Two Denon AVRs lose Zone 2

[Geno11x11]

I have two Denon AVRs that, after functioning great for years, have lost sound on zone 2. I called Denon tech support; after going through their diagnostic routine including a system reset, was told it was a "hardware problem". That seems like quite the coincidence that both AVRs would experience the same failure. My quest is to identify the problem; is it really a hardware issue and if it is, could it be a simple fix such as replacing a fuse? What else could be the cause? I do a little electronics repair although I am not an electronics tech.

Livingroom 2nd floor: Denon AVR4520ci that is used for (1) a 7.1 Surround Sound Home Theater and (2) a power amp that drives speakers throughout that floor. Originally I set the AMP ASSIGN to 9.1 using 7 channels for home theater Surround Sound and 2 unused surround channels, Front Wide, for the power amp. Problem was, volume was the same for all channels and the rest of the floor had slightly less volume than the livingroom; I wanted to add just a bit more volume to the power amp independently. So I configured the AMP ASSIGN to 7.1 + Zone2. Worked great, I added a little more volume to zone 2 so that music had the same level and tweaked the bass/treble to match the livingroom providing a consistent sound wherever you were on that floor. Problem occurred about 5 days later; no sound to the power amp. I tested the output terminals with a small pair of computer speakers and confirmed no signal.

Garage - First floor: Denon AVR 4308ci that is use for three rooms. Speakers are powered by the Denon receiver only (no power amp). On several occasions the receiver shut itself down and the red power light flashed; I powered the unit down, restarted it, and continued listening to music for weeks without issue. One day zone 2 had no sound while zone 1 and 3 work fine. Currently, zone 2 has no output. I tested this by swapping the speaker wires for zone 2 & 3 and zone 2 terminals were not functional.

All speakers are rated at 8 ohms.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[TLS Guy]

I have two Denon AVRs that, after functioning great for years, have lost sound on zone 2. I called Denon tech support; after going through their diagnostic routine including a system reset, was told it was a "hardware problem". That seems like quite the coincidence that both AVRs would experience the same failure. My quest is to identify the problem; is it really a hardware issue and if it is, could it be a simple fix such as replacing a fuse? What else could be the cause? I do a little electronics repair although I am not an electronics tech.

Livingroom 2nd floor: Denon AVR4520ci that is used for (1) a 7.1 Surround Sound Home Theater and (2) a power amp that drives speakers throughout that floor. Originally I set the AMP ASSIGN to 9.1 using 7 channels for home theater Surround Sound and 2 unused surround channels, Front Wide, for the power amp. Problem was, volume was the same for all channels and the rest of the floor had slightly less volume than the livingroom; I wanted to add just a bit more volume to the power amp independently. So I configured the AMP ASSIGN to 7.1 + Zone2. Worked great, I added a little more volume to zone 2 so that music had the same level and tweaked the bass/treble to match the livingroom providing a consistent sound wherever you were on that floor. Problem occurred about 5 days later; no sound to the power amp. I tested the output terminals with a small pair of computer speakers and confirmed no signal.

Garage - First floor: Denon AVR 4308ci that is use for three rooms. Speakers are powered by the Denon receiver only (no power amp). On several occasions the receiver shut itself down and the red power light flashed; I powered the unit down, restarted it, and continued listening to music for weeks without issue. One day zone 2 had no sound while zone 1 and 3 work fine. Currently, zone 2 has no output. I tested this by swapping the speaker wires for zone 2 & 3 and zone 2 terminals were not functional.

All speakers are rated at 8 ohms.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

On the living room system you have not given enough information to tell whether the problem is the power amp, or if the zone 2 output has failed.

In the garage situation I suspect the power amp in the receiver has failed. A receiver going into protection is always a bad omen. I would bet the amp in that channel has failed. I wonder if the problem was caused by the speaker cable. Is all the cable visible and in good condition, or is part of it in a location where mice could have chewed it and caused a short, blowing the amp?

Lastly, just because a manufacturer says a speaker is 8 ohms it does not mean it is, and they often are not. Manufacturers lie though their teeth about this frequently. Certainly you need to find the reason that unit shut down.

I highly doubt there is anything you can remedy given that a hard reset did not solve the issue.

 

[PENG]

I have two Denon AVRs that, after functioning great for years, have lost sound on zone 2. I called Denon tech support; after going through their diagnostic routine including a system reset, was told it was a "hardware problem". That seems like quite the coincidence that both AVRs would experience the same failure. My quest is to identify the problem; is it really a hardware issue and if it is, could it be a simple fix such as replacing a fuse? What else could be the cause? I do a little electronics repair although I am not an electronics tech.

