My AVR Marantz 7012 randomly going in Protection

[ankitbhargava]

The impedance selector in Marantz can be accessed by pressing and holding the main unit’s ZONE SELECT and STATUS at the same time for at least 3 seconds and then scrolling through the options. It is not recommended to change the impedance of the AVR irrespective of the impedance of the speakers as it robs the AVR of its power.

I have found the AC Infinity fans to be useful as my unit gets hot even with LCR connected to the power amps. They say that the video cards contribute to the heat too.

When my Marantz started to get into protection modes, it was the HDMI card which was the problem which needed replacement. Not saying that this could be the case in your Marantz too though.

I traced my earthing issue a live and neutral interchange in the wires of the plug going into the Barracuda distribution box.

I use the following device to check my line.

https://www.amazon.in/Maxcart-ACLin...2&hvtargid=pla-836071780002&psc=1&ext_vrnc=hi

I was connecting my AVR to my UPS earlier. After the HDMI board replacement, I am connecting it directly to the Power outlet.

Thanks, I will check this device.
yes AC infinity fans have helped a lot to run AVR cool. Despite of PA... it was getting heated up.

We have a lot of power fluctuation and outage issue, wouldn't be able to get rid of the UPS from the chain . I lost 2 AVRs because of Surge.

You have a bad ground. This needs to be corrected first before anything else. If this did result in or lead to the odd behavior of the AVR shutting down, you are looking a potential warranty rejection (if its still under warranty), as you had not attended to this after knowing there was a bad ground.

The problem with a bad ground means it would have made the sub woofer or pretty much everything connected to the AVR go live. This is dangerous and can shorten the life of components. It could also be something else in the chain causing the AVR go live. You must find this component, if it isn't the avr.

I have seen impedance settings on a Onkyo. Not on a Marantz or Denon. This is unlikely to be the cause of the problem, as the AVR has been operating with whatever speaker it has been connected to for so long and has be fault free.

I would start by disconnecting every single component running to the avr, leave it on for several hours to check if the problem repeats. Then slowly add a source, maybe a pair of speakers, repeat the cycle again of leaving it on and check if it powers down.

As long as you are not driving the receiver of a cliff in terms of volume, they run fine without any form of active cooling. Good ventilation is all that is needed. I see that you are using a power amplifier too so there should be no need for active cooling of any kind.

A servo stabilizer in front of a ups is rather pointless. This can be corrected later.

Before anything, get an electrician to fix the ground.

I will definitely get ground checked at first priority

Best is to remove all connections.Do factory reset. Keep AVR off for a day. Power up and let it run for sometime. Keep initial volume as "0" always. Then try headphones and run FM or Bluetooth music. lf it works for half an hour, it may be ground issue as suggested by others.
So connect rest gears one by one and check. l had same issue with my AVR when it was new. A speaker wire(+) was touching ground which was corrected to solve the issue.

Yes, getting ground checked is the first priority now

If possible, connect the servo stab to a single phase of your house and use that phase for your HT. In that way you avoid using any additional equipment.

Most likely you have a short somewhere or a loose connection, check each connection from the AVR. If you have banana cables, or interconnects check if the connections and bindings are firm.

Getting an electrician to visit today and check this,
I have checked the connections/terminations and they are all fine on AVR side and Speakers side.
For surrounds mounted and heights on wall there is no space for Banana Plugs though so just using the regular connection which are intact and not touching the wall.

 

[Nagaraj S]

use the following device to check my line.

From your experience, any idea what I would need to do for load and neutral reversed? That’s my HT distribution board (a 10 year old Belkin from Croma)

 

[nvnaveen]

Hi everyone

Last 3 weeks my AVR while in usage goes in protection mode (orange light blinks), it has happened 3 times randomly in last 3 weeks.
There is a "dhupp" sound from speakers and the AVR goes in protection.

Restarting after few seconds it works well again

So far to troubleshoot, I have cleaned it up properly using soft brush and mild blower.
I have also checked speaker wire connection for any lose connection of shorting. My speakers terminate into AVR (rear surrounds and 4 X Atmos) using proper Banan Plugs. The other speakers on Emotiva Amp also terminates using Banana Plugs.

I couldn't find any problem.

I use Infinity Fans to keep the AVR cool and also take care of moisture if any, though my Room is not dedicated and has some ventilation. While using HT setup, generally my AC is on.

What could be potential reason for this problem?

