I have encountered an issue with the output of the center speaker on my Marantz SR4400 receiver. I am using Digital 1 in (optical) with DD5.1. I have been using the receiver for around 2 years without a problem.
While surround is output perfectly on the Front left & right and the Side left and Right, next to nothing can be heard from the center. This is very noticeable when watching DVD's since the speech is output via the center speaker. If i hold my ear up close to the center, I can just make out the movie dialog.
I encounter the same issue when using my PS3 or DVD player hooked up to the receiver, so I think the problem is with the receiver.
Things I have tried:
1) Swapping the center speaker with a different one. Since i can hear perfect sound via the Front left and right, I swapped the front left speaker with the center speaker. Perfect sound from the front left but still minimal sound from the center speaker - so I am happy from this test that the speaker itself is not faulty.
2) Swapping the wire used by the center speaker. For this I unhooked the Front left speaker wire and swapped it with the center speaker. Again perfect sound from the front left but minimal from the center. This means the wire is not at fault and the center speaker connection checked.
3) Reset the SR4400 back to default settings by holding [CLEAR] and [MEMORY] buttons. After this, I reconfigured the input, etc - exact same problem. I suspect this should prove it isnt a setting issue (unless there is another way to reset to factor defaults).
4) Used the Test Mode (in the setup menu) which plays a sound through each speaker separately- all speakers emit the sound, except the center speaker.
I am suspecting after all the above tests this is an issue with the receiver itself as opposed to any sort of setting - but if anyone has some suggestions or ideas, they would be appreciated. There is no physical reason the receiver should start playing up, so i'm puzzled as to what has possibly happened.
Andrew, your troubleshooting logic is sound. The receiver is at fault, it seems, if it were in protect, I would think that the channel would be fully dead. I had a power amp a few years ago that did the same thing. I opened it and found a Jack Russel hair kind of welded across 2 legs of an output transister. Cleaned it up, good to go.
You may not have the now classic 'Jack Russel Effect' going on, but hey, it's early here.
If you feel confident in opening the thing and cleaning a bit, you might be fine for free. A can of compressed air for 'puter cleaning would be fine. If you are feeling frisky, a few other simple spots could be looked at while you are there. If adventure ain't your game, take it to a shop for a cleaning and a diagnosis(if necessary after cleaning).
Andrew, I have to disagree with either Nuck or this statement..
"1) Swapping the center speaker with a different one. Since i can hear perfect sound via the Front left and right, I swapped the front left speaker with the center speaker. Perfect sound from the front left but still minimal sound from the center speaker - so I am happy from this test that the speaker itself is not faulty."
Why would you be happy that your speaker itself is not faulty?
The center speaker failed to perform while connected to the center channel output of your amp and it failed to perform while connected to the left front wire pair from your amp coincident with your front left speaker working fine while connected to both.
Do you have small children in the house?
A leaky roof?
Have you had a frat or bachelor party recently?
Have you touched your wiring at any time before this happened?
If the speaker grill is removable go ahead snd pull it off and look at your speakers. See any damage?
Of course if you mis-stated what I quoted from you above all bets are off and you are back in Nuck's hands.
Why would you be happy that your speaker itself is not faulty?
The center speaker failed to perform while connected to the center channel output of your amp and it failed to perform while connected to the left front wire pair from your amp coincident with your front left speaker working fine while connected to both.
I think you have misunderstood that - That test proved the actual speaker was fine. The speaker that was being used in the center was moved to the front left and the front left speaker moved into the center. I then retested. The exact same results were achieved with perfect sound coming from the front left (now using the 'old' center speaker) and minimal sound from the center (now using the 'old' front left speaker which I knew worked).
Do you have small children in the house? A leaky roof? Have you had a frat or bachelor party recently? Have you touched your wiring at any time before this happened?
No on all accounts.
Im going to have a look for the warranty information at home tonight. I cannot remember if I got an extended 5 year warranty with it or not. Hopefully I did! If not, I will try some compressed air and see how that goes.
I managed to uncover the warranty information the other night. I made a smart move of getting an extra 3 years on the warranty, and it is covered until this november! *phew*!
I havent had a chance to call the warranty folks yet. But plan to do it over the next few days. I am on holidays next week, so can hopefully get it all sorted out then.
I will keep you posted on the progress - Hopefully when they fix it, they can provide some information on what the issue is. I am interested to know.
It would be third party. I'm pretty sure its a 12 month warranty from the manufacturer, and then I paid to extend it for another 2 years with the place of purchase.
Round #1 -------- I called the service center about claiming on the extended warranty on Tuesday. All good I'm told, they found a place to repair it, will fax through the details to the shop and the shop will call me within 48 hours to arrange repairs. Anyway, 48 hours passes and no phone call. So I decided to stop waiting and give the shop a call and see if I can bring the receiver in. I had a chat with the receptionist to find that while she did receive the fax, they are actually a Sony repair center and they could not deal with my Marantz receiver. She called the service center back and told them this... Sadly no one had thought to get back with an update to me or to arrange another shop for the repairs.
Round #2 -------- After thanking the receptionist for her time, I made a second phone call to the service center. The person I spoke to did some searching and found what looks to be about the only shop in Victoria that services Marantz gear. Anyway, she says she will fax the details to the shop, gave me a name and number to call the following morning and it was all good to go. Excellent.
Round #3 -------- I wake up Friday morning and phone the shop to make sure all is cool and I can bring in the receiver for repairs ..... only instead of being connected to the store I get a voice on the phone "Im sorry, we could not connect your call. The number you are dialing is not available...". Ahh crap.
Round #4 -------- I jumped onto Yellow Pages online and looked up the store to get the right phone number (which ended up being nothing like the number I was given). A make a call to them only to be told the person I need to speak with is busy and will call me back in 15... 45 minutes later no call back and he is still busy to get a hold of. I was heading out the way anyhow, so packed up the receiver and dvd player (which is also faulty and was part of the package I originally purchased). To the store I drove. I arrive and have a chat with the bloke who was supposed to call me back (turns out he was actually very busy and having one of those crappy mornings, and not just being lazy and not returning calls). He had not received a fax. The service center had not faxed the details. (Can I scream yet?).
Round #5 -------- Victory! Having a chat with the bloke at the Marantz repairer, turns out my receiver and DVD player are actually covered by a 3 year warranty anyway! So to hell with the extended warranty service center for now .. they are now in the hands of the repairer who will be in contact when it's done. Only downer is they are overflowing with work and it wont be done for a few weeks .. but at least things are moving forward. Finally.
I have an extended warranty on a laptop through the same place ... i hope I never have to use it after this exercise!
The laser on the DVD player only has a 12 month warranty though (while the rest of the unit is 3 years), so if it turns out that it is faulty, then the saga will continue ;)
The guys ran some tests on the receiver while I was there and confirmed there is something wrong - hopefully they can go into specifics with me once they can open it up and diagnose it fully.