deepmukherjee Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Hi ! I got myself a pair of RF-7s and a Harman Kardon AVR-430 a year back. Now, i know they arnt a perfect match, but my budget restrictions didnt leave me much of a choice. And besides, I just HAD to get the RF-7s ... it was love at first sight !! Anyway, the system was working perfectly till about a month back. All of a sudden, the system (i.e. the amp) would go into standby mode after a few seconds (vary between 10 and 25 seconds). During the power on mode everything works fine. The sound is good, no distortions , nothing. The system just goes into standby mode after a while. Its been a very frustrating few weeks, tried to check the wiring n stuff..everything seems to be in place. I donot have a power conditioner (stabilizer) , but i plan to get one soon. But could anyone help out in the meanwhile? Donot have any harmon-kardon service centres here in India. ANY tips/sugestions will be appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Trace the entire signal path between your reciever and speakers...all the signs are pointing to a partial short circuit. Your reciever is going into standby mode so as to protect itself - so this is definetly something you want to get sorted out before you really hurt something. Start by removing all your speaker cables from the amplifier (leaving everything else plugged in). Start up a movie or cd or something like you normally would and crank up the volume to see if you can get it to jump into standby without the speakers connected. If it goes into standby, then you have an internal problem - if not, then your problem was with the speaker wires. Connect one speaker, then play some music and see if it goes into standby. If not, plug in the next speakers one by one until the problem shows up again - and then you will have found where your problem is. Check the speaker wires, both at the speakers and at the reciever - you don't want to have any loose strands of wire sticking out. Also check that your cable isn't damage somewhere in the middle....sometimes a hard crease or indentation can break the internal seals and cause a short that way too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmukherjee Posted February 12, 2006 Author Share Posted February 12, 2006 Thanks for the quick response !! I unplugged all the speaker cables from the amp. But the amp still switches into the standby mode. The amp switches into standby mode even if i donot give any input (ie. play a CD/DVD) in some time (as mentioned before). Any other sugestions ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Sounds like it's time to get a new reciever... Not sure if repairing it will be worthwhile. You could always open her up and look for shorts or loose wires inside the amp...(just remember to unplug from the wall first). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmukherjee Posted February 12, 2006 Author Share Posted February 12, 2006 Cant just throw away a $800 receiver, Dr.Who !!! The damn receiver works fine .. but only for about 20 sec, before it switches off to standby mode. Maybe a power problem ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Robinson Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Cant just throw away a $800 receiver, Dr.Who !!! The damn receiver works fine .. but only for about 20 sec, before it switches off to standby mode. Maybe a power problem ?? I think Dr Who was considering the current value of the receiver vs the cost to repair it. If the budgetary constraints rule, then take it down to a reputable repair shop (or perhaps it is still under some warranty?) and have them fix it. It will probably run between $75US and $250US depending on how long it takes to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Just to clarify, have you disconnected everything from the unit (all inputs and outputs), and it still shuts down? If not, then you can reconnect items 1 by 1 to see what the failure point is. Don't rule out bad cabling, either - one may have a short in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbsl Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Is it still under warranty? Check over on Audiogon and AudioKarma and if there is a HK forum. About 3 years ago my Denon 4800 would send a single bass note to the sub every minute. Did not cost me anything to fix it was under waranty but if it happened the next month it would have cost me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Cant just throw away a $800 receiver, Dr.Who !!! The damn receiver works fine .. but only for about 20 sec, before it switches off to standby mode. Maybe a power problem ?? The reason the reciever goes into standby mode is because it detects a short - ie, the amp is triggering the thermal switch (so it's running too hot). Since it shuts off on its own, the problem is on the inside somewhere...maybe a bad heatsink or internal short somewhere. You can try repairing it on your own, or sending it off somewhere to get fixed, but there is no guarantee that investing money into fixing it is going to result in a perfectly working unit (because you have no HK service centers over there). If it's under warranty, then just send it back and get a new one. I would check for loose strands of wire stuck to the outputs, or even checking the inside for foreign objects too. Perhaps take the cover off and blow out the insides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmukherjee Posted February 12, 2006 Author Share Posted February 12, 2006 My view is, if there's a short somewhere, the system should switch to standby immediately...why is everything fine for about 20 odd seconds and then the switch to standby ?? Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 Because it takes time for the amp to warm up enough to trigger the heat sensitive breaker. There could be other problems too, but this is by far the most common one (and the only thing you have hope of fixing yourself). Did anything funny happen before it started acting up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmukherjee Posted February 13, 2006 Author Share Posted February 13, 2006 DrWho, thanks for your response. I didnt notice anything funny before this equipment started malfunctioning. Power supply in India is pretty erratic. Can voltage fluctuations, etc. be the reason for this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RM1111 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Hey Deep, is it still under warranty. I had that problem too when I first got my HK 630 and I returned it for a new one. I didn't find out what the problem was. Did you try calling HK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmukherjee Posted February 15, 2006 Author Share Posted February 15, 2006 Hey RM111 ! No, the amp is out of warranty...just over a year old. Besides, I bought it in Dubai, and I live in India, where unfortunately Harman Kardon doesnt have a presence. Tried mailing them, but have'nt received any response yet. I'm so screwed !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepmukherjee Posted April 5, 2006 Author Share Posted April 5, 2006 Hey Fellas ! Great News !! I got my AVR430 fixed. Payed about $50, and had the receiver checked and repaired. Aparantly the relay was out. Anyway, the receiver is back and my RF-7s are singing !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billyjoe72 Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAS Posted April 5, 2006 Share Posted April 5, 2006 $50 is a pretty good deal. IT's usually around $40 to take a look at it even if they can't fix it, but will apply it to the cost of repair if it can be done. So it took all of $10 to fix your relay. Hurray! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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