Fronts are labelled "pre" in amp assign using both presets.
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Denon AVR-X3700H AVR Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
May be try flipping between assign to pre outs in and out a few times, even 10 times, each time you should heat the click sound. I think the relay might be getting stuck or the contacts got a little dirty, somehow so excercising it might help. I doubt that is the case but just being hopeful, wishful thinking on my part.
Peng, I'll try that when I have time. Thanks.
As a temporary solution, I took the outboard amp out of the system, and I'm running all speakers from the AVR speaker outs. Sound quality not as good, but at least it works.
One odd thing though is that while this problem was occurring, when the mains were working intermittently, the system was sounding much better than usual, and the volume gain was markedly higher at a lower levels.
Any chance this is a software issue? Can I reinstall the firmware?
As a temporary solution, I took the outboard amp out of the system, and I'm running all speakers from the AVR speaker outs. Sound quality not as good, but at least it works.
One odd thing though is that while this problem was occurring, when the mains were working intermittently, the system was sounding much better than usual, and the volume gain was markedly higher at a lower levels.
Any chance this is a software issue? Can I reinstall the firmware?
Might be worth resetting to factory defaults:
Restoring the firmware to the factory defaults AVC-X3700H
Anything is possible so restoring FW is worth the try, just don't be too hopeful on the outcome..
Other things you can try, just to troubleshoot a little more could include the following, not in any particular order:
a) When the fault happens, measure the pre out voltage and see what's happening, obviously you need a multi tester for that.
b) Try another external amp that you know for sure is working perfectly.
c) Try a different interconnect cable that you are sure working perfectly.
If I understood right, you had already disconnected the external amp and is now using the Denon's amps that are working fine. So the troubleshooting steps above are something that I would do for sure, even just to satisfy curiosity.
Q:
1) When you lost the FL/FR pre out did both channel went silent all of a sudden, or there were some other tell tale things?
2) Did you try turning if off, unplugged the power cord and then restart the unit to see if it cleared the problem?
3) Right after you do your last hard reset, I assume you meant microprocessors reset/reset to factory default conditions, did the unit work perfectly again right after, and that the same intermittent fault only came back later, like shortly after, of long after?
4) If you hook the ext. amp back on, but still have the Denon's amps connected and the speakers connected to the ext. amp, would you still get the intermittent fault?
I think 4) is important to know, if the problem goes away then you know (99% certainty) the AVR is not the problem.
Intermittent faults are often caused by connections issues, the fact that the unit is working fine with the Denon's own power amps, would indicate that there are no parts/hardware failure, not likely anyway; and software/FW related troubles are, while possible, highly unlikely. So I highly suspect it is a connection related issue. If it is intermittent, it is not easy to find so if warranty has already expired, you should contact Denon and see if they would agree to still take it in or warranty (they may agree to do it if it has only recently expired), and if not then it may be better to wait until the issue became permanent before sending it out. That would be another reason to do more troubleshoot now as suggested above.
Last edited:
Thanks for all this. I did try all the variations of resets etc. to no avail.Anything is possible so restoring FW is worth the try, just don't be too hopeful on the outcome..
Other things you can try, just to troubleshoot a little more could include the following, not in any particular order:
a) When the fault happens, measure the pre out voltage and see what's happening, obviously you need a multi tester for that.
b) Try another external amp that you know for sure is working perfectly.
c) Try a different interconnect cable that you are sure working perfectly.
If I understood right, you had already disconnected the external amp and is now using the Denon's amps that are working fine. So the troubleshooting steps above are something that I would do for sure, even just to satisfy curiosity.
Q:
1) When you lost the FL/FR pre out did both channel went silent all of a sudden, or there were some other tell tale things?
2) Did you try turning if off, unplugged the power cord and then restart the unit to see if it cleared the problem?
3) Right after you do your last hard reset, I assume you meant microprocessors reset/reset to factory default conditions, did the unit work perfectly again right after, and that the same intermittent fault only came back later, like shortly after, of long after?
4) If you hook the ext. amp back on, but still have the Denon's amps connected and the speakers connected to the ext. amp, would you still get the intermittent fault?
I think 4) is important to know, if the problem goes away then you know (99% certainty) the AVR is not the problem.
Intermittent faults are often caused by connections issues, the fact that the unit is working fine with the Denon's own power amps, would indicate that there are no parts/hardware failure, not likely anyway; and software/FW related troubles are, while possible, highly unlikely. So I highly suspect it is a connection related issue. If it is intermittent, it is not easy to find so if warranty has already expired, you should contact Denon and see if they would agree to still take it in or warranty (they may agree to do it if it has only recently expired), and if not then it may be better to wait until the issue became permanent before sending it out. That would be another reason to do more troubleshoot now as suggested above.
I need to work on the problem a bit more. Right now with all speakers connected to the avr with no outboard amp, it seems to be working OK, but I want to give it some time to see if the issue resurfaces. As you say that would provide some information.
I also need to analyze what causes the mains to stop working- it seems to be changes in certain settings (i.e. speaker presets from 1 to 2 and back or changing the volume) on the avr that cause it, just not sure which particular ones just yet. This suggests that it might not be the amp or the cables, but it's something related to the pre outs.
We'll see. Thanks for the tips
But it is very easy to do the tests to rule out cable or amps being the issue. The triggering events (likely just coincidents as you don't seem sure about it) you mentioned don't seem to be the cause if using the unit as an avr fixed it, though I agree that you need more running time to confirm.
A quick analyze based on the info above:
1. If changing speaker presets caused the issue:
What presets were you changing to and from? Would those presets involved changing the amp assign settings?
2. Changing the volume:
That is near impossible, changing the volume should not cause the front L/R pre outs to go off unless it resulted in major overload/protection mode, but in those cases it will be so obvious that you will know if and when it happens.
Other than those two scenarios, that could potentially be a software related issues, on the hardware side, take a look of the following block diagram, that is typical of a Denon or Marantz AVR:
You can see that if using the Denon's power amps (speaker out) works, then pre out has to work because it is the same signal that is connected to both the power amps and the pre out terminals.
One remote possibility, based on this diagram (everything is self explanatory, the NJU72750 is an IC, used for switching) is that if there is a software glitch of some sort, it might be possible that when you change presets, it activated (shouldn't, but if there is something wrong...) the "mute" function, but if that's the case, then if and when it happens again, you should try to press the mute button and see what happens.
Unless you are ready to quit troubleshooting and prepare to send the unit out, I would think it may be a good idea to reconnect the external amp so you can keep troubleshooting while continue to use the unit. Since the problem does not always happens, it is a small inconvenience/price to pay, in order to narrow down the potential root causes, and fix.
