Death of my HK

[ken.paduch]

After owning my HK AVR354 for only a month, it died today while watching Star Wars with my son. The receiver went into Protected mode and kept going into that mode even after rechecking, reconnecting and disconnecting all the speakers.
Anyone have any other ideas on what to try before I send it back?
thx,

kp

[superjunior]

sorry to hear that. If you've checked everything, and checked it twice, maybe you got a lemon. It happens and if its under warrenty, send it back.
jr

[ken.paduch]

Its tough to go a day with out the HK lately, but hopefully it will come back soon.

[jimmydep]

Ken

Where are you located?

Jimmy

[Kex]

Its tough to go a day with out the HK lately, but hopefully it will come back soon.

Call or e-mail customer service first. There may be a reset sequence to activate the factory default settings, or something else they may suggest. You'd have to recalibrate and everything afterwards.

The big question is: why did it go into protect mode? What speakers are you driving with it, and how loud were you playing? If it did it once, and you don't identify why, there is a good chance it will do it again. Are you driving 4 ohm speakers with it? Are you driving low sensitivity speakers beyond 85dB in a large room while someone else was using more speakers in zone 2? Etc. etc. ...

In any case, there's not a whole lot to worry about, since it's under warranty, but ...

Welcome to CP, BTW, even if it's been a few months already!

[ken.paduch]

Ken

Where are you located?

Jimmy

Bel Air, MD

[ken.paduch]

Call or e-mail customer service first. There may be a reset sequence to activate the factory default settings, or something else they may suggest. You'd have to recalibrate and everything afterwards.

The big question is: why did it go into protect mode? What speakers are you driving with it, and how loud were you playing? If it did it once, and you don't identify why, there is a good chance it will do it again. Are you driving 4 ohm speakers with it? Are you driving low sensitivity speakers beyond 85dB in a large room while someone else was using more speakers in zone 2? Etc. etc. ...

In any case, there's not a whole lot to worry about, since it's under warranty, but ...

Welcome to CP, BTW, even if it's been a few months already!

Speakers: Front - Monitor 60's
Center - CS1
Sub - PSW125
Surrounds - some old HTIB Yammies.
Cooling shouldn't be an issue as there is about a foot of free space above the receiver.
Funny thing is, after about four hours, I turned it back on and played the entire movie again without the speakers connected (again) and it did not go into protected mode. Volume was pretty moderate (25).

kp

[apphd]

No speakers connected = no load. I would hook up your speakers one or two at a time, try to see when the problem happens. When it goes into protect again it might be the speaker/wire connected or total load. You wouldn't know until you disconnect one of the speakers that tested good, but leave the last one connected (the one that seemed to cause the problem to come back). If the problem is still there then it would be that speaker/speaker wire. If not something with the AVR. It's also possable that you had a short with your speaker wires that you corrected, but retested before enough time had passed for the protect mode to reset.

Good luck report back what you find.

[ViperZ]

In my opinion, current silver-faced HK receivers are a complete garbage.

I had AVR635, which started to freeze just after it went out of warranty (2 years). Read up on it - and it's a common problem, tons of their receivers from this generation failed because of the same problem - processor overheating and dying. Mine was in a well ventilated area.

What really turned me away from HK is their customer service. I called CS in Canada, and got the answers such as "maybe it's time to upgrade to a new model", "send it to us, we'll charge $70 to look at it and provide you with the estimate, and maybe we'll give you a discount on repairs" (of course I had to pay for shipping both ways). Local authorized shop charged $25 to look at it and came back with crazy 400+ repair cost (replace two boards).
2 years of service on $1200-1300 receiver - isn't it a bit too little?

After the encounter with horrible HK CS, I got rid of that 635, and got rid of my vintage Citation gear.

[ken.paduch]

No speakers connected = no load. I would hook up your speakers one or two at a time, try to see when the problem happens. When it goes into protect again it might be the speaker/wire connected or total load. You wouldn't know until you disconnect one of the speakers that tested good, but leave the last one connected (the one that seemed to cause the problem to come back). If the problem is still there then it would be that speaker/speaker wire. If not something with the AVR. It's also possable that you had a short with your speaker wires that you corrected, but retested before enough time had passed for the protect mode to reset.

Good luck report back what you find.

Thanks, I'll give it a shot. Hopefully its not the heating problem described by Viper.

[ken.paduch]

In my opinion, current silver-faced HK receivers are a complete garbage.

I had AVR635, which started to freeze just after it went out of warranty (2 years). Read up on it - and it's a common problem, tons of their receivers from this generation failed because of the same problem - processor overheating and dying. Mine was in a well ventilated area.

What really turned me away from HK is their customer service. I called CS in Canada, and got the answers such as "maybe it's time to upgrade to a new model", "send it to us, we'll charge $70 to look at it and provide you with the estimate, and maybe we'll give you a discount on repairs" (of course I had to pay for shipping both ways). Local authorized shop charged $25 to look at it and came back with crazy 400+ repair cost (replace two boards).
2 years of service on $1200-1300 receiver - isn't it a bit too little?

