kenwood receiver problem - Page 2

At least one other member of this forum has recently had his Kenwood receiver fixed, for free, and it was also out of warranty.


Contact Kenwood...the address and the name (Hazim Jainoor, as I recall) and all the info you need are in this thread. Email them, and mention this thread that explains the problems that many Kenwood owners have had with these units. It seems to help.

Here it is for your convenience -- I shipped mine to Cerritos:

Kenwood Service Center West
13030 Alondra Blvd, STE 104
Cerritos, CA 90703-2257
Phone: 562.483.8740
Fax: 562.483.8749

Hazim Jainoor
Consumer Service Representative
E-mail for Kenwood USA Corporation:
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/support/email_support.jsp
Phone: 800-536-9663
Fax: 310-631-3913


Email Hazim @ Kenwood as soon as you read this...don't put it off, who knows how long their generosity will last! (They certainly aren't obligated to repair an out-of-warranty condition for free.) But they've done real well in responding to this particular out-of-warranty failure to those that ask, which is something you can't say about many companies. (Ask nicely, now...don't get hot-headed.) It's restored my faith that good Customer Service still exists, and believe me, when the time comes, Kenwood will be definitely one of my top picks because of my experience with their customer support. Have all your paperwork ready to fax and/or mail and/or ship with the unit, and once you ship it away to be repaired be prepared to wait about a month or so. Mine came back just like new, and with a brand new remote too! (Either that, or they cleaned up my original remote REALLY well!)

--Brian

You know, kenwood has always rocked when it comes to warranty and service. When my Car stereo Mask head unit died at 13 months, they extended my warranty for me as well(It only had 12 months)

Like a fool, I never took the unit in though, cause it started working again. Then it died 3 months later, and I decided to just buy a new head unit.

Thanks for the info Brian.

I appreciate it. I emailed kenwood through their website, but I will also try to email you contact.

Brandon

An update on the Kenwood IR problem:

I emailed Kenwood, describing my problem and mentioning that I have read on AVS forums that this was not an isolated incident. About 5 days later, they wrote me back and said they would authorize a one time fix for the problem.

Fantastic. My unit was well out of warranty, but they still were responsible enough to fix a systematic build problem. Bravo Kenwood.

Given a similar feature set and competitive price, I will always be choosing Kenwood in the future.

I have the exact same issue with my 3 year old 309, which otherwise is a great unit. A good internal cleaning is overdue, so I may pop the cover and see if cold solder is evident rather than go to the hassle of returning it.
I have been in the electronics biz for 20+ years, and would not recommend going inside for the untrained.
Nice to see that Kenwood stands by the consumer, kind of rare these days.
I am trying hard not to order a refurb 5080 for a big upgrade...

Kenwood replied to my request and told me to bring it to a repair facility to find out what the problem is. They did not offer to pay for or warranty anything.

I caved and ordered a 5090, but will give the 309 a try for the fix anyway. As far as joy per dollar, the 309 will be hard to beat.

I know this is an old thread, but just thought I'd share.

I just purchased a kenwood vr-507 receiver from ebay. I needed something to power some bass shakers for my HT room I'm building. I have another older Kenwood receiver and was happy with it, but have other plans for it. I found a VR-507 on ebay and it seemed like a bargain so I went for it ($88 plus shipping, although I could have found something probably cheaper). I found it today and the auction ended just a little while ago. SO, then I made the mistake of googling it (should have checked here, but for my purposes, no big deal) and then started reading the complaints about the remote not working.

One thing led to the other, and found myself here:

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/1/122836.html

which led me to here:

http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin...ead.cgi?3016,1

which lead me to the solution:

http://home.comcast.net/~apastuszak/
(EDIT: this URL is no longer working, so I posted the picture several posts down below)

which will supposedly fix the problem. I don't know IF I'll have this problem, but I assume so. So, for those folks that still struggle with this, hopefully this will work for you. Is this works for you, please post. I'll post again when I know whats up.

Bud

Thanks for posting...I am getting ready to dust off my VR-507 which has been packed away for a couple of years.

chinadog, you're a saint for sharing this information! So many forums like this become a litany of problems, followed by speculative suggestions for solutions, but rarely any after-the-fact feedback on what actually solved the problem!

I printed the picture of the circuit board and filed it in my Kenwood owner's manual in the event that I experience this failure again and the web site is no longer available.

Super job, and thanks for sharing!

--Brian

Guys,

No problem at all. Let me know if the fix works. My receiver came a few days ago, but no way to test it.. there's no damn remote! Since I plan on using it for powering some shakers, I really don't need a remote, but would have liked to see if I had the problem. I may try a universal remote just for giggles....

Bud

Walt,

No problem, glad it worked out for you.

I received my vr-507 and had no problem with the remote. The seller did not include the remote with the unit, so I tried it with a universal remote and it seemed to work. I haven't played with it too much since its mainly for the shakers. I just finished the electrical rough in, so I'm a few months out from setting everything up and actually using it. Hope it works!

Bud

HI,

I have a problem with my Kenwood Receiver KR-V107R , other than a very loud powerful amp... I bought this thing in a thrift store for 5 bucks cover was removed but still with it ,anyways the front display is dead it comes on and plays like normal but no led display at all
and the stand by light is on still ??? what is wrong with it a relay ???? Any response would be great William

I have a Kenwood VR-309, I was just getting ready to replace it.
found this thread, took apart the receiver, sure enough the soldier was
cracked around two of the wire from the IR.

