Soft Popping sounds in one channel/Denon 3808

[armaraas]

Hello, I've been having a more noticeable issue lately with my Denon 3808. It's actually been doing it for a while on one source, but it was so infrequent I never really bothered with it. Here's what's happening.

I have my pc routed to the receiver via optical, and when playing games I would sometimes hear a soft 'pop' sound during loading screens in one channel only, the left surround.

In the last few weeks I have now noticed this through the Xbox (also optical) and PS3 (HDMI). It only happens during loading screens in games, or menu changes (games or movies). It's always the same speaker. I did swap the left and right surround connections at the receiver to see if it followed the speaker or the receiver connection, and it followed the receiver connection.

I sent an email to Denon, and their recommendation was to bring it in for service, they said it could be the decoder, DSP, digital board, or the channels amp. Last night I ran the left surround preout to my XPA3, and the popping did continue. At this point I am assuming it is internal to the receiver and the only option is service (I think it's about 6 months out of warranty, if it was 2 years standard).

I have not done a full reset, nor disconnected and reconnected everything. Any chances they would do any good? And has anyone seen something like this and know if this is as bad as it gets, or if it will get worse? I can watch movie fine and it doesn't do it all, it seems to happen when there's a signal change/interruption. It's annoying, but is not detrimental at this point. Any additional thoughts on this are appreciated...

 

[PENG]

I thought it had a 3 year warranty. Regardless, try doing a reset to factory default condition first.

 

[armaraas]

Thanks, I was thinking it was 3 too, but I saw somewhere online yesterday that said 2, but I'll find the manual tonight to confirm. I'll plan on doing a reset tomorrow, and reconnect everything. While inconvenient, it will be less inconvenient than having to bring it in for service, if it helps.

 

[PENG]

I just checked and found that it was 3 years for amplifiers but only 2 for AVR. Well I hope a factory reset would fix it for you.

 

[armaraas]

Yah, I couldn't find my original warranty card, and the manual had nothing. But searches online showed only 2 years, I think they do 3 years with the Marantz line for receivers.

I think the it might be fixed, or at least better now. I did reset and disconnect everything (I needed to put my htpc into the cabinet anyway, which required moving it and rearranging). I checked and redid all the speaker cables, made sure the banana plugs were put together tight and had a good hold of the wires. I put everything together a few pieces at a time, first AVR, PS3 and TV. Tested it in a game that it was doing it regularly, and it seemed fine. Then added XPA3, tested, xbox, APC H15, htpc- couldn't get it to happen.

I've been playing with it for about 4 hours now, and if it has happened it's only been once or twice, or I was hearing things (it was so slight/fast I wasn't sure if it happened). The only thing I notice now is when powering on the xbox I get a little pop out of the front speakers when it goes to the xbox logo screen right away. I'm couldn't say for sure if that's always happened, or I just notice it now that I'm paranoid. If that's the only place it occurs now, I can live with that. Thanks for chiming in with your suggestion.

 

[PENG]

I just read that Marantz has released the latest FW update for the AV7005/SR7005 that supposedly fixed an issue of 'pop' sound when hooked up to a PC via HDMI.

So please make sure you have your FW up to date in case. If I remember correctly my 4308 had an update not that long ago, may be a year.

 

[armaraas]

Yah, I forgot to mention that I did a firmware update the night before I posted, so I did try that and there was a newer version available. I wonder if some combination of the firmware/reset could have helped. Still so far so good, hopefully it's been resolved.

 

[PENG]

Yah, I forgot to mention that I did a firmware update the night before I posted, so I did try that and there was a newer version available. I wonder if some combination of the firmware/reset could have helped. Still so far so good, hopefully it's been resolved.

I was quite surprised to see the last update. I thought Denon would have moved on from the XX08 models. The 3808 is a very capable high quality receiver and I hope it will work for you for a long time.