Yamaha Sub for home theater stopped working

T

Tubesox

Audiophyte
Old Sub purchase back in 1998 is no longer getting sound. It's powered on, Lights are on, connections are tight.

Fuse? Will it power on with lights on if fuse out?

I've noticed in the last few years it cuts on and off when watching TV. I assumed it wasn't getting enough power and cut on when a movie or show was turned up or had more base. Like it needed base to kicked it on. It made a click sound when it turned on.

It's worked fine for 20 years until now.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Power light does not mean it will work, it just means it is receiving power and it THINKS it is on, so the issue would likely then be that the output stage of the amp has failed. Not surprising after 20yrs. You got your money's worth and it may be time for a new one.
 
T

Tubesox

Audiophyte
Power light does not mean it will work, it just means it is receiving power and it THINKS it is on, so the issue would likely then be that the output stage of the amp has failed. Not surprising after 20yrs. You got your money's worth and it may be time for a new one.
My receiver is a couple years older. It works fine. Although I had some buzzing noise in speakers after moving it to hook up a device to make the system Play-Fi last week. I Smacked receiver and the buzzing stopped. :)

Just want to do some trouble shooting to make sure it's the sub before I replace it.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
That's tough to say, but it does sound like the sub. If the receiver has preamp outs for the other channels, you could test with one of those (set to large). At least will eliminate the possibility of it being the receiver.

I had something similar with my older Marantz a while back, the surround channels would buzz when played through an external amp. When I switched them back to the receiver directly, they were OK. It did the same on 2 different amps so I knew it was the receiver.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Old Sub purchase back in 1998 is no longer getting sound. It's powered on, Lights are on, connections are tight.

Fuse? Will it power on with lights on if fuse out?

I've noticed in the last few years it cuts on and off when watching TV. I assumed it wasn't getting enough power and cut on when a movie or show was turned up or had more base. Like it needed base to kicked it on. It made a click sound when it turned on.

It's worked fine for 20 years until now.
So it had an auto-power type setting? That's what it sounds like when you say it needed a certain amount of signal to operate. In any case, sounds like the sub amp crapping out is the most likely culprit.....and that's a long time to be stuffed into a speaker box :)
 
T

Tubesox

Audiophyte
It’s back! It’s working! The TV was on when i got home, thought i heard some bass. Switched to Amazon and boom! Here’s to another 20 years of boom. :)

Let’s hope it holds.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
It’s back! It’s working! The TV was on when i got home, thought i heard some bass. Switched to Amazon and boom! Here’s to another 20 years of boom. :)

Let’s hope it holds.
I'd ask the guy who turned on the tv while you were out.... :)

Good luck!
 
T

Tubesox

Audiophyte
Not working cutting on again this morning. Something must have to trigger it. Maybe sound coming through for an extended period of time. My kids are home today, so They will have TV on, so I expect it to work when I return. Next time it doesn't work I'll unplug from receiver and tap the input prongs and see if I get any feedback from sub. Not sure if its the sub or the receiver.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
The amp is failing but has not completely failed yet, so it will continue to happen intermittently. Same thing happened to my sub for a few months until it went up in smoke. Fortunately I was able to get a replacement amp for it at the time since it was only 2yrs old and have had no problems in the last 5 years. (knocks on wood).
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
That would be my guess, too....have had sub amps do that before a coupla times. You got great mileage out of it, now time for a real sub!?
 
tyhjaarpa

tyhjaarpa

Audioholic Field Marshall
That sub is so old it is not surprice it is starting to fall apart. There are many budget sub that will most likely perform better than your old Yamaha sub did. If you have good budget then you might get yourself a really nice upgrade as well.

What is your room size and budget for new sub? :)
 
T

Tubesox

Audiophyte
That sub is so old it is not surprice it is starting to fall apart. There are many budget sub that will most likely perform better than your old Yamaha sub did. If you have good budget then you might get yourself a really nice upgrade as well.

What is your room size and budget for new sub? :)
Its a moderate sized living room. The Yamaha was gift. So probably around $300. I spend most of my time upstairs now in Man Cave and I have a whole new Play-Fi system up there. I connected The old system to Play-Fi recently and that's when I noticed the Sub was failing. I put a TON on money into Man Cave this year, so I don't have any interest in spending money downstairs at this time.

What would you suggest though when I do decide. I would Like more bass down there at some point.
 
T

Tubesox

Audiophyte
For 300 you could get 2 of these https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-sub-1200-12-120-watt-powered-subwoofer--300-629 or one of these https://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-sub-1500-15-150-watt-powered-subwoofer--300-634 there is some other budget subs that are worth to take a look but I cant remember the models, perhaps some one else can point them out.
Thank you, one of those would be perfect. Since I have no issues with the other speakers I guess it is safe to say there's not a chance the receiver is the problem.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Thank you, one of those would be perfect. Since I have no issues with the other speakers I guess it is safe to say there's not a chance the receiver is the problem.
Can you take the sub up to your mancave and test it there?
 
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