Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Onkyo Receiver making a click noise randomly

i would have the concern that if it only makes the noise when you push the receiver to be loud. to me that would bring the worry that it's something to do with the power supply and or clipping on the amplifier section. As you have pointed out, this is not a higher end receiver so it can be that the specs on the amount of watts it can handle may be optimistically overstated.

I kind of doubt it’s a setting thing … but if you find it is I like to know about it.

Accessories4less.com has ok prices on refurbs. Out of 3 unit I bought 2 were perfect. The third AV8805 took a phone call,to Marantz tech services (to verify that I wasn’t missing something .. ie user error). Acc4less replaced it paying for return shipping. The 2nd unit worked flawlessly.

Not sure what your willing to spend … A 75watt 5.1 denon $350. A 75w 7.1 $450.
I bought a SR5014 a 7.1 (least expensive unit I could find with pre-outs in sept 2020). Currently it’s $750. It’s replacement 5015 is $800.

I bought the last great Onk for 700 Canadian beaver tails from Agent Orange at Visions in 2012 complete with XT32 and almost as much power as the ADA-1000-2. So nya nya nya nya nya!

Unlike the 1000-2, my Onk is full of technology described in dozens of patents including advanced vibration dampening as described in the patent below. These patents make it sound similarly good to any Bryston gear and this is a fact even though I've never heard Bryston (hee hee flame on). To vex off evil spirits, after my Totem Dreamcatchers ignited from the full onslaught of my ADA-1500-3, I removed the factory-installed purple dots above the tweeters acting as talismen and glued them on my Onk. Vince Bruzzece would be proud! His dinky, charred woofers are now entertaining the squirrels in my backyard:

https://patents.google.com/patent/US7773373

Of note is the following excerpt:

"The function of the vibration-damping structure of the AV amplifier will now be described. With a configuration as described above, when the power of the AV amplifier is turned ON, a voltage is applied to the main transformer 52 and the sub-transformers 53 and a current flows therethrough. As a current flows through the main transformer 52 and the sub-transformers 53, these components vibrate slightly. Moreover, the exhaust fans 54 are rotated by a driving circuit (not shown) to also vibrate slightly. As the main transformer 52, the sub-transformers 53 and the exhaust fans 54 vibrate slightly, these vibrations are transmitted to the component accommodating chassis 45 on which these components are mounted.
Since the component accommodating chassis 45 is fastened to the sub-chassis 25 so as to be partially in contact with the sub-chassis 25 via a plurality of fastening members, the vibrations of the component accommodating chassis 45 are attenuated while being transmitted to the sub-chassis 25. Similarly, since the sub-chassis 25 is fastened to the main chassis 11 so as to be partially in contact with the main chassis 11 via a plurality of fastening members, the vibrations of the sub-chassis 25 are further attenuated while being transmitted to the main chassis 11."

There's more interesting reading below the above excerpt that describes the nasty effects of these vibrations on the audio signal.

Norimasa Kitagawa and the rest of his Onk crew wouldn't make this up. These guys do nothing, I mean absolutely nothing in their lives but eat and breathe this stuff all day and all night.

P.S. I remember reading that Onkyo had a heck of a time with vibration modelling. They'd introduce stiffening in one area only to discover that reflections from the stiffener resulted in more complex vibrations that created more problems. This is one reason a well-designed EI transformer is preferred over a toroidal transformer for power supplies. The EI transformer is less likely to vibrate particularly with a DC component on the powerline.

P.P.S. Agent Orange is the nickname I gave the sales guy because he had Orange hair and spittled as he scuttled his stammerings.

So I played music at 69.5 volume with the speakers set at 6+ohms for about 20 min and the receiver clicked 4 times in that period. I set speakers to 4ohms listened at same volume for 25 min and no clicks so far. No difference in sound quality either between the two.

I think the clicking is changing the ohms setting while playing to power the m5s maybe. When I changed the ohms setting the receiver clicked the same way.

I did order a replacement unit to see if another unit acts in the same manner.

https://www.axiomaudio.com/pub/media/catalog/product/m/5/m5hp-impedance.png

Someone mentioned this in the other thread I started about the ohms falling below 6 at some frequencies but they rate it as 8. Wonder if this is what is causing it.

Yup. That was me.

When you set to 4 Ohms, it is easier on the receiver. While your volume control is set to the same amount, the sound pressure coming out of the speakers is not the same. The difference may be imperceptible to you though. So just leave it at 4 Ohms and enjoy until you check out the replacement unit.

Hey, I got another idea. Leave it at 6 and turn it up loud enough so you don't hear the relay clicking. If it ignites, you'll have another to play with.

BTW, if you had bought the M2, you wouldn't have this problem. And I bet in that small room of yours, the bass would have been plenty. And with a sub in your future, you'd have pristine sound. You can always get the M2s for the missus though. And then you two can swap speakers every once in a while to keep things interesting, you know?

Switching the speaker impedance automatically while the music was playing would not be my first design choice. Your changing the voltage rails on the fly … trading voltage for current. I guess if the caps are big enough the transition would be smooth. If they are doing that (auto detecting it) and your speaker demands high current at some frequencies and needs a higher voltage at others (to avoid clipping) … then you’d get into this situation when you play this speaker louder than the receiver can cleanly produce … best guess

Personally I’d put a hard impedance switch on the back myself. it’s simple.

Actually, it's a very smart move by Onkyo and for all I know, it may now be required for CUL and CE certification. Someone using a 4 Ohm speaker with the switch set to 6 Ohms could ignite the receiver. The relay acts as protection while still keeping the system running.

I'd just leave the Onkyo on the 6 to 8 Ohm setting. TL;DR: the 4 Ohm switch is to pass UL/CSA certification and prove that an AVR won't catch on fire.

https://www.audioholics.com/audio-amplifier/impedance-selector-switch-1

I disagree on his other untenable stances (center channel comb filtering is a problem, 80 Hz as the ideal crossover frequency, etc.), but in this case I tend to agree with his assessment. And you'd be surprised at the number of audiophile components that don't have that those certifications.

You'd be surprised at the number of audio companies that self-certify with no back-up.