Sony STR-V333ES repair value

[elsrik]

My girlfriend has always been an avid Sony fan, and as such, has built an all Sony rack. I recently tore the rack down, to simplify and minimize the components, removing the VCR, dual well tape decks, and turntable. Shortly after reassembling everything, I powered it on. The V333ES unit (circa 2001) started clicking incessantly and I removed power immediately. No error messages, or power lights. Shortly after that, my neighbor came over (single lady in her 50s) and made note that her lights were blinding, and inquired if mine were too. After 10 minutes of deliberation I went over there with my trusty dusty Fluke to test her outlets. Several readings later of 155V at the plug was all I needed to know. She wasn't as far off as I had thought.

Needless to say the V333ES is in the shop now getting diagnosed, and I am weighing the possibilities of getting a replacement, under fear of a slow cascade delayed failure after its possible repair. I had read before that the V333ES was a good unit and had remarkably good quality internals even for the ES line. I can get a STR-DA4300ES which is generally comparable for about $620. If the old unit is indeed made of 'sterner stuff', I could consider keeping it, if the repair cost is not prohibitive.
I'm trying to figure how much I should invest in repairing the V333ES instead pf putting that money toward the STR-DA4300ES.

What repair cost would you believe to be prohibitive and worth the upgrade?
​

As for what it is/will be driving, I am looking to buy some Klipsch speakers in the near future to replace the $130 Fisher 5.1 kit she has currently which sounds like drunken mice in a wet cardboard box, but that's for another thread. I genuinely appreciate your input.

 

[TLS Guy]

My girlfriend has always been an avid Sony fan, and as such, has built an all Sony rack. I recently tore the rack down, to simplify and minimize the components, removing the VCR, dual well tape decks, and turntable. Shortly after reassembling everything, I powered it on. The V333ES unit (circa 2001) started clicking incessantly and I removed power immediately. No error messages, or power lights. Shortly after that, my neighbor came over (single lady in her 50s) and made note that her lights were blinding, and inquired if mine were too. After 10 minutes of deliberation I went over there with my trusty dusty Fluke to test her outlets. Several readings later of 155V at the plug was all I needed to know. She wasn't as far off as I had thought.

Needless to say the V333ES is in the shop now getting diagnosed, and I am weighing the possibilities of getting a replacement, under fear of a slow cascade delayed failure after its possible repair. I had read before that the V333ES was a good unit and had remarkably good quality internals even for the ES line. I can get a STR-DA4300ES which is generally comparable for about $620. If the old unit is indeed made of 'sterner stuff', I could consider keeping it, if the repair cost is not prohibitive.
I'm trying to figure how much I should invest in repairing the V333ES instead pf putting that money toward the STR-DA4300ES.

What repair cost would you believe to be prohibitive and worth the upgrade?
​

As for what it is/will be driving, I am looking to buy some Klipsch speakers in the near future to replace the $130 Fisher 5.1 kit she has currently which sounds like drunken mice in a wet cardboard box, but that's for another thread. I genuinely appreciate your input.

I think you are trying to imply, that the unit was damaged by over voltage. Is that correct? Did you test the receiver outlet?

If it was over voltage, the damage should stop at the power supply. Do you know if it is a power supply fault that caused the unit to fail? If the unit has proper voltage regulation as part of the power supply, the voltage regulators should have prevented downstream damage.

One other point if this unit has power supply regulation, and the fault is outside the power supply, I doubt over voltage caused the problem. You really need to ask some specific questions of the tech looking at this unit.

 

[Seth=L]

I can't believe she was powering crap speakers with a Sony ES receiver.

You should probably work on convincing her that Sony does not make great audio products. The Sony ES line does not present a good value, but the price on that AVR you mentioned seems decent.

 

[B3Nut]

ES gear is nice, but their current offerings don't impress me like the ES gear from the early 90's...that gear was superb. How the mighty have fallen... IMHO Sony started declining after the passing of founder Akio Morita...Mr. Morita was a brilliant man and he ran a tight ship. Now they've degenerated into a "lifestyle" company...have you seen the latest Sony mini-theater system? Tiny golf-ball-sized sattelites and the *midrange* driver located in the bass module! It even sounds worse than a Bose 3-2-1 system. Total form over function...it's garbage.

A question about your Fluke...does that have True RMS readings for AC? If the line voltage was indeed 155VAC read RMS, it seems to me your electrical provider would be on the hook for any damaged equipment. You might want to look into that.