Livingroom 2nd floor: Denon AVR4520ci that is used for (1) a 7.1 Surround Sound Home Theater and (2) a power amp that drives speakers throughout that floor. Originally I set the AMP ASSIGN to 9.1 using 7 channels for home theater Surround Sound and 2 unused surround channels, Front Wide, for the power amp. Problem was, volume was the same for all channels and the rest of the floor had slightly less volume than the livingroom; I wanted to add just a bit more volume to the power amp independently. So I configured the AMP ASSIGN to 7.1 + Zone2. Worked great, I added a little more volume to zone 2 so that music had the same level and tweaked the bass/treble to match the livingroom providing a consistent sound wherever you were on that floor. Problem occurred about 5 days later; no sound to the power amp. I tested the output terminals with a small pair of computer speakers and confirmed no signal.

Garage - First floor: Denon AVR 4308ci that is use for three rooms. Speakers are powered by the Denon receiver only (no power amp). On several occasions the receiver shut itself down and the red power light flashed; I powered the unit down, restarted it, and continued listening to music for weeks without issue. One day zone 2 had no sound while zone 1 and 3 work fine. Currently, zone 2 has no output. I tested this by swapping the speaker wires for zone 2 & 3 and zone 2 terminals were not functional.

All speakers are rated at 8 ohms.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

The AVR-4520CI does allow you to see the protection mode history using the following buttons:

STATUS / ZONE REC-SELECT

Protection History Procedure:
Press and hold all listed buttons while powering the unit on / Using the down arrow key scroll to "2.Protection" and press ENTER / Unit will power cycle / When power cycle is complete press the STATUS button for the Protection code (Therm = Heat issue, ASO = Speaker or Impedance issue, DC = Voltage issue) / Power cycle the unit to return to normal operation.

The AVR-4308CI is too old to have such feature. It is one of the most powerful AVR at very low distortions level, based on S&V bench test results. I found the results impressive so I saved the page, it can no longer be found as it was a long time ago so S&V must have purged it.

Unless S&V made a mistake, it seems unreal for a 43 lb 7 ch AVR to have such impressive output that beats some the 50-60 pounder Onkyo/Integra AVRs of the time!! I am sure @dlaloum agree with me that S&V might have made a mistake of some kind. I gave that AVR away years ago and as far as I know it is still in top shape, not really sure what you did to this build like a tank AVR causing it to lose any of the power amp channels so I highly suspect is is something else. @TLS Guy (who despite AVRs in general) might be onto something when he mentioned "mice" lol...

 

[highfigh]

What remote are you using? Please post a photo- it matters.

Use the OEM remote and set it to Zone 2 with an unused source and look at the volume setting- if it's too low, raise it but if it's close to maximum, use the volume control to reduce the setting to -30dB if you're using that scale- if you're using the other, set it to about 20. Then, switch to a source that you DO use and see if it works.

Regardless of whether it works or not, go into the Audio section of the menu and set the volume limit to -15dB for both zones- it will save your speakers at some point.

BTW- if you use the OEM remote- DO NOT press the numeric button that corresponds to the number 1- I did that accidentally when setting up a, AVR-3310CI and the volume went to WOT.

If this doesn't work:

Turn the AVR on, select Tuner and find a station for the main zone. Then, turn on Zone 2 and select Tuner- if it doesn't play, check the menu and find out if the amplifier assignment changed. If it has, change it back to what you want. If it hasn't check the Zone 2 line out to find out if that's working.

Just because it can help, find the IP address for each AVR, use the GUI and check the assignments- if something isn't set the way it should be, change it. The GUI has a 'Save' button and you can do this for both, separately.

DO NOT use WiFi for saving or loading the configuration!

Once you have saved the configuration, do a hard reset, then look in the menu for the IP address. If it's not connected, do that so you see a good address, then use your computer's browser to log into the AVR again so you can load the configuration.

 

[Geno11x11]

Not sure what other information is needed for diagnosing the Livingroom system 4520 - but the test involved substituting a pair of amplified computer speakers for the power amplifier using both zone 2 and zone 3 preamp. No sound.

The 4520 has never gone into protection mode; zone 2 just stopped working one day. But I went through the procedure anyway; nothing was displayed.

I have attached a photo of the remote.

If zone 2 amp is blown any thoughts on the cause and process for repair?

 

[TLS Guy]

Not sure what other information is needed for diagnosing the Livingroom system 4520 - but the test involved substituting a pair of amplified computer speakers for the power amplifier using both zone 2 and zone 3 preamp. No sound.

The 4520 has never gone into protection mode; zone 2 just stopped working one day. But I went through the procedure anyway; nothing was displayed.

I have attached a photo of the remote.

View attachment 71229If zone 2 amp is blown any thoughts on the cause and process for repair?

The first thing to do, is to do a hard reset back to the factory defaults, and then getting the firmware up to current. Make sure you use a hard wired connection and NOT Wi-Fi. Then do your set up from scratch. If that does not work there is no economic repair. That type of gear is essentially not serviceable, at least not economically.