RSP-1068 crapped out. Again.

[macwrede]

Well, not completely, BUT, for the fourth time in as many years, my center and surround channels are no longer with me. Unfortunately for the eardrums, each of these events begins with the most gawd-awful hissing, crackling, and popping sound that you can imagine, at a volume level of whats got to be at least 100 db. After peeling yourself from the back wall, you can't grab the remote fast enough to stop the pain. My wife even came running down from upstairs, certain that the garage door had taken on a life of its own and was smashing up and down on the garage floor.

Anyway, the center and rear surround channels are now toast. And like I said, this is the fourth time in as many years that this has happened. The only way to use the unit now is to turn off the center and rear speakers in the setup menu. And if the loss of surround sound in itself is not bad enough, I'm now faced with another leave of absence from my inexpensive obsession for two months while this thing sits on a repair bench at Rotel. Luckily it is still under warranty, but...

My questions are: has anyone else had a similar experience with this model? Can I be doing something to cause this or is mine just a POS? The unit sits on an open rack, with plenty of ventilation. Needless to say, I am becoming extremely frustrated and disappointed with the seeming lack of build quality and reliability from what was supposed to be a superior component when compared to standard grade consumer electronics.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[BassThatHz]

My RSP-1068 crapped out a year ago before I had it repaired.
It was a hot summer afternoon with no A/C, which probably didn't help, you know how warm it runs as-is. (It was sitting in free-air).

I was playing it at modest volumes and all of a sudden it started producing toxic carcinogenic-type smoke fumes. Digital Coax was the only input I used. Later I found out it was burnt out resistors (that's what the tech said).

It actually muted out the sound on the left channel.
I guess I'm luckly it wasn't a 100db square-wave etc like your's...

I'm also luck that I was at home and in the room at that moment; otherwise maybe a fire would have broken out (or something).

Only problem I've ever had with Rotel, none since.

I assume no cat-pee or other liquids were involved with your failure...

[macwrede]

Nope...no cats, dogs, ferrets, pets or children of any kind. Just a fried DSP board.