Just to mention, when I touch the banana plugs or HDMI cable's head on AVR, I do get a very mild shock. However this has been there for years now.

i suggest write to marantz technical support team & wait for their reply . support will reply within 24 hrs so instead trying smthg not sure better to wait & get this clarity..

 

[ssf]

From your experience, any idea what I would need to do for load and neutral reversed? That’s my HT distribution board (a 10 year old Belkin from Croma)

I can't make out clearly, but is that line - neutral reversed ?

Are you getting this at the power point in the wall also ?

My power point in the wall was ok. The power cable going from the UPS to the distribution board was reversed. This was causing my UPS go give out quite a bit of a buzz when touched. I opened the power cable going from the UPS to the distribution box and corrected the reversal. Now, no buzz when touching.

ps: not an electrical engineer, just somebody who does things he should not be doing !!!

 

[Nagaraj S]

can't make out clearly, but is that line - neutral reversed

Yes, it is . This condition is on the wall too, rather all around the house!

 

[ssf]

Yes, it is . This condition is on the wall too, rather all around the house!

Not good. Better to have an electrician fix it.

 

[Pancho]

Most well made amplifiers come with a protection circuit - and beyod a particular point - bet it caused by increase in temperature / or voltage fluctuation - it triggers - protecting your expensive gear. Have you considered these ?

 

[ankitbhargava]

Most well made amplifiers come with a protection circuit - and beyod a particular point - bet it caused by increase in temperature / or voltage fluctuation - it triggers - protecting your expensive gear. Have you considered these ?

Ofcourse the AVR is going in protection but the reason is unknown. Am trying to find out why its happening

 

[ankitbhargava]

Update

I turned on HT setup to watch a Movie, 10 minutes after running the AVR went in protection.
I restarted, this time within a minute it went into Protection.

I changed the Power Cable and also plugged its Power to another Power Stripe,
turned on... after a minute AVR in protection.

I disconnected all Inputs and disconnected all Speaker wires (only left Sub and the Pre outs connected),
turned on... after a minute AVR in protection

I disconnected everything
turned on... the AVR did NOT go in protection. I left it for 15 mins

I started backward again
I connected the Sub woofer and waited, then I connected all Pre out and waited, then I connected speakers and waited and finally I connected HDMI inputs and Output.

I watched a Movie for 15 mins and the AVR did not go in Protection.

Not sure what to make out of it :-/

Does anyone has "special Button Press code" to access the Protection History?
I tried "Power on + Enter + Back" but it did not work.

 

[sandeepmohan]

I watched a Movie for 15 mins and the AVR did not go in Protection.

Its not a long enough duration.
Is the receiver still "live" when you had everything disconnected? As in, were you getting that mild shock sensation. You need to eliminate this first. Is it the receiver causing this or if its something else in the chain causing the receiver to go live.

As you plug in things step by step, you must check is its going "live" at each stage. Makes it easier to identify the component thats causing it.

I'd say leave the unit running for several hours and evaluate. You don't need to sit in front it. Just inspect every hour or so, or leave it on Overnight. It won't damage anything.

 

[MaSh]

Update

I turned on HT setup to watch a Movie, 10 minutes after running the AVR went in protection.
I restarted, this time within a minute it went into Protection.

I changed the Power Cable and also plugged its Power to another Power Stripe,
turned on... after a minute AVR in protection.

I disconnected all Inputs and disconnected all Speaker wires (only left Sub and the Pre outs connected),
turned on... after a minute AVR in protection

I disconnected everything
turned on... the AVR did NOT go in protection. I left it for 15 mins

I started backward again
I connected the Sub woofer and waited, then I connected all Pre out and waited, then I connected speakers and waited and finally I connected HDMI inputs and Output.

I watched a Movie for 15 mins and the AVR did not go in Protection.

Not sure what to make out of it :-/

Does anyone has "special Button Press code" to access the Protection History?
I tried "Power on + Enter + Back" but it did not work.

That's good to know. Removing and adding one by one is the only way to find the rogue component. At this point looks like the RCA cables to sub and pre out are the culprits. Check them thoroughly for any shorting. Try swapping them.

Do not plan to watch movies till you have the receiver fully figured out and issue resolved.

MaSh

 

[ankitbhargava]

Its not a long enough duration.
Is the receiver still "live" when you had everything disconnected? As in, were you getting that mild shock sensation. You need to eliminate this first. Is it the receiver causing this or if its something else in the chain causing the receiver to go live.

