Tech help with my surround sound receiver Please?

Question

I have an older sony receiver that i have hooked up right now.

Its an STR-DE545 model.

Recently when I have the surround sound hooked up when we watch movies or listen to music, the sound goes in and out. It starts out kind of quiet then all of a sudden it gets super loud. makes sort of a popping sound.

Is this because of the receiver? or is it because of the speakers? Please help. thanks

Answer 1

Based on Sony's listed features for this model my suspicion of a dolby decoding problem was put aside. I'm not sure how you're sending the signal to the receiver (whether it's by rca digital coax or optical) but if you are using rca, I'd switch to optical or coax to get the best signal possible. Another possibility  is to test each speaker connected singly (or in pairs) to the receiver using a familiar sound source (cd preferred) and listen to the speakers to see if any are buzzing popping, sound scratchy or work intermittently (what you are testing for is a blown speaker or a bad channel on the amplifier) in using the main speaker outputs from the amp you eliminate the surround section and just test the speakers with the stereo. If the speakers all seem clear (including the surround and center) you can move to testing the surround output using a dvd source, your cable/satellite source. If the dvd seems clear but the cable/satellite doesn't you may not be getting the dolby/dts signal cleanly from your provider. Keep in mind many tv shows (esp. older) don't use dolby/dts encoding and your system may be trying to decode something that isn't there.

Answer 2

it sounds like there is a problem with the receiver.  one way to check is hook up a different set of speakers to the rear and see if you get the same results.  if you do, you know it is the receiver.  if you don't, it is probably the speakers.

hope this helps.