 

[EJD]

Probably not worth repairing the 333 unless it's under $100 IMO.

Agree with an earlier post that recent ES stuff has not been particularly good. If you can find a used da777es or da5es - you should be able to pick them up for about $300 - $400 or so. They would likely be a better receiver than any of their current offerings.

If you get either of them used - make SURE it has the original box and packaging materials. The volume knob is easily damaged in shipping.

Here's one on ebay right now link

 

[elsrik]

Yes, I was implying that overvoltage damaged the reciever as that's my best guess with no other immediate suspects. As for the Fluke, it is a True RMS meter (Fluke 179) so the AC reading should be correct. So the issue existed at first on an outlet with an unseen overvoltage condition, and persisted on a KG outlet, reading 125VAC.

I'll admit I used to be an HK fan and that Sony has made some crap recently, but that fool hearty part of me that grew up with quality Sony gear would like to believe that the ES line is still worth at least what I can get it for. Plus, it'd appease the needs and requirements of the better half. While not the most logical argument, it's the most economical solution for our needs.

( I won't mention the Carver system I owned which had a rocky road in its short life)

As for if it's a power supply issue in the unit or not, I had opened the unit, and looked at the internals. When the main tranformer block was disconnected from the amp and DSP, the clicking did not persist when power was applied. When the leads were reconnected, and power was reapplied, the clicking continued. This doesn't mean a great deal, as I've also found others who have had relay clicking issues with this reciever under load and with extended use. The 3 power IC chips were brown and discolored slightly as was the green silicon board around them, which was a dull brown color, like burned flux. This could have also been from a the constant natural heat soak they have been subjected to over the last 7 years, having not been powered off often. If I had a service manual for it, I'd have been able to be a better idea of what stage was failing.

I haven't heard back from the service center yet, and they did say they repaired at the component level, not the board level, as the previous 2 repair centers I contacted. Board level troubleshooting is the equivalent of giving monkeys a flamethrower and wads of cash to start a campfire. Effective, but with excessive cost. Having not heard from them yet, I wished to inquire amongst some people who might have a better idea of the units market price and functional value. This is the root reason why I posted this thread. No matter what the tech has to say, it will be preceded with a repair cost estimate. That figure will dictate new Sony or old Sony. What would you say the prohibitive repair cost would be for the old unit?

It's a shame that the general consensus regards Sony so poorly. I'd have expected better from them as a company. Thanks for your honest and forthright opinions, fellas.

 

[TLS Guy]

Yes, I was implying that overvoltage damaged the reciever as that's my best guess with no other immediate suspects. As for the Fluke, it is a True RMS meter (Fluke 179) so the AC reading should be correct. So the issue existed at first on an outlet with an unseen overvoltage condition, and persisted on a KG outlet, reading 125VAC.

I'll admit I used to be an HK fan and that Sony has made some crap recently, but that fool hearty part of me that grew up with quality Sony gear would like to believe that the ES line is still worth at least what I can get it for. Plus, it'd appease the needs and requirements of the better half. While not the most logical argument, it's the most economical solution for our needs.

( I won't mention the Carver system I owned which had a rocky road in its short life)

As for if it's a power supply issue in the unit or not, I had opened the unit, and looked at the internals. When the main tranformer block was disconnected from the amp and DSP, the clicking did not persist when power was applied. When the leads were reconnected, and power was reapplied, the clicking continued. This doesn't mean a great deal, as I've also found others who have had relay clicking issues with this reciever under load and with extended use. The 3 power IC chips were brown and discolored slightly as was the green silicon board around them, which was a dull brown color, like burned flux. This could have also been from a the constant natural heat soak they have been subjected to over the last 7 years, having not been powered off often. If I had a service manual for it, I'd have been able to be a better idea of what stage was failing.

I haven't heard back from the service center yet, and they did say they repaired at the component level, not the board level, as the previous 2 repair centers I contacted. Board level troubleshooting is the equivalent of giving monkeys a flamethrower and wads of cash to start a campfire. Effective, but with excessive cost. Having not heard from them yet, I wished to inquire amongst some people who might have a better idea of the units market price and functional value. This is the root reason why I posted this thread. No matter what the tech has to say, it will be preceded with a repair cost estimate. That figure will dictate new Sony or old Sony. What would you say the prohibitive repair cost would be for the old unit?

