms with a reserve of current to take care of the apparent power needs related to the phase angles.

If you keep driving your receiver into shut down, it will soon be toast and ready to go to the recycling center.

 

[Entity]

Didn't even notice that they had such a large impedance swing for a speaker rated at 8 ohm nominal. The amp section in the 665's weren't exactly beasts either.

 

[TLS Guy]

Didn't even notice that they had such a large impedance swing for a speaker rated at 8 ohm nominal. The amp section in the 665's weren't exactly beasts either.

Almost every speaker has huge impedance swings.

We have been over this before. If you just look at the driver configuration of those speakers you know they have to be around fours ohms. And then we have not got around to phase angles, which frequently results is a speaker being an even more difficult load than you would think from the impedance curve alone.

Manufacturers can and do select any convenient part of the impedance curve to give their speakers an 8 ohm rating so people who own receivers will buy them.

The problem really is with the receivers though. Any receiver or amplifier has to be four ohm capable these days. If not, it is next to useless.

 

[prowl33]

I am thinking of buying a marantz 7005 receiver, I am thinking that will be morenthan enough forbthose speakers. I don't know a lot about 4ohm vs 8ohm so I guess I should read up on it.

The receiver doesn't cut out any more, I turned the bass down some more, just not pushing enough volume for my liking, I run it all the way to 0 and I feel like its hardly louder tan my pioneers speakers got

 

[TapeMaster]

Not Very many home theater receivers will be compatable with 4 ohm Speakers I have an Onkyo integrated amp that does the same thing. Turning down the bass and treble doesn't help using the original 8 ohm speakers it came with when new. The drivers and Xovers are all original Mint Condition. My speakers wires aren't frayed or touching eachother all connections are nice and tight NOT LOOSE.
I have purchased a Kenwood Stereo Receiver that kicks serious butt and will see how it sounds soon. It will be delivered tomorrow.