Are all 7 speakers blown or is it my receiver?

codwapeace

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I have a yamaha receiver (RX-V781) which is connected to 7 speakers. Suddenly speakers started sounding "hoarse" at higher volumes. I think the problem has become worse in a couple of days. I thought may be my front speakers have gone bad. So, I tried running the center channel alone. That also sounds bad. Every speaker sounds bad in every channel combination at high volumes. Do you think all my speakers have gone bad? Or, is it my receiver that has gone bad?
I have access to an oscilloscope, but I don't have another amplifier (or receiver) or another speaker (other than the 7), to test whether the speakers are bad or the receiver.
What could cause either of the two problems?
Thanks.
 
Can you take any one speaker & connect it to the system of some else whom you know. At least you would know if the receiver or speakers are faulty.
All speakers being faulty would be a rare possibility.
 
What speakers are you using? Maybe they cannot handle the high power as you said it distorted at high volumes. Either they are getting overdriven or the amplifier is getting overdriven.
 
Can you take any one speaker & connect it to the system of some else whom you know. At least you would know if the receiver or speakers are faulty.
All speakers being faulty would be a rare possibility.
Unfortunately, no one I know has a receiver. Some have home theaters, but all of them are HTIB setup like Sony, Samsung, etc.
 
Its a long shot that all of them have gone kaput. It may be the receiver.

Does it have a headphone jack ? You may want to try the output from it to find who's the culprit and take itr from there.
 
Its a long shot that all of them have gone kaput. It may be the receiver.

Does it have a headphone jack ? You may want to try the output from it to find who's the culprit and take itr from there.
Headphone jack is working fine. Isn't the speaker amplification section separate from the headphone output?
 
Usually the output it lowered down by using resisters and routed thru a relay and fed to headphone jack.

Pre out would bypass the power stage. So may be the receiver is fine.

Was there any surge or spike during recent use of receiver ?

Many a times using loose interconnects or AUX cable creats very sharp crackles which may have taken out some components in receiver or your driver specially the tweeters.

Can you try and plug the speaker to any other amp or receiver ?
 
Usually the output it lowered down by using resisters and routed thru a relay and fed to headphone jack.

Pre out would bypass the power stage. So may be the receiver is fine.

Was there any surge or spike during recent use of receiver ?

Many a times using loose interconnects or AUX cable creats very sharp crackles which may have taken out some components in receiver or your driver specially the tweeters.

Can you try and plug the speaker to any other amp or receiver ?

Very well said. If there is a way to test the preamp outputs I would give it a shot. And the distortion you have mentioned, is it in the treble or mids or the bass. That will make it easier to make out what exactly is happening . A crackling noise in all speakers at the same time, as advised by frend2001 could be loose interconnects or loose binding posts or lose hdmi jack at the input.
 
Very well said. If there is a way to test the preamp outputs I would give it a shot. And the distortion you have mentioned, is it in the treble or mids or the bass. That will make it easier to make out what exactly is happening . A crackling noise in all speakers at the same time, as advised by frend2001 could be loose interconnects or loose binding posts or lose hdmi jack at the input.
The best way I have to describe the distortion is "hoarse" and "scratchy" once the volume is increased. ( I am not sure if it is high or low frequency.) It is not because of loose connection because I hear this scratchiness and hoarseness in all 7 speakers.
 
I have a yamaha receiver (RX-V781) which is connected to 7 speakers. Suddenly speakers started sounding "hoarse" at higher volumes. I think the problem has become worse in a couple of days. I thought may be my front speakers have gone bad. So, I tried running the center channel alone. That also sounds bad. Every speaker sounds bad in every channel combination at high volumes. Do you think all my speakers have gone bad? Or, is it my receiver that has gone bad?
I have access to an oscilloscope, but I don't have another amplifier (or receiver) or another speaker (other than the 7), to test whether the speakers are bad or the receiver.
What could cause either of the two problems?
Thanks.
Your oscilloscope can be used to check the speaker impedance to verify if the coil is fine
If the coil shows fine, you can lightly push the speaker cone to check if it moves ABSOLUTELY freely.. The slightest bit of abrasion/scratchiness should not occur.
if you want to check the speakers with an amp, even a HTIB can be used to check them ..alternatively you can order a cheap class D amp like the TPA3116 from amazon for testing the speakers.
If you can record and post this hoarse/scratchy sound here, it would be useful to figure out what's going wrong
 
Recording of the problem. It is an AAC file (less than 1 MB). I have changed the volume to show the sound quality difference at higher and lower volume. This is happening with all speakers. Surround, front, center, Atmos, everything. I don't run 7 channel stereo, so it makes me wonder if the receiver is the problem or there was some noise that destroyed all my speakers at the same time, but did not destroy my receiver.
 