Simple soldier on all three spots, Good as new.

Thank You all that have posted fixes.

You saved me money an my sanity.

Hello everyone,

I know this is an old post, but I am new here and just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone about this thread. You just saved me a bunch of money!!

I was surfing reviews here and decided to just look up my old Kenwood for the heck of it. My remote hasn't worked for years, just figured it was mine and would probably cost more to fix it than it was worth. Then I found this thread!!!

The fix above worked perfectly and was totally free!!!! Can't beat that!

The only problem is now I'm going to have a hard time finding an excuse to tell my wife why we need a new receiver!

Anyways, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love it.. glad people are still finding this thread and fixing their Kenwoods!

Bud

Ihave the same problem with my VR-309. It just started and my receiver is several years old, so I consider myself lucky.

I tried visting this link but it doesn't seem to be working. Does anyone have that information they can post here?

Thanks.

I made a copy of photo just in case that happened:



Bud

I'll give that a try and post my results in a day or two.

Thanks a bunch!

Keep us posted. I also updated my original post to say the URL is not longer available and stated I put the picture out in another post....

Bud

Well, I cracked open the case on my VR-309. The remote would stop working after the receiver was powered on for only a few minutes.

My unit is different from the one shown here. I had to remove the PCB so I could tell which of the three contacts needed to be resoldered. I was able to see where the IR receiver's leads went through the PCB, so I resoldered those three contacts. As soon as I touched the center post, all the solder disappeared and the contact was not connected! I think that was the problem area.

I hooked the receiver back to AC power and let it run for half-an-hour and the remote was still working. I'll put the receiver back "in service" and if you don't hear from me again, you'll know everything is working fine.

P.S. I also have the KENWOOD CD player that was having problems with the display going out. I tore it apart and found some bad soldered contacts there also!!!

Many thanks to this thread for helping me with this problem, and a special "THANK YOU" to "chinadog" for his assistance and fast response to my questions!

Glad its worked out for you... at least I hope it does, since we won't hear back f it does!

Bud

Hey, chinadog, I couldn't leave you hanging!

Yep, after 24 hours of intermittent use, it is still working correctly.

I had the unit on for several hours last night and it worked the whole time. Before, it would stop working after 5-10 minutes of use.

To other VR-309 owners: The three pins you need to solder are not in the same place as on the diagram shown here. They are all by themselves on the PCB, to the right of the chipset (the larger black square-ish thing) when looking from the rear. I had to remove the PCB to tell where the IR sensor was and see which leads needed soldered. The IR sensor on the VR-309 is to the far right edge of the display window when looking from the FRONT. Knowing that, you might be able to see it without removing the PCB from the front panel.

Thanks again!

How odd to read this thread and discover I am not the only Kenwood owner to suffer this affliction. How miraculous to find it is something that can be fixed at home. I have the VR-407, which I bought new as part of a HTB set, and sure enough, after about two or three years of service, it slowly stopped responding to the remote. I was able to get it to perk up for a while with a well-placed smack, but it never lasted long. For the last two or three years it hasn't received remote signals at all.

I still want to get a new receiver/amp, but I may attempt this fix anyway. I know my wife, who has some experience with a soldering iron, would rather fix it than shell out $400 - $800 for a new amp (plus the inevitable new speakers) whose upgraded features she could care less about. Just out of curiosity, what replacement options did some of you consider or end up going with?

Another problem: How to compensate for the exercise I got from having to get up to adjust the volume.

I bought a Yamaha 2600 for the theater room. No intention to use the Kenwood for process, just music and buttkickers.

Just get up and get a few extra beers!

Bud

Oooh...I would love the 2600. Wish I had $1,500 laying around.

I think we're going to borrow my dad's soldering iron and make an attempt this weekend. I'm a little concerned because I haven't heard from anyone with a 400 series in this forum and wonder if I'll find a different layout under the hood.

Also, I'm not entirely clear from the picture what we should be connecting. Should solder be used to connect those three dots in a horizontal row to the left of the arrow?

NOOO!!!! STOP!!!
all you have to do is refresh the solder connections because they are bad,
get yourself some solder(60/40 electronics solder NOT!! plumbing solder)
and a soldering iron(a 15w pencil style)

heat up the iron, use a damp paper towel to clean off the iron tip when it's hot,
melt a small bit of solder on the iron tip and touch it to the old solder connection, you will see the dull old solder turn shinny add more solder if it disappears,
be careful that you don't join the other connections to this one!!
also do not heat the pc board for too long because you will damage it and make the problem worse.
let the board cool after each one that you do.
inspect the board(both sides) after to be sure that solder has not touched another trace.
while you are in there have a look at the boards for any darkening(burning) from hot resistors, if you see none you are good to go.

Actually, I paid about 900.00 for it.

I'm not solder expert, so I would listen to laststarfighter....

Bud

Bless you. I knew to use electronics solder, but everything else was helpful. If we go through with it this weekend, I'll let you know if it goes well. Otherwise, I'll be PM'ing chinadog for more info about that 2600.