RF-83s not playing nice with my Pioneer vsx919ah-k

[wboffthelake]

I recently bought my first 5.1 Klipsch setup but I'm having a problem - my receiver shuts off and the phase control light blinks whenever I turn the volume up to somewhere between -14dB and -12dB, which is really only a moderate to moderately loud volume, it's at the point where the bass just starts to "kick". I looked up this error in the manual and it says to check to make sure no individual strands from the speaker wires are crossed, or else there could be a "serious problem" with the receiver. No wires are crossed anywhere. When used with my previous speakers, Polk Monitor 70s (only 90dB efficient), I never had this problem, and I had turned them up as high as 1 or 2 dB above reference level, which was very loud even with only 90dB efficiency. Any idea on what might be wrong, or is it that my receiver cannot power the RF-83s. I would be surprised if this were the case as the Klipsch are so much more efficient than the Polks, and the Polks had 4 woofers each.

Thanks.

[wuzzzer]

Did you double check the bi-wire jumpers on your RF-83s and the speaker wires connected to them?

[CECAA850]

Start by disconnecting the speaker wires one at a time and turning the volume up until the problem occurs. When you disconnect the problematic channel you can start the process of diagnosing your issue. It will be either a wiring issue at the receiver, wiring issue at the speaker, the wire itself or a problem in the speaker. I had a similar issue one time that ended up being 2 wires touching intermittantly at the spider of the speaker when the cone travel was close to max.

[Zen Traveler]

Yep..This seems like you have wires touching somewhere and your RF-83s shouldn't be shutting down your AVR. Which AVR do you have and did you run the EQ program? If so you more than likely have a negative trim level and -14 to -12 should be the sweet spot on the main volume unless it's a bottom-of-the- line unit.

EDITED

[Dennie]

Yep..This seems like you have wires touching somewhere and your RF-83s shouldn't be shutting down your AVR. Which AVR do you have and did you run the EQ program? If so you more than likely have a negative trim level and -14 to -12 should be the sweet spot on the main volume unless it's a bottom-of-the- line unit.

EDITED

This is a $400 unit. A friend of mine has a similar one, I can't remember the model number. He was having the same problem as the volume went up. I loaned him an 2 channel amp for the main speakers and the problem went away.

Do you have all speakers set to small? It will help the amp section by sending all low(er) frequencies to the sub,

Dennie

[wboffthelake]

Thanks for everyone's responses. It has taken me awhile to get back since, right after I posted this, my hot water heater started having problems, just as we got our first nighttime temperature down in the upper 30s.

I never ran the Audyssey program.

I checked the biwire jumpers and they are fine.

I disconnected each channel individually, but the amp still cut out each time, with phase control blinking, at the same volume.

I removed and restripped all of the speaker wires, but no change.

Then I tried "bi amp"ing them using the receiver "bi amp" setting, and the additional speaker wires, thinking maybe more channels feeding the speaker would help, but there was no change (actually the receiver seemed to cut out a little earlier when set up this way).

I un-bi-amped them and tried setting the speakers to small, 80 Hz crossover, and was able to go up to -7db. As soon as I went to -6db the amp cut out, again with the phase control light blinking. Somebody once said at 10ft the RF-83s could double as a hair dryer, and they were right, so maxing out at -7db normally would suffice but, for some reason, both these speakers and my M70s sound poor when set to small. Steve Guttenberg, in his Oct. 2007 review of the RF-83 system, noted something similar and said, when set to large, the speakers sounded "more together". For me, my amp, and my room, when listening with the system set to small, it's not a matter of sounding "more together", it is a matter of simply sounding poor. Even the high end detail is impaired. Switch to large and the speakers come to life with fullness and detail.

The manual said to try the "digital safety feature" in some hidden menu. When I did, it did correct the problem of the receiver shutting off, but it harmed the audio quality in a weird way...it seemed to attenuate any "peaks" in the sound so when you would expect something to slam or hit hard, it was almost like the volume of that particular sound or instrument was digitally lowered. It was strange to listen to. I googled pioneer digital safety feature but could not come up with any explanation as to what it does exactly.

[willland]

I recently bought my first 5.1 Klipsch setup but I'm having a problem - my receiver shuts off and the phase control light blinks whenever I turn the volume up to somewhere between -14dB and -12dB, which is really only a moderate to moderately loud volume, it's at the point where the bass just starts to "kick".

It looks like to me that your receiver can't handle the RF-83's 2.8ohm dips. The power supply in a 19.2 lbs receiver just might not have the reserves to handle even moderately demanding loads. Even though the RF-83's are very efficient speakers and don't need high wattage, they do prefer high current. Just my take.

Bill

[sunburnwilly]

I recently bought my first 5.1 Klipsch setup but I'm having a problem - my receiver shuts off and the phase control light blinks whenever I turn the volume up to somewhere between -14dB and -12dB, which is really only a moderate to moderately loud volume, it's at the point where the bass just starts to "kick".

It looks like to me that your receiver can't handle the RF-83's 2.8ohm dips. The power supply in a 19.2 lbs receiver just might not have the reserves to handle even moderately demanding loads. Even thought the RF-83's are very efficient speakers and don't need high wattage, they do prefer high current. Just my take.

Bill

Had the same problem with my Pioneer vsx92-txh . The solution ? Go into the menu on the front panel and switch from 8ohm to 6ohm . In your case with the 83's you might need to switch to 4ohm . Either way the power output of the Elites is pathetic . Best to use it as a pre with an outboard amp .