Rotel RSX-1056 Protection Circuitry ?

[hiteshgeneric]

Hi Friends,

I purchased my RSX-1056 Surround sound receiver in May 2005 and have been extremely satisfied with its performance. Recently though, while listening to movies or music, my receiver would just shut-off. This happened twice. My understanding was that this was due to overload and extreme use (hardly). Two days back it happened again, I did not turn it on immediately this time. When I powered up the receiver the next day, it turned on with a little hum and immediately shutoff with a spark and fried smell. Now I just cannot turn it on. All my connections have been the same and I do not think this is a short of any kind. Just think that the protection circuirty (if any) is blown.

Does anyone have any experience with such a situation ? What do I do ? I beleive Rotel receivers are covered under warranty for 5 years.

Please help!

My set-up.
RSX-1056 Surround sound receiver
Fronts: BMW603S3
Center: LCR600
Rear: Boston Acoustic VRX

[Kevin D]

If you haven't changed anything lately (speakers, placement in the cabinet) I highly doubt the protection circuit just started kicking on.

Most likely it was a problem with the unit the was causing it to shut down. This last time the defect caused a catastrophic failure. They do come with a 5 year warranty, so contact your dealer (or Rotel) and send it in.

Kevin D.

[stantheman2]

I bought a 1056 in April 2005 and had the same exact experience when I first turned it on - spark, a little smoke, + fried electronics smell = dead receiver. The dealer swapped it for a new one (after a little lobbying/persuasion on my part).

Best of luck with yours.

[hiteshgeneric]

Thanks Kevin and stantheman2. Yes, the last failure did happen to be catastrophic. Since its been 2 years I doubt I will get a replacement but will need to get this repaired either at the dealer or with Rotel.
I will keep you guys posted on what happens

[hiteshgeneric]

Hi all
Did the dealer or Rotel ever tell you what was the cause of the problem when your unit faced a similar problem? Provided I get mine fixed, I want to know how to avoid this situation. I am almost certain that mine was getting overloaded and that is why it shut down automatically the previous times. I remember that, I specifically turned up the center channel volume to about 8 and RR, RL (rear right, rear left) to about 8 from the remote in recent runs. Did that cause higher current to be drawn from the receiver ? What is the limit then ? I do not even have a sub being driven by the unit (was planning on getting B&W ASW650). If its crapping out on 4 speakers, I am very nervous on driving a sub in addition to existing speakers. Overall I never exceed 60 on the volume and set the max to 65 in the receiver from accidental high volume setting.
I love this receiver inspite of the recent problem. It makes my fronts and center dance and sing (me included :-) ).

I am trying to find out what are its safe limits of operation.

[hifiguymi]

Hi all
Did the dealer or Rotel ever tell you what was the cause of the problem when your unit faced a similar problem? Provided I get mine fixed, I want to know how to avoid this situation. I am almost certain that mine was getting overloaded and that is why it shut down automatically the previous times. I remember that, I specifically turned up the center channel volume to about 8 and RR, RL (rear right, rear left) to about 8 from the remote in recent runs. Did that cause higher current to be drawn from the receiver ? What is the limit then ? I do not even have a sub being driven by the unit (was planning on getting B&W ASW650). If its crapping out on 4 speakers, I am very nervous on driving a sub in addition to existing speakers. Overall I never exceed 60 on the volume and set the max to 65 in the receiver from accidental high volume setting.
I love this receiver inspite of the recent problem. It makes my fronts and center dance and sing (me included :-) ).

I am trying to find out what are its safe limits of operation.

First off, if you connect a powered subwoofer to your system it doesn't have any adverse effect on the amplifiers in the receiver. If anything, it will help with the load. You probably have some of the speakers set to large if you don't have a sube now wo when you add one you can change them to small and that will help out the amps in the receiver.

As far as turing up the center channel and rear channels all you are doing is changing their relative volume to other speakers. Since you are adding more gain, it's sort of putting more stress on the amps. Think of it this way. If the receiver volume is at 50, and you have the center channels volume at 8 and the front left and right at 0, it's like having the center at 58 while the left and right are at 50.

I hope this makes sense.

Eric

[hiteshgeneric]

I hope what you say is true with respect to load being low on the receiver when I add a sub, but I have trouble understanding how this is possible. Yes, I do have the fronts and center set to large, rears to small and intend to set them all to small with a powered sub. However even though I set them to small, the receiver would still have to provide the same amount of juice to drive front/center/rear for their current frequency range - lets say down their lowest manufacter recommended range. At least this is my understanding with the "small setting" of the rest of speakers. Otherwise, sending any part of that frequency range to the sub would not be accurate reproduction of the sound by the sub since its not meant to do that. Then in addition the receiver would need to provide the whatever amps to the powered sub from (cut-off frequency - in my case 80Hz down). So overall the system would have a lot of bass would sound fuller and richer, but I do not understand how the load would be any less on the receiver.

On the other hand, your explanation of center's relative volume compared to fronts makes sense and I can see how that puts the stress on the receiver.

[hifiguymi]

Deep bass requires more energy because the speakers have to travel farther (in and out) so if you are not asking the amplifiers to do that, it's easier on them. The amp in the woofer would be the only thing playing those frequencies at that point. Even though the woofer amp is playing bass, which requires more energy, that is all it's doing. When ever you have an amplifier play only a small band of frequencies, it can do it very effeciently. Look a powered speakers like the ones from Meridian. They use multiple 75 and 100 watt amps. It's usually one to two drivers per amp and they can play loud!!

If you set the crossover in the receiver at 80Hz for the front and center than the amps in the receiver (and the speakers for that matter) will not play them. If you leave the speaker setting at large, then yes they would still play those frequencies and nothing would change.

Once you get your sub try it both ways and you will hear the difference. The system will be a little more dynamic from the midrange on up and be able to play louder.

Eric

[bigburner]

Hi hiteshgeneric,

Eric is quite right in what he says. The ASW650 has its own built-in amp so it will not draw on your RSX-1056 for power. Furthermore, by setting your fronts and centre to small you will take a big load off your RSX-1056, allowing you to play at higher volume without cutout due to overload.

Nigel.

[hiteshgeneric]

I had the dealer open the Receiver and we noticed that a fuse has blown. This is a fuse close to the AC input circuit and is rated at 8Amps. It seems like an overload to me but not sure what caused it. I will post another update when I get this fixed and if I can get more info.

[hiteshgeneric]

Just to close the loop on this one. Got the amp back from dealer, couple blown transistors is all the info I got from the dealer. Hooked it up with my set-up again and the amp seems to be working fine.

[bleeding ears]

Was it done under warranty ?

[hiteshgeneric]

yes. All I had to do was take it to dealer and they were kind enough to ship it to Rotel and get it back. Still puzzled though with what may have caused this