High Volumes causes Reciever to shut off?

Title says it all. Whenever I play something with a heavy beat, and turn it up, my reciever just shuts off. It supports 100W per channel, 5 channels. 4 of the channels are occupied by 1 speaker which are 150W each, I checked the wiring and nothing is touching (Copper wiring). What could be the problem? EDIT************** I noticed when I pushed my comp across the desk, teh converter ripped or tugged the sound port outta position .. time for a new sound card .....

that sucks. check the impedance rating of the speaker and amp?

Possible reasons: inefficient speakers, overrated receiver specs, receiver not supporting low impedance speakers etc. It wouldn't be a surprise if the receiver can put only 20-30W per channel continuous power when all channels are utilized. Though I'm not sure how relevant that is to movies/music anyway.

maybe the psu in the receiver cant handle the speakers?

Im thinking my reciever is shorting out since it just shuts off. My headphones seem just fine, and im narrowing down the possible culprits for this. It looks like my reciever. I havn't tested integrated on my mobo yet, so if it shuts off on integraded ... time to send it back to Circuit City / Sherwood .

I doubt your receiver is shorting out. If it was it would not turn on. Since it is only shutting off whith really loud music my guess is its a protection circuit. A lot of receivers nowadays have built in protection circuits. So when they are driven into clipping really hard they will shut down. Like others have said check your speakers impedance and make sure your receiver can handle the speakers.

Likely what is happenin is your driving your receiver too hard and its shutting itself off to prevent damage. If this is the case you have a few options. If the receiver has pre amp outputs you can buy some bigger amplifiers that will drive your speakers as loud as you want without clipping. Another option is getting a new receiver with more power. Or you can opt for more effeicient speakers that will play louder with the same amount of power. And finally the most cost effective solution. Turn it down . If you receiver is shutting off becuase its being overdriven don't turn it up to those levels. Your risking serious damage to your speakers and receiver by driving it too hard.




Ryan

Ryan T said:

I doubt your receiver is shorting out. If it was it would not turn on. Since it is only shutting off whith really loud music my guess is its a protection circuit.

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I would say that is a very accurate guess.

It is indeed the protection circuit, so keep it down.

Obviusly it doesn't happen on headphones. Headphones do not need the kind of power one puts into speakers.

The receiver and speaker system cannot keep up with your requirements. Recommend upgrading the speakers to a good quality set with high sensitivity (though sensitivity is not really a measure of sound quality) before the receiver. That way they could last you through a couple of electronics upgrades.

Klipsch makes some 100 dB+ sensitivity speakers. SQ is decent, not great, but decent. Might wanna give those a listen.

Ryan T said:

Your risking serious damage to your speakers and receiver by driving it too hard.




Ryan

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not to mention your hearing

Seriously, if you were gonna hear how loud im turning up my speakers, you wouldn't think the protection circuit is turning my reciever off. Im pretty sure my reciever (Sherwood Reciever, 100 x 5) can handle these speakers, heres my setup (For my 2 bigger speakers, dont laugh at my cheesy dual moniter setup .)

xTrEmEoVrClOcKr said:

(Sherwood Reciever, 100 x 5) can handle these speakers,[/IMG]

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http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-RD_6105

thats 100 watts not 500watts. "Surround Mode Power 100 Watt "

what kind of speakers are those?

zabomb4163 said:

http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-RD_6105

thats 100 watts not 500watts. "Surround Mode Power 100 Watt "

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My bad, I meant 100W x 5 Channels. There Pioneer S-H253B-K, 160W 8 OHMS.

Well although it may say 100w per channel it is really misleading. What they likely did was tested each channel by itself with no other channels running. Then they said it was 100w per channel. But that is the trick, It doesnt actually have 100w per channel with all the channels running at once. Another dead giveaway is the 200 watt consumtion. There is no way to convert 200 watts into 500. In reality the amplifier is likely about 50% efficient. Meaning it probably does output 100 watts. So devide that by 5 and you have about 20 watts per channel.

Now that may not seem like a lot but most receivers in that price range really only put out around that same amount of power. In fact you would be hard pressed to find a receiver that actually put out 100 watts per cahnnel with all channels driven under $700.

I believe I had the exact same sherwood receiver as you. It was my first receiver i bought (about 4 years ago). It has pretty good sound quality and the features are pretty good too. I was able to turn it up pretty loud and not run into problems but I did think it was somewhat lacking in power. I upgaded to a H/K receiver about 5 months after buying the Sherwood. You may want to think about upgrading. The other option is if you have a subwoofer you can set the speakers to small so the receiver doesnt have to send the bass signal to the mains. Sometimes that can take a load of the receiver and give you a bit more power.



Ryan