Speakers work for ten minutes, then receiver trips?

[polar898]

I just got finished installing 8 in-wall speakers in my home. I wired them all up to my receiver. They work great for ten minutes, but then the receiver trips and they all shut off. I tried it with my friend's receiver as well, and the same thing happened. What's going on?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Haoleb]

Sounds like your reciever is going into thermal shutdown. If you did not install Impedance matching volume controls in the wall you can replace the ones you installed, if any with them. OR get an impedance matching speaker selector switch. OR get an amplifier with enough channels to properly drive all of the speakers without shutting down. Could you go into more detail as to how you have the speakers wired?

 

[polar898]

Sounds like your reciever is going into thermal shutdown. If you did not install Impedance matching volume controls in the wall you can replace the ones you installed, if any with them. OR get an impedance matching speaker selector switch. OR get an amplifier with enough channels to properly drive all of the speakers without shutting down. Could you go into more detail as to how you have the speakers wired?

Thanks for the reply. I agree that it has to do with heat- if I try to turn it back on immediately, it doesnt work; if I wait ten minutes, it does.

Not quite sure what you mean by impedance matching- the volume selectors do have a four-position switch (A,B,C,D) on the side, that I haven't touched.

Here's a diagram- hope this helps. Thanks again!

 

[Haoleb]

It sounds as if you do have impedance matching controls. What they do is allow you to run multiple speakers off of your reciever. Speakers have an impedance rating, and when you run many speakers together this number can become very low which makes the reciever work much harder than usual. With an impedance matching control you raise the impedance back up to an acceptable level. Do you know what model the volume controls are?

 

[TLS Guy]

I wonder if you wired the volume controls backwards? The receiver needs to go across the outer connection and the positive to the speaker off the center.
Have you tested with a meter for shorts?

If you have the volume control wired backwards, than you are drastically dropping the impedance as you turn down the volume. Even if wired correctly all those speakers may be dropping the impedance too low for receivers.

However if the receiver is shutting down at very low levels of the speaker volume controls. I bet there is a wiring error.

 

[Midcow2]

Another trouble shooting thought -

I wonder if you wired the volume controls backwards? The receiver needs to go across the outer connection and the positive to the speaker off the center.
Have you tested with a meter for shorts?

If you have the volume control wired backwards, than you are drastically dropping the impedance as you turn down the volume. Even if wired correctly all those speakers may be dropping the impedance too low for receivers.

However if the receiver is shutting down at very low levels of the speaker volume controls. I bet there is a wiring error.

Could you easily disconnect your three sets of speakers and then try them one set at a time to see if you can further isolate the problem. If that works try two sets at once. Are all three sets of speakers on separate speaker zone connections on your AVR or are the all hooked to one zone through common speaker terminals?

Good luck in resolving your problem looks like a nice set-up.

 

[jcPanny]

Impedance setting.

You need to use the impedance matching feature on those VCs and set them to the 4x setting (4 pairs of speakers) using the jumpers.

Right now your receiver is seeing a 2.6 ohm load with 3 pairs of speakers in parallel cause it to go into shutdown.

Read the instructions and fix the VCs before turn the receiver back on or you could perminantly damage the receiver.