TX-NR609 audio failure after loud passages in movie/music

My TX-NR609 is a couple of months old. Twice now it has simply stopped producing audio. In both cases this occurred after a particularly loud passage in the movie or audio being played. The first time I unplugged the receiver from all power, and the next morning it worked fine. the second time I was able to restore the audio by doing the factory reset procedure. The problem with doing that is it takes away all of the presets and apparently also requires another speaker calibration procedure. I suspect there is some protective circuitry that is trying to keep the amp from exceeding some parameter....though I don't know why this would occur when the volume level is set at THX level or less. My question is: Am i going to have to re-do the speaker setup every time this type of shutdown occurs? Better still, short of simply playing everything at very low volume, is there a way to keep this from occurring at all?

Hi bobarber,

How many speakers do you have connected and do you know what the Ohm ratings of the speakers are? Also is the unit in an enclosed cabinet?

The 609 is located in a shelf open at front and back and with more than 8 inches free space above. Heat has not been an issue, in fact the fan has not been running on either of the two failures. (the fan appears to cycle on and off with some sort of internal rheostat.)

I'm using Definitive Technology BP2002's as the mains. (Bipolar-type speakers with built-in powered subwoofers). The surrounds are 2 Definitive Technology BPX models. The center speaker is a BIC America DV62CLR. All of the speakers are rated at 8 ohms. So, basically the five speakers plus the twin subwoofers.

The phenomenon is almost like a protective circuit or "fuse" trips, even though the receiver is not running at anywhere near it's max capability. I'm hoping there is a simple reset for this problem. I got an RMA approval from the seller to return this item, but I other than this irritating problem, I really like the performance, so I'm hoping I can find a way to keep it. I just don't want to be constantly re-running the setup every time the unit decides to shut down. I hope you can help me.

I didn't mention that two Infinitiy Outrigger external speakers are wired up to the zone 2 speaker outs, but were not in use in either case. 8 ohms for these, too.

Hi bobarber,

I find that your setup should not cause this unit to power down during loud sequences in movies. I would have suggested a service center on this but since you've already got an RMA from your dealer I think that is the best choice at this point.

I'm not sure at this point if the RMA will be honored...it's been almost 30 days since they issued it. (I kept hoping the first occurance was a singular event.) And as to the "powering down"...perhaps I haven't been clear. The receiver does not power down in the sense that it has been turned off. The panel and status lights all are on as with normal function. It is just the speaker output that has been silenced. Can you tell me if this device has a protective circuit designed to prevent speaker damage, or damage to the power section of the amplifier? And if so, does it have a reset procedure?

Hi bobarber,

Although there is an amp protection circuit on the unit and if it trips the whole unit would shut off. You could try a reset of the unit and if that doesn't resolve the issue the only other thing to do at that point would be either take/send it to an authorized service for further evaluation. To do the reset you need to turn the receiver on, then on the front panel of the receiver press and hold the "VCR/DVR" button while doing that press the "STANDBY/ON" button. You will see the word "Clear" in the display screen and the receiver will go into standby mode. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR AUDIO & VIDEO ASSIGNMENTS ON THE RECEIVER PLUS YOU WILL LOSE ALL YOUR SPEAKER CONFIGURATIONS, SPEAKER DISTANCE AND ALL LEVEL CALIBRATION SETTINGS. YOU WILL ALSO LOSE ANY PROGRAMMED RADIO STATIONS IN MEMORY. Once the receiver goes into standby mode turn it back on and go thru the setup menu for all custom settings.

what is the reset procedure if the Amp protection circuit does activate?

(and I'm familiar with the reset procedure...that DOES work to fix the problem as I noted in my first post, but as you correctly point out, after using the reset I had to recalibrate the speakers, and all other personal settings were reverted to factory. I was just hoping there was a reset for this particular situation. From what I can gather from you, the answer is apparently: "no.")

Hi bobarber,

Unfortunately you are correct in that there are no resets to fix the amp protect mode.