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Your oscilloscope can be used to check the speaker impedance to verify if the coil is fine
If the coil shows fine, you can lightly push the speaker cone to check if it moves ABSOLUTELY freely.. The slightest bit of abrasion/scratchiness should not occur.
if you want to check the speakers with an amp, even a HTIB can be used to check them ..alternatively you can order a cheap class D amp like the TPA3116 from amazon for testing the speakers.
If you can record and post this hoarse/scratchy sound here, it would be useful to figure out what's going wrong
Please see the link in the post above. I made a recording. Thanks for your help.
 
I have a yamaha receiver (RX-V781) which is connected to 7 speakers. Suddenly speakers started sounding "hoarse" at higher volumes. I think the problem has become worse in a couple of days. I thought may be my front speakers have gone bad. So, I tried running the center channel alone. That also sounds bad. Every speaker sounds bad in every channel combination at high volumes. Do you think all my speakers have gone bad? Or, is it my receiver that has gone bad?
I have access to an oscilloscope, but I don't have another amplifier (or receiver) or another speaker (other than the 7), to test whether the speakers are bad or the receiver.
What could cause either of the two problems?
Thanks.
Did you changed the input mode from hdmi /RCA to FM or something .sometimes if RCA input ground makes such kind of problem check different inputs /different source and try. Try Bluetooth
 
Please see the link in the post above. I made a recording. Thanks for your help.
It's very hard to say with a phone recording but there is a definite shrillness/scratchiness to the sound, esp the higher frequencies (treble)
Does not sound like a amplifier problem but more of a speaker cone rub issue but I could be wrong.

Your best bet right now would be to carry one of the offending speakers to a friend with a HTIB as you mentioned and connect this to the front L/R to see if you have the same problem
 
It's very hard to say with a phone recording but there is a definite shrillness/scratchiness to the sound, esp the higher frequencies (treble)
Does not sound like a amplifier problem but more of a speaker cone rub issue but I could be wrong.

Your best bet right now would be to carry one of the offending speakers to a friend with a HTIB as you mentioned and connect this to the front L/R to see if you have the same problem

Here is an image of the oscilloscope reading of the amplifier connected to an 8 ohm resistor:
IMG_20190721_120014.jpg



In this picture the blue graph is the pre-out output (which seems to be fine) and the yellow is the speaker output (severe clipping) with an 8 ohm resistor load

IMG_20190721_121305.jpg

So, it is the amplifier in my receiver that has malfunctioned. Any solutions? This clipping happens with all inputs and even with no inputs connected and just FM radio running.
 
Usually the output it lowered down by using resisters and routed thru a relay and fed to headphone jack.

Pre out would bypass the power stage. So may be the receiver is fine.

Was there any surge or spike during recent use of receiver ?

Many a times using loose interconnects or AUX cable creats very sharp crackles which may have taken out some components in receiver or your driver specially the tweeters.

Can you try and plug the speaker to any other amp or receiver ?
Very well said. If there is a way to test the preamp outputs I would give it a shot. And the distortion you have mentioned, is it in the treble or mids or the bass. That will make it easier to make out what exactly is happening . A crackling noise in all speakers at the same time, as advised by frend2001 could be loose interconnects or loose binding posts or lose hdmi jack at the input.
Can you take any one speaker & connect it to the system of some else whom you know. At least you would know if the receiver or speakers are faulty.
All speakers being faulty would be a rare possibility.
Please see oscilloscope graph above. Any solutions?
 
Honestly speaking I am not a very technical person with graphs. But I would seek out someone whom I know having an amplifier or receiver & connect a single speaker. Taking the receiver would be more of a headache since all the connections would have to be removed & reconnected with someone else's speakers.
Other option would be to seek the help of your dealer from where you have purchased the speakers or the receiver.
 
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