I need some help with my receiver or buying a new one. im a complete audio idiot

[takingchase]

Alright, about a year ago I was on the lookout for my first HTIB. I didn't have much money so I resorted to Ebay. What I ended up buying was an onkyo LSV955, when the product arrived the reciever was completely busted. I received my money back and got to keep the faulty equipment. Out of curiosity I hooked up the speakers to a crappy receiver to see if they worked and from what I could tell the speakers were still good. So I ended up shelling out for a cheap receiver refurbished from onkyo. It was just the basic 5.1 receiver. When I hook these speakers up to the receiver anytime I turn it up to a decent level it like overloads or something and shuts off. I don't know why the receiver can't handle the speakers for some reason, or maybe the speakers are just bad. Since I don't really know anything about audio I couldn't tell what the problem is. My question is there another receiver you guys would reccomend me to use with these speakers? Or should I just get a whole new set of speakers and a new receiver. I don't have all the cash in the world so I would really love to avoide that option.



Here is a link to the speakers I'm using:

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m...ass=Systems&p=i

and here is a link to the receiver I'm using

http://www.onkyousa.com/model.cfm?m...ss=Receiver&p=i

 

[charper1]

Do you have the polarity correct? Are the speakers clipping?

 

[takingchase]

Do you have the polarity correct? Are the speakers clipping?

I'm sorry but I'm not quite sure what your asking me. I know very little about home audio, I just only recently got into it.

 

[navychop]

Look here.

 

[takingchase]

Look here.

I was seriously considering those, any reccomendations for a decently cheap receiver to go with it?

 

[navychop]

I'll defer to charper1 on that one.

 

[raoul5788]

If the receiver is shutting down you likely have a short somewhere and the protection circuitry is kicking in. Can you try another set of speakers to determine if they are the cause?

 

[Stacy A]

Looking at the receiver specifications it looks like the ohm output is selectable. Is it possible that he has the wrong ohm output selected for the 8 ohm speakers?

 

[takingchase]

Looking at the receiver specifications it looks like the ohm output is selectable. Is it possible that he has the wrong ohm output selected for the 8 ohm speakers?

I tried going through the configuration on my receiver but couldn't find anything to set how many ohm's. Please bear with me, I'm a complete idiot on audio, video has always been more my thing. And unfortunetly I do not have any other speakers I could test it with.

 

[Stacy A]

Do you have the manual for the receiver?

 

[takingchase]

Do you have the manual for the receiver?

I read the entire manual on my lunch break today. I saw absolutely nothing about changing ohm's

 

[shaak1943]

The Ohm switch is most likely to be a physical switch located on the back of the receiver near to where the speakers terminate. Also the original problem you described might be caused by feeding too much power to those speakers. Look at the back of the speakers to see the wattage rating. If you exceed that you could cause your receiver to shut down because you are overdriving the speakers causing the voicecoil wiring in the speaker to heat-up and expand and possibly short out the speaker.

 

[shaak1943]

You could also try turning the bass level down on the receiver. Smaller speakers have a harder time with high bass levels. I have also noticed that box systems skimp on the speaker quality. You want to get the highest quality speaker you can afford because the speaker is the least efficient component you will have in your system. A cheap (low quality) speaker on an expensive receiver will most likely sound OK. An expensive (quality) speaker on a cheap receiver will most likely sound great. In both cases I said most likely because people hear differently - sound is subjective to the individual.

 

[shaak1943]

I followed the links that you provided and I noticed that under the spec's that the nominal and max power ratings for the speakers was not given. This makes me think that those speakers were specificaly designed to work with the receiver from that HTIB unit. That's not to say that they will not work on another receiver but that the amount of power or wattage that you pump into them will be a factor; those speakers will not like getting fed wattage above what they were rated for.

 

[Inno]

Sometimes they will have really odd impedance speakers with HTIB setups which don't work well with other components. To what level do you turn the volume before it cuts out?
Looks like the power output of the original system is around 40 watts per channel which would mean then that those speakers are probably rated similarly.

 

[takingchase]

Once the volume hits 40 the reciever pretty much goes out. But at the lower volume any big noise will shut it off too. It kind of sucks, volume 39 is just loud enough to hear any dvd playing decently. I wish it could go higher, luckily my 360 plays at a much louder volume for some reason and I can get a good nice high volume for that at 25-29 and not have to worry about the receiver going crazy.

I also noticed that it acts up a lot more and even at lower volumes when I'm playing the sound through coax or opt cables.


I really would like to avoid the big time money drop but i think I'm going to order the newest onkyo receiver coming out for $400 and drop $200 on those Yambeka speakers.


EDIT: Turns out I was wrong about the price on that onkyo receiver, it's actually going to be $500 which pops it up above my budget. Is there any real problem with going with the older model the TX-SR604? They seem pretty much the same except the newer one has HDMI 1.3, I don't have a blu-ray or hd-dvd player other than my PS3 and xbox 360 so I don't really have all that much need for 1.3 Furthermore I don't suppose anyone knows any good deals on the TX-SR604 do they? I have to imagine with the new line coming out I might be able to score this receiver and a decent price.

 

[JAG72]

I just bought the Onkyo TX-SR604 and love it. I purchased mine from Crutchfield for $369.00 with free shipping.

 

[takingchase]

I see best buy has this pioneer receiver on sale this week too, it's only $300. How would this compare to the onkyo one I was considering?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...4&type=product&id=1171057791987&ref=10&loc=01

by the way I really appreciate all the help guys, I know I'm asking far too many questions but I'm completely new to the audio side of the spectrum.

 

[Inno]

I'd try the speakers first if it were me..........then at least you'd have some decent speakers.............It could be that the speakers are being driven to their physical limits and somehow shorting out. How does it sound before it cuts out? Any distortion?

 

[takingchase]

I'd try the speakers first if it were me..........then at least you'd have some decent speakers.............It could be that the speakers are being driven to their physical limits and somehow shorting out. How does it sound before it cuts out? Any distortion?

no distortion at all. I plan on buying both new speakers and a new receiver. My receiver is bottom of the line, even if there isn't anything wrong with it I think its time to upgrade. I'm definitely buying some yambekas but as far as the receiver goes I can't decide between the onkyo or this new pioneer on sale at best buy.