Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Is this problem with my receiver or speakers?

Recently I've noticed that when I have the volume on my 7 year old Yamaha receiver set fairly low, one of my M60's won't produce any sound. Then, when I turn the volume up a little, the speaker suddenly kicks in. Does this sound as though the issue may be with my speaker or with my fairly old receiver? I do plan on replacing the receiver this fall with either a Sherwood Newcastle, Pioneer or Yamaha receiver that has HDMI 1.3 and does all the new high-def audio. This issue doesn't affect normal performance. It only ever occurs when I'm getting things ready to go and have the volume low before the movie starts or the X-Box 360 game has loaded. Is this even an issue?

Bayne,

I had an older Sanyo receiver that did a similar thing...It appeared to be dirt in the volume control...The process below is provided that the unit you have is using a potentiometer (POT) to vary the volume.

What I did to eliminate the issue was to open the case and spray the volume knob control pot on the inside of the case with Electronic Contact Cleaner [found at electronic component retailers] (without power connected and without it on) and then rotated the knob from one extreme to the other a couple of times...
I also cleaned the "balance" knob (yeah...it was that old) in the same manner.

[Disclaimer: Try to use a tube to direct the spray only into the pot for the volume...Try not to overspray any other components...if you do, let the solution totally dry before attempting to power it up again...it usually is a very fast drying solvent, but it is better to be overly safe than sorry...]

After letting it dry for at least an hour and then power it up and try it again...

Made a difference with my unit...you may not be able to perform this process on yours.

Another idea: Unplug the unit and rotate the volume control from one extreme to the other a number of times (no contact cleaner this time]...it may be just dust buildup...

Just my .02.

Good Luck,

WhatFurrer

Have you tried switching speakers to see if the problem stays with the speaker?

I've had several units do this over the years. I would blame the reciever.

Totally the receiver.

Bayne, that problem almost certainly involves the receiver rather than the speakers, and as Steve pointed out, the likely cause is a dirty volume control potentiometer. One thing to try, as he also mentioned, before a more substantial cleaning is to run the volume control up and down repeatedly(at least twenty times)with the power off to see if this helps enough without going further.

Another vote for receiver.

One simple way to be sure -- just swap the speaker wires on the back of the receiver (being careful not to short anything). If the problem moves to the other speaker, it's the receiver -- if the problem stays put, it's the speaker or the wires (both unlikely).

>>Have you tried switching speakers to see if the problem stays with the speaker?

EDIT - I see Mojo already suggested some time earlier. I... um... only typed it in again in case you didn't see his post, yeah, that's it.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I switched the speaker wire around--why didn't I think of that?--but haven't had the problem appear yet this evening. So far it's very minor and goes away as soon as the volume is increased, so I'm not really worried. More curious as to what the cause may be. I'll let you know what happens next.

Gee, I'd hate it to be the receiver and have the problem escalate before the new HDMI 1.3 receivers come on the market this fall.

I have an old Fisher receiver (1979 era) that had this happen. I did as mentioned earlier and it has worked perfect since.

I have the exact same issue with an older Yamaha integrated amp (that's been relegated to a secondary system). If I just turn it up to about 10:00 then I can turn it back down and hear both channels just fine.