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For the love of God, I can't pinpoint a problem I have!

post #1 of 6
1/29/08 at 7:57pm
Thread Starter 
So I brought home my parents' old Onkyo Integra M-504 amp, Integra P-304 preamp, and Thiel CS3.5 speakers today. I was told that the left side isn't working for some reason. Sure enough, I hook it up and it's not working on the left side. I briefly took the amp over to the repair shop and when the guy hooks up the amp, both sides fire up ok.
Now, I get back home, and I'm flipping wires around and it's still not working! WTF?

1. I swapped the speaker wires to opposite sides and both speakers work fine. Whichever one is plugged into the left side of the amp doesn't work. CONCLUSION: Speakers work fine (correct me if I'm wrong).

2. I flipped the cable (between the amp and the preamp) on the preamp end and it switches up the speakers, but now, the right side is dead and the left fires up.

3. I even switched the cable wire that connects the amp to the preamp. Same deal. CONCLUSION: Not the cable (correct me if I'm wrong).

I'm now thinking it may be something in the preamp. But... WHAT IS GOING ON???
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post #2 of 6
1/29/08 at 8:41pm
Is there a headphone jack on the preamp? Try using a headphone and see if you can hear both sides.
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post #3 of 6
1/29/08 at 9:30pm
Good troubleshooting so far, but keep going.

Step 2) is telling: whatever is arriving at either channel of the amp from the right channel of the preamp works. You know both channels of the amp (and the speakers and their cables) work.

Substituting the cable between amp and preamp doesn't change anything. So that means that the cable is probably good. Note: there's the unlikely possibility of two cables, bad in the same way, between preamp and amp, but rule that out for now.

So, nothing is coming out of the preamp left. This means it's a problem with the preamp or something further up the line.

What source (CD or DVD, phono, iPod, tuner, tape, whatever) are you listening to? How is it connected to the preamp? It could be your source device or the cable connecting it to the preamp, or it could be in the preamp itself. Does it do the same thing with different sources? What happens if you reverse the L & R connections between source and preamp?

Keep going... you're doing fine.
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post #4 of 6
1/30/08 at 12:19am
Thread Starter 
I plugged my craptacular DVD player directly into the amp and both sides fired up. It must be the preamp that's screwing up. Also, I am curious... Is it redundant to hook up the amp and a receiver?

SimpleSetup, the headphone jack has a big hole and I don't have the correct fitting (that's what she said...). But, DVD directly into amp worked...

Rasterfarian, I used a tuner (an old Onkyo Integra) but I wasn't getting any reception. Then I hooked up the DVD player to the preamp, which resulted in the same: sound on the right, but not left.

I'm pretty sure it's a problem in the preamp. That's why I'm asking if it's redundant to hook up the amp to a receiver, since I'll be replacing the preamp with a receiver that's more modern, unless of course it doesn't work, in which case I guess I'll just use the receiver. What do you guys think? In any case, thanks a bunch, guys!
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post #5 of 6
1/30/08 at 5:04am
a receiver already has an amplifier inside it. however if your receiver has pre-outs, you can still connect the amp; people do this for a number of reasons - more headroom, cleaner sound from the power amp etc
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post #6 of 6
1/30/08 at 4:59pm
Hook the tuner to the preamp, and turn off muting (if you can), or switch it to AM if it has that. Do you get noise on both channels, or only one?

Which cable did you use to connect the DVD directly to the amp? The one usually going from DVD -> Pre, or Pre -> Amp?

At any rate, from what you say it sounds like the preamp unless the DVD -> Pre cable is the culprit.
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AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Audio theory, Setup and Chat › For the love of God, I can't pinpoint a problem I have!