IcieOwner
New Member
Hello everyone,
I should preface this by saying that I am new here (really, new to home audio tech in general, being more of a musician). I'm hoping that this is the right forum to post in. It seems that it should be as the receiver is Pioneer and the question is about diagnosing; I did not see a specific sub-forum for diagnosis threads.
This afternoon, a store in our town was having their last day open before closing. I needed to find a receiver to power a pair of Klipsch KG4 speakers that I've had for a while. I believe that the old receiver had gone bad, but had no way to test whether or not the speakers or the receiver was the faulty part. I ended up buying the receiver that the store used to play radio stations through their in-ceiling speaker system. It is a Pioneer SX-434. It sounded fine there, clear and no static really. I knew that the display had gone out, but other than that there seemed to be no issues.
Upon bringing it home, I plugged it into a grounded power strip (same issues happen if plugged straight into an outlet) and connected it up to the speakers. Volume turned to zero, speakers connected to pair A's outputs with 16-gauge speaker wire. I turned it on, and there was a loud pop, and the woofers in *only* the left speaker moved a fair amount. Nothing in the right speaker. They emitted a loud hum, pretty low, like an air compressor's frequency I think. The radio signal was really weak, though I tested multiple channels that usually have no issue coming in at my location. I checked all the connections on both ends to make sure that something wasn't hooked up incorrectly or that something had come undone. Nothing happened. So I disconnected the left speaker, and turned on the system again with everything off and only the right speaker connected. Nothing happened. Turns out, no sound is going to the right speaker, even though to my knowledge it worked fine in the store (connected in stereo to wires going into the wall). No pops either. Both only happen in the left channel.
I disconnected the other speaker and plugged in headphones to the "Phones" jack on the front panel. The left side pops when the receiver is turned on. If I turn it off and on a few times, it pops only every three times or so. It's quite loud. The loud hum is also in the headphones, and it seems that the right channel is a little weaker than the left, but definitely outputting (but not making it to the connected speaker when connected). The hum is constant regardless of volume, even on the AUX and Phono channels (which have nothing connected). Nothing is connected to the receiver except for the headphones (or the speakers earlier). Hum ignores all controls.
Everything worked a few hours ago running the store's sound system.
From what I read around the web, it might need some sort of capacitor replacing (for popping I think). But I had no luck finding any information on a situation too similar to this. I have never repaired a receiver or a speaker and have minimal experience with electronics repair otherwise, so I apologize for amateur questions and any mis-used terminology. I believe I have represented what is going on accurately. I can provide more info if there are specifics that are needed.
Condensed issues:
a. Loud pop occurs every three times of power cycling it, always on first time after being left off, only in left channel.
b. Loud, deep/low hum (in both sides when using headphones) that is not affected by volume, eq, panning/balance, or channel (aux with nothing connected, etc).
c. Both occur with speakers, or headphones.
d. Right channel not sending to speaker, but works ok (a little softer but ok) in headphones.
e. Everything seemed to work when hooked up and running the store's ceiling installation, which it has run for a long time. It sounded and worked great.
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas that they would be willing to help with?
Thank you,
-Max
I should preface this by saying that I am new here (really, new to home audio tech in general, being more of a musician). I'm hoping that this is the right forum to post in. It seems that it should be as the receiver is Pioneer and the question is about diagnosing; I did not see a specific sub-forum for diagnosis threads.
This afternoon, a store in our town was having their last day open before closing. I needed to find a receiver to power a pair of Klipsch KG4 speakers that I've had for a while. I believe that the old receiver had gone bad, but had no way to test whether or not the speakers or the receiver was the faulty part. I ended up buying the receiver that the store used to play radio stations through their in-ceiling speaker system. It is a Pioneer SX-434. It sounded fine there, clear and no static really. I knew that the display had gone out, but other than that there seemed to be no issues.
Upon bringing it home, I plugged it into a grounded power strip (same issues happen if plugged straight into an outlet) and connected it up to the speakers. Volume turned to zero, speakers connected to pair A's outputs with 16-gauge speaker wire. I turned it on, and there was a loud pop, and the woofers in *only* the left speaker moved a fair amount. Nothing in the right speaker. They emitted a loud hum, pretty low, like an air compressor's frequency I think. The radio signal was really weak, though I tested multiple channels that usually have no issue coming in at my location. I checked all the connections on both ends to make sure that something wasn't hooked up incorrectly or that something had come undone. Nothing happened. So I disconnected the left speaker, and turned on the system again with everything off and only the right speaker connected. Nothing happened. Turns out, no sound is going to the right speaker, even though to my knowledge it worked fine in the store (connected in stereo to wires going into the wall). No pops either. Both only happen in the left channel.
I disconnected the other speaker and plugged in headphones to the "Phones" jack on the front panel. The left side pops when the receiver is turned on. If I turn it off and on a few times, it pops only every three times or so. It's quite loud. The loud hum is also in the headphones, and it seems that the right channel is a little weaker than the left, but definitely outputting (but not making it to the connected speaker when connected). The hum is constant regardless of volume, even on the AUX and Phono channels (which have nothing connected). Nothing is connected to the receiver except for the headphones (or the speakers earlier). Hum ignores all controls.
Everything worked a few hours ago running the store's sound system.
From what I read around the web, it might need some sort of capacitor replacing (for popping I think). But I had no luck finding any information on a situation too similar to this. I have never repaired a receiver or a speaker and have minimal experience with electronics repair otherwise, so I apologize for amateur questions and any mis-used terminology. I believe I have represented what is going on accurately. I can provide more info if there are specifics that are needed.
Condensed issues:
a. Loud pop occurs every three times of power cycling it, always on first time after being left off, only in left channel.
b. Loud, deep/low hum (in both sides when using headphones) that is not affected by volume, eq, panning/balance, or channel (aux with nothing connected, etc).
c. Both occur with speakers, or headphones.
d. Right channel not sending to speaker, but works ok (a little softer but ok) in headphones.
e. Everything seemed to work when hooked up and running the store's ceiling installation, which it has run for a long time. It sounded and worked great.
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas that they would be willing to help with?
Thank you,
-Max