As you plug in things step by step, you must check is its going "live" at each stage. Makes it easier to identify the component thats causing it.

I'd say leave the unit running for several hours and evaluate. You don't need to sit in front it. Just inspect every hour or so, or leave it on Overnight. It won't damage anything.

I will definitely try that out
yesterday since the AVR was going down one one minute, I thought may be 15 minutes is a decent time to find if the problem would repeat.

 

[ankitbhargava]

That's good to know. Removing and adding one by one is the only way to find the rogue component. At this point looks like the RCA cables to sub and pre out are the culprits. Check them thoroughly for any shorting. Try swapping them.

Do not plan to watch movies till you have the receiver fully figured out and issue resolved.

MaSh

Yes, my guess also is something with RCA cables going to sub and pre out.
In next testing I will try to focus on these first.

Edit - I just tried disconnecting all RCA and keeping Subwoofer Cable connected + all speaker cables and Input connected ... in 3 minutes AVR went into Protection.

I have removed Sub Cable also (going to MiniDSP) and AVR went into Protection in 2 minutes.

For sure its not RCA, its Not Sub Cable
As per yesterday's testing its not even Speaker Cables or any of the 2 HDMI Inputs.


What's left?

In my next test, I am again disconnecting everything and shall keep AVR Powered ON

 

[ankitbhargava]

AVR is now powered on and I have disconnected everything else.
Earlier this evening it went into protection in this state also ones. The Power chain remained same (Mains - Luminous Cruze Inverter - Krykard Stabalizer - BitCorp Power Strip - AVR)

I am trying to reproduce the problem.

 

[MaSh]

In that case I'd suggest that you stop testing like this and get it checked by an authorised technician before more damage happens.

MaSh

 

[Record Player]

Does this happen when playing on high volumes? In some cases, a speaker could also be the cause for this.

Ive experienced this before, and it is quite annoying. I had faced something similar with my Denon AVR and I checked all connections etc and then identified the centre channel speaker the issue. Disconnected it and no protection mode after that. After a few days, changed a few setting for the centre channel on the amp and seems to be fine now.

 

[ankitbhargava]

In that case I'd suggest that you stop testing like this and get it checked by an authorised technician before more damage happens.

MaSh

Was trying to find if it could be dealt without involving technician because I will have to send the AVR to Mumbai, don't have anyone in my city Udaipur. I am trying to contact MZ Audio also.

Does this happen when playing on high volumes? In some cases, a speaker could also be the cause for this.

Ive experienced this before, and it is quite annoying. I had faced something similar with my Denon AVR and I checked all connections etc and then identified the centre channel speaker the issue. Disconnected it and no protection mode after that. After a few days, changed a few setting for the centre channel on the amp and seems to be fine now.

No, not related to high volume or any volume actually. I generally listen -10 to -7 db at max (movies) and I am using Power Amp for the 5 channels.

Even when all RCA and Speaker cables are removed, it went into protection

 

[Record Player]

Was trying to find if it could be dealt without involving technician because I will have to send the AVR to Mumbai, don't have anyone in my city Udaipur. I am trying to contact MZ Audio also.


No, not related to high volume or any volume actually. I generally listen -10 to -7 db at max (movies) and I am using Power Amp for the 5 channels.

Even when all RCA and Speaker cables are removed, it went into protection

Needs a thorough checkup I reckon now.

 

[ankitbhargava]

Its not a long enough duration.
Is the receiver still "live" when you had everything disconnected? As in, were you getting that mild shock sensation. You need to eliminate this first. Is it the receiver causing this or if its something else in the chain causing the receiver to go live.

As you plug in things step by step, you must check is its going "live" at each stage. Makes it easier to identify the component thats causing it.

I'd say leave the unit running for several hours and evaluate. You don't need to sit in front it. Just inspect every hour or so, or leave it on Overnight. It won't damage anything.

Right now when everything is disconnected and AVR is powered on, there is no mild shock.

 

[amrutmhatre90]

MZ audio are super fast in responding.
I faced similar issue on my Pioneer VSX 834 a year back, and funny thing was that it disappeared on its own.
I was away from home for 3-4 months, when I was back it was gone.
But this is very difficult to narrow down and find out exact problem, sometimes bad caps also cause this.

One question, was any HDMI cable connected or removed when the AVR was running?