It's a shame that the general consensus regards Sony so poorly. I'd have expected better from them as a company. Thanks for your honest and forthright opinions, fellas.

Do a check on eBay. That will tell you what it is really worth.

 

[elsrik]

Update

So, after a long deliberation and patient waiting, the repair shop finally called me back, after leaving several messages and sending several emails. It'd not been a priority, until my girlfriend asked me about it. Until this point I'd heard "We're waiting on the part to arrive." Now, I get a final response after all this time. That's right. 1 year.

"We're sorry, Sony doesn't carry that board anymore."

You said initially that you repair at the component level, which would allow you to repair the affected components and their dependencies. Are those individual parts not available?

"Unfortunately, no. Sony doesn't carry the parts it needs, and so we can't order the board."

---

I have the sneaking suspicion that they didn't actually try to test each stage, or didn't have the means to, and tried to order the board instead, which was not available.

At any rate, I'd found I had access to a 'good' deal on a STR-DA5300ES, Sony's flagship ES model, for about $600, so that ended up being my replacement.

It'd worked well until I found it had an HDMI display/sync defect while in the menu and did further research finding that the unit was under recall. Now it's back to the drawing board. It seems I had to inadvertently prove to myself how far Sony has fallen.

Hardware needs to be tested before it's released to the general public. Extensively.

Now, Sony has joined the list, with Klipsch and others of once great names whose quality has faltered over the years.

Again. Your advice was spot on, and though I've got a rather thick skull, I'll consider myself schooled.

 

[TLS Guy]

So, after a long deliberation and patient waiting, the repair shop finally called me back, after leaving several messages and sending several emails. It'd not been a priority, until my girlfriend asked me about it. Until this point I'd heard "We're waiting on the part to arrive." Now, I get a final response after all this time. That's right. 1 year.

"We're sorry, Sony doesn't carry that board anymore."

You said initially that you repair at the component level, which would allow you to repair the affected components and their dependencies. Are those individual parts not available?

"Unfortunately, no. Sony doesn't carry the parts it needs, and so we can't order the board."

---

I have the sneaking suspicion that they didn't actually try to test each stage, or didn't have the means to, and tried to order the board instead, which was not available.

At any rate, I'd found I had access to a 'good' deal on a STR-DA5300ES, Sony's flagship ES model, for about $600, so that ended up being my replacement.

It'd worked well until I found it had an HDMI display/sync defect while in the menu and did further research finding that the unit was under recall. Now it's back to the drawing board. It seems I had to inadvertently prove to myself how far Sony has fallen.

Hardware needs to be tested before it's released to the general public. Extensively.

Now, Sony has joined the list, with Klipsch and others of once great names whose quality has faltered over the years.

Again. Your advice was spot on, and though I've got a rather thick skull, I'll consider myself schooled.

I think you are a little hard on Sony. I think you have learned a hard lesson about the modern semiconductor industry.

The unit was abused by over voltage. I suspect the damage went well beyond the power supply. If it got into the digital microprocessor areas, these boards are not diagnosable in stages like analog boards. Even in analog boards, with robotic surface mount components, there is often nothing that can be done to repair a board.

The bigger problem is that for most ICs there is only one production run ever. Sony do not make their own ICs. Even if they are a manufacturer of ICs like Toshiba, they always source ICs of other manufacturers in their boards as well as their own.

When a production is run, every effort is made to estimate demand for 10 years or so. However there is often an over or under estimate. Once the ICs are used, there is seldom another production run as the cost of setting up for a run is astronomical. Once the ICs are gone the boards can not be replaced.

The real error is not using UPS systems with fast response times. It is a good rule to assume that any valuable piece of equipment using ICs, can not be repaired after a few years have past. Assume they are electrically fragile, and most are, no matter who the manufacturer is. Make the right call and protect your equipment with a UPS with a 1 msec response time. If you had powered your unit from a UPS you would almost certainly still have your receiver.

 

[B3Nut]

Sony does indeed make IC's, they're a major fab for ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) and they're one of the largest manufacturers of CCD and CMOS image-sensor chips for cameras, making most of the sensors for Nikon and until the K20D all of Pentax SLR's. Incidentally, they use Nikon photolithographic machines in their fabs.

But as TLS said, once a run is gone, it's gone...it's cost-prohibitive to re-tool for an older chip design with little demand.

TP