Hi all! I'm a new member of the Axiom club, just got M60's, VP150, M2's for the rear, and my existing sub. The good news is that they sound great, the bad news is my receiver keeps shutting down, with a "check speaker wire". I had some old very crappy wire on them initially and had only played them at reasonably low levels, just to make sure everything was working on initial setup. Turned them up a bit, and got "Check speaker wire". Ok, you’re right, it IS crappy wire. Was definitely planning to put good wire in with the new system for sure anyway and had just had delivery of 14 gauge wire from Monoprice.

Built the new wires, complete with banana plugs on all ends, so I shouldn't have anything shorting out. Same problem! So is it really one of the wires or is the receiver too underpowered? (It has to push the 6 ohm VP150.) However, unplugged the vp150... same problem...

This is a older receiver, Yamaha RX-V630 6 channel, 75 watt per channel. Seems to play just fine at -30 db, but when you get to -25 or -20, she shuts down. (Playing in 6 channel stereo mode, playing Heart's Straight On For You, if that matters. Never had any problems with my old speakers, 33 year old BIC Venturi formula 4s... you heard me, 33 years old, and have been in continuous use playing as my TV speakers and for music for all that time! The BIC's are definitely more efficient than the Axioms, so I probably never had them turned up this far...

So what do you guys suspect? Is it really a speaker wire problem? Or can the receiver just not hack it? If you think its speaker wire, how do you diagnose it? Can you just attach one wire at a time, turn it up, and if it doesn't shut down, go on and add another one? Or do you just check one at a time, turn it up, go on to the next one?

HELP!!

I wonna rock! Not shut down!

Thanks!

Steve

I'm guessing that your diagnosis method would work. You should also try it with no speakers hooked up.

Also, if it shuts down with 4 out of the 5 speakers connected, try disconnecting each in turn (and reconnecting it when you move to the next). It's rare, but there have been cases of defective drivers in one speaker which look like a short to the receiver.

Try just running the m2's as fronts with the speaker wire and see if you get any problems. If no problems, switch to m60's as fronts (using same wires) and see if you get a problem.

Also, you list m2's as "rear" speakers but if you are running a 5.1 system the surround speakers are actually "side" surrounds and should be placed to the side or slightly behind the listening postion.

Edit: just realized you were only getting the error in 6 channel stereo mode. My guess is that the receiver is being over driven as it is trying to play to all speakers at the same time. if you stick with 2 channel stereo and 5.1 surround for movies do you get the same error?

5 channel stereo mode is pretty taxing to the receiver at loud volumes, at least it makes my denon much hotter than 5.1 movies or 2 channel stereo does.

Steve, welcome. The source of the problem is unlikely to be either the speaker wire or the receiver. Yes, try adding one speaker at a time to see when it shuts down. This isn't looking for a bad wire, but a bad speaker with an internal short which is causing the shutdown. The "check speaker wire" warning could just as well be "check for any short", since the receiver would react to a short in one of the speakers in the same way that it would to a short in the external connecting wires.

I figured if it was a bad speaker that it would provide the error in any listening mode (when listening in 5.1 if it was center or surrounds) or in stereo mode if it was one of the fronts.

I find it odd that it only happens when in "multichannel stereo" mode.

Either way, I think the idea of swapping speakers or adding one at a time is the best idea to try and determine if it is a speaker.

I believe the problem to be the fact you are running the receiver in "all channel mode" and it is not up to the task of driving the new system with all channels driven. Did you have all channels driven when hooked up to your old speakers? I also highly doubt the old BIC's are more efficient than the M60's. I would say they are more than likely on par and you are not used to the greater detail the M60s produce over the more bass oriented sound the BIC's have with those large drivers.

Binger -

Time to add an A1400.....

Nice set of speakers - congrats.

I would also have to suggest Johnk's troubleshooting to determine if it is a faulty speaker that is causing the shutdown issues. I highly doubt it is the multichannel listening unless you are running the M60's and VP150 full range (large) where 4 and 5 ohm impedance dips could be causing problems with that particular receiver. This is doubtful. If you can isolate each pair of speakers for any shutdown issues also check to determine if sound is coming out of each driver and fully functional.

There have been cases in the past of a faulty woofer or other defects in the speaker that have caused receivers to shut down after a certain point.

Or, if a friend has a receiver that you can swap out with to test...

Binger,

On the face of it, it certainly sounds like a tiny short, either with a stray strand of wire between the terminals of perhaps a short (rare) in one of the speakers themselves.

By the way, the 6-ohm VP150 is an easy load for any AV receiver. Does your Yamaha have an impedance switch or setting on the rear panel? It should be at the highest setting--8 ohms. If it's at a lower setting, that will impose a current/voltage restriction on the power supply, dramatically reducing the output power and could be causing the shut-down.

As some have noted, individual swapping out of the speakers and cables might reveal the source of the short.

But check the impedance switch first, if there is one.

Regards,
Alan

Or give me your M60s and I'll test them. Could take a while thought...