Surroundbar trouble

Rkuehne

I bought a surroundbar about a month ago and ever since hooking it up my reciever goes into protect mode anytime I increase the volume or the soundtrack get loud.
I already changed out all the cables and checked the connections repeatedly. The other evening I unplugged the center channel on the surround bar and the reciever did not go into Protect mode no matter how loud the sound went. Then I connected my old center speaker and had the same results. I reconnected the center channel on surroundbar and the protect mode issue returned.

Any thoughts on whether this is a speaker issue or a bad/weak reciever. My reciever is a Sony STR-DE875

dorokusai

Which SurroundBar? The REC/AVR is fine and should have no problems running any of the models in the lineup. You may have a blown driver which is causing a short.

Try connecting ONLY the center channel speaker and see if you have sound at all....and try the same things you did before. Also, try connecting the center channel speaker to another speaker location, front left for example.

Let us know what happens and don't worry, you won't mess anything up by changing the connections. Just don't cross them when connecting them to the binding posts as you already seem to know.

TECHNOKID

Welcome to Club Polk Rkuehne!

You do not mention which model of surround bar, please provide the model number of SB you are using as it will help others to help you.

Did you check to make sure your receiver is compatible with the speaker(s) impedance? Now that you located the the fault to be in the center speaker area do some swapping and used the center speaker to other receiver outputs and so on connection other speakers from the SB to the center.

If the fault remains in the center channel of the receiver, then it is unlikely that many speakers would be at fault. On the other hand, if the fault moves with the SB center, you will know that the fault is with that specific speaker.

Now, was the SB bought new and from an authourised dealer? If so, contact Polk outstanding CS as they will make sure to honor the product warranty and help you solve this problem quickly and efficiently. If you did not buy new or from an authorised dealer, you should still contact Polk as their CS is outstanding and they will gladly do everything in their power to help you the best way they possibly can.

OK, Mark is as fast as lightning so you now are in good hands!

Good luck!
TK

TECHNOKID

Are you troubleshooting now? Anything you want to discuss further before I leave? As I pointed out if the problem can not be resolve tonight you are definitely in good hands with Mark. He is the king of SB knowledge.

dorokusai

TECHNOKID wrote: »

As I pointed out if the problem can not be resolve tonight you are definitely in good hands with Mark. He is the king of SB knowledge.

I wouldn't go that far dude.

TECHNOKID

dorokusai wrote: »

I wouldn't go that far dude.

Heh judging by the lenghty thread you started on them, you've been involved in all demos (I believe) and you even done some experimenting of your own...

BTW; you never reported your results on the SB 50 array you were working on back then, shame shame shame! I really was looking forward to your comments on this array business. :frown:

dorokusai

I did but in another thread I believe.

TECHNOKID

dorokusai wrote: »

I did but in another thread I believe.

OK then I'll have to do a little searching...

TECHNOKID

Rkuehne, once you have proven bad driver and if you feel comfortable about troubleshooting and opening the guts of your SB, you could follow similar procedure as the RM30;

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1304587&postcount=2
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1305113&postcount=10

The dismantling of the Surround Bar is quite similar to the RM30 speakers. The troubleshooting procedure would also be the same, just more drivers and cross overs. Talking about the cross overs, they are located at the back behind the white stuffing and unfortunately they are burried/drowned into hot glue. :frown: However, you can at least isolate the driver (unplug) and do some testing directly on the driver connections using a small radio or any other small audio powered device.

BTW; trying to meter the ohmnique value from the binding posts on the SB will not work as you are going through the Xo which are engineered to be High Z therefore reading very high impedance rather than the typical driver nominal 8 ohms impedance. The only way to measure the driver is by opening the enclosure, disconnecting the driver and doing the measurement directly on the driver it self.

Good luck!
TK

Rkuehne

Thanks for the help everyone. I have the 42" inch Surroundbar.
So I tried running the center speaker alone, it worked and never sent the receiver into protect. I plugged other channels into the center speaker and go the same results.
Next I plugged in the center channel correctly and added channels one at a time to see when the receiver would go into protect. As I added the channels, the receiver at all volume levels until I added the last one, Surround Right. I did other combinations of connections but found that whenever the Surround Right and center speakers were connected at the same time, my receiver would go into protect mode at medium to high volumes (like a fight scene in a movie).
Right now I have all of my old speakers connected and the receiver is working normally. Monday I'll be contacting customer service to arrange an exchange.

TECHNOKID

Good troubleshooting and you know are doing the right thing. Hopefully the replacement will work like a charm.