After the encounter with horrible HK CS, I got rid of that 635, and got rid of my vintage Citation gear.

Ouch! I hope mine isn't that bad. What amp/receiver are you using now?

[Kex]

Don't despair just yet, IMO. Do some of the troubleshooting suggested. Those speakers would not normally send a 354 into protection, under any circumstances. Certainly not at -25dB, if you initially calibrated with EzSet/EQ. With those settings, unless you tweaked the channels heavily manually afterwards, I would expect you could go all the way up to 0dB without risking any damage ... especially with the speakers you describe. It's more likely that you have a short in the old HTiB Yammies you're using.

As for c/s, my unit shipped without the calibration mic, so I e-mailed them, and a replacement mic was shipped out with expedited delivery, no questions asked. I didn't even have to speak to anyone on the phone. You'll just have to wait and see how you get treated, if the troubleshooting doesn't work, but please report any good or bad c/s you encounter!

[ViperZ]

Ouch! I hope mine isn't that bad. What amp/receiver are you using now?

I was picking between Pioneer and Onkyo, and eventually ended up (and very happy with) Onkyo 805.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the older generation of HK (black/green faced). I also enjoyed my HK Citation gear. But such poor customer service turned me away from that company for good.

[thuffman03]

Your HK must have turned to the Darkside.

[ken.paduch]

your hk must have turned to the darkside.

Luke ...

[Monster Jam]

My experience with H/K I would say was average. Couldn't fix the original problem after sending it in, so they replaced it. And that one has issues too. But at least it works 95% of the time.

[thuffman03]

I have had good and bad experances with HK. I had two good recievers and a bad DVD player. I need more power than they offer now so I have not even looked at them for years.

[Crispy3M]

Yep.

Mine crapped out last night.

One month and the HDMI switching appears to be pooched.

Screen goes all green.

Have it bypassed for now.

Chris

[Kex]

... the HDMI switching appears to be pooched.

Screen goes all green. ...

Have you tried changing some of the HDMI cables around, or using spares if you have any?

[ken.paduch]

I had a similar problem with the color. The solution:
I bought new 1.3a HDMI cables (Monoprice.com) and connected it from my Toshiba HD player (1080i) to the HK. I also changed the video output on the HK to 1080i even thought the TV is 1080p. This seemed to help the color quite a bit.

[cnh]

Hi Ken,

I doubt this is your problem as that HK has a fixed power cord, if I'm not mistaken, but my Onkyo started doing something similar...the power cord's weight had cracked the receptacles screw inputs and the cord was not making contact.

In any case, it sounds like a bummer.

Good luck.

cnh

[ken.paduch]

After owning my HK AVR354 for only a month, it died today while watching Star Wars with my son. The receiver went into Protected mode and kept going into that mode even after rechecking, reconnecting and disconnecting all the speakers.
Anyone have any other ideas on what to try before I send it back?
thx,

kp

After cutting new ends on my speaker cables and moving the HK to a more ventilated fixture, I am happy to report that after playing the movie that was part of my "Protected" mode issue, my HK 354 may be "healed". Tonight I will push it a bit harder (beyond Star Wars - episode 4). Maybe U-571!!!

[apphd]

After cutting new ends on my speaker cables and moving the HK to a more ventilated fixture, I am happy to report that after playing the movie that was part of my "Protected" mode issue, my HK 354 may be "healed". Tonight I will push it a bit harder (beyond Star Wars - episode 4). Maybe U-571!!!

Congrats. Hope the "fix" continues through when you put it through the paces. Remember the "protect" mode does have a legitimate trip point if you push too hard.

[ken.paduch]

Congrats. Hope the "fix" continues through when you put it through the paces. Remember the "protect" mode does have a legitimate trip point if you push too hard.

So far-so good. The 354 is still running well. I do believe it may have been a ventilation issue. Although I had about 8" from the top of the receiver to the bottom of the cabinet it was closed in on one side by the center channel speaker and there was not much space on the other side either. I didn't realize the 354 had side vents as well as top. I have set it free on its own stand with unlimited ventilation and ran it all weekend with no problems.
On another note, I also found that turning the video processing off produced a much better picture especially with my Toshiba HD player. Too much upconverting going on. Anyway, thanks everyone for all your advice.

[ken.paduch]

Hi Ken,

I doubt this is your problem as that HK has a fixed power cord, if I'm not mistaken, but my Onkyo started doing something similar...the power cord's weight had cracked the receptacles screw inputs and the cord was not making contact.

In any case, it sounds like a bummer.

Good luck.

cnh

Actually, the power cord isn't fixed and its a bit loose. I was wondering if buying a better "quality" power cord might make a difference?