Sub Pre-Out on Receiver faulty???

[SDBlu]

So for some time now I had been thinking that my ED Subwoofer was the issue possibly with a faulty amp, or the sub cables, but I now think my receiver is the culprit. Has anyone ever heard of the Sub Pre-Out on the rear of the receiver going bad or just failing to work properly? I kinda gave up on the ED sub (mistakingly so possibly) and broke down and bought another used sub. The issue was that it just would not power on. With standby mode set to on, it just seem it would not get enough signal strength to power it on. When i would turn it off and then back on manually, the green light would come on, but no sound at all.

I went and found a used Klipsch SW-450 on CL for $150, which I think was a pretty good deal since they still sell for over $400 dollars on Amazon and Best Buy. Plus the reviews on the sub were over-all pretty good. So i get it home and plug it into directly where my old ED sub sat and with the same connections and all. The blue light on the front of the sub came on as it should with power supply. I then plugged the same connections to it that were running to the ED and to my surprise...NO SIGNAL still! So that could only mean one thing to me, that the sub was not the problem all along...

I then tested out another Monoprice Sub Cable I had stored away and used it instead of the Monster Sub Cable. That one worked and now the Klipsch was up and running...So I decided to try the Monster one again and it worked as well! So then I tried plugging in the old ED A2-300 and it fired up as well! Based on both subs working, with both cables, the only thing I could think of being the issue is the receiver. So in the very least, now I have two subs that work, but after a day or two of working properly, again, no signal and now LFE from either sub. My question is could the issue be my recievier???

Any help would be appreciated...sorry for the long post

[bluRazor]

My sub pre - out on my pioneer elite went bad a while back. I kept having to apply pressure to the cord to get it to work. Read online that the pre - outs on my avr were connected directly to the motherboard or something & pricey to repair. I gave it to my stepfather since he needed a new avr & doesn't plan on getting a subwoofer. I was itching to get something that could calibrate dual subs anyway. So yes, it does happen.

[SDBlu]

Yeah, that is what it sounds like is happening in my situation. When I disconnect and reconnect the cable is when it starts working again. And then after a day or two no more SUB, until I do it all over again. Is there a way to find out for sure? I kinda liked the power output and SQ from my ONKYO. Not to mention, money is kinda tight right now.

[bluRazor]

Originally Posted by SDBlu

Yeah, that is what it sounds like is happening in my situation. When I disconnect and reconnect the cable is when it starts working again. And then after a day or two no more SUB, until I do it all over again. Is there a way to find out for sure? I kinda liked the power output and SQ from my ONKYO. Not to mention, money is kinda tight right now.

I was able to make it work for several months by wrapping the cord for the sub around the back of my tv stand and connecting it in a way that applied pressure. Not sure if I'm explaining it right, but try reconnecting your sub & pushing down gently on the cord on the back of your receiver & see if it works. This might be damaging it even more, but it bought me enough time to get a new avr. You may want to Google the model of your avr & sub pre - out not working to see what other people have done. Probably calling onkyo wouldn't hurt either.

[hometheatergeek]

Originally Posted by SDBlu

Yeah, that is what it sounds like is happening in my situation. When I disconnect and reconnect the cable is when it starts working again. And then after a day or two no more SUB, until I do it all over again. Is there a way to find out for sure? I kinda liked the power output and SQ from my ONKYO. Not to mention, money is kinda tight right now.

It simply sounds like the RCA connector is loose. Gently apply pressure to the end of the wire using a pair of pliers to make the connection fit a little tighter. I'm talking about the gold area on the below example.

[Tom V.]

Originally Posted by SDBlu

So for some time now I had been thinking that my ED Subwoofer was the issue possibly with a faulty amp, or the sub cables, but I now think my receiver is the culprit. Has anyone ever heard of the Sub Pre-Out on the rear of the receiver going bad or just failing to work properly? I kinda gave up on the ED sub (mistakingly so possibly) and broke down and bought another used sub. The issue was that it just would not power on. With standby mode set to on, it just seem it would not get enough signal strength to power it on. When i would turn it off and then back on manually, the green light would come on, but no sound at all.

I went and found a used Klipsch SW-450 on CL for $150, which I think was a pretty good deal since they still sell for over $400 dollars on Amazon and Best Buy. Plus the reviews on the sub were over-all pretty good. So i get it home and plug it into directly where my old ED sub sat and with the same connections and all. The blue light on the front of the sub came on as it should with power supply. I then plugged the same connections to it that were running to the ED and to my surprise...NO SIGNAL still! So that could only mean one thing to me, that the sub was not the problem all along...

I then tested out another Monoprice Sub Cable I had stored away and used it instead of the Monster Sub Cable. That one worked and now the Klipsch was up and running...So I decided to try the Monster one again and it worked as well! So then I tried plugging in the old ED A2-300 and it fired up as well! Based on both subs working, with both cables, the only thing I could think of being the issue is the receiver. So in the very least, now I have two subs that work, but after a day or two of working properly, again, no signal and now LFE from either sub. My question is could the issue be my recievier???

Any help would be appreciated...sorry for the long post

If you have had the signal drop with BOTH cables----it is likely the receiver. If you have had the signal drop with one of the two cables...it could be that cable and/or the receiver.

Over time and repeated connection/disconnection it isn't uncommon for the RCA outputs on a receiver to become problematic as you describe. As someone else mentioned in this thread you may be able to buy some time by applying some sort of pressure to the cable near the receiver output jack. For example...you could use a rubber band with one end looped around the sub cable and the other end looped around something above it. I would go above as most of the time when a input/output jack becomes "quirky" like this it is due to the weight of the cable pulling down for months/years.

Tom V.

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by hometheatergeek

It simply sounds like the RCA connector is loose. Gently apply pressure to the end of the wire using a pair of pliers to make the connection fit a little tighter. I'm talking about the gold area on the below example.

great advise geek. i also find that sometimes we are not very gentle in removing RCA cables, especially when they are tight fitting. which brings to mind, why do you need to touch the rca connector once installed unless your upgrading the cable, moving the receiver to another location or something. most of the time once things are installed, they just stay there......forever.

i've got cables installed that have been installed since i don't know when, problem free, but, i've never touched them either.

[SDBlu]

I don't think it was ever loose, in fact, quite the opposite it still fits super tight, and so when unplugging it from the rear of the receiver, it doesn't come off easy. Quite a bit of force needs to be used to pull the plug off and the only reason I have had to unplug it was due to moving and different placement of the sub, thus having to use different lengths in cables etc. So I think the issue started due to that. I have searched for these sorts of problems online now, and it did reveal other people having similar issues with the Sub Pre Out, particularly with Onkyo subs. There are also some trouble shooting things that were also mentioned, which I will try out.

Thanks for the responses and the help.

[Tom V.]

Originally Posted by SDBlu

I don't think it was ever loose, in fact, quite the opposite it still fits super tight, and so when unplugging it from the rear of the receiver, it doesn't come off easy. Quite a bit of force needs to be used to pull the plug off and the only reason I have had to unplug it was due to moving and different placement of the sub, thus having to use different lengths in cables etc. So I think the issue started due to that. I have searched for these sorts of problems online now, and it did reveal other people having similar issues with the Sub Pre Out, particularly with Onkyo subs. There are also some trouble shooting things that were also mentioned, which I will try out.

Thanks for the responses and the help.

The super tight ones are the problems. I ran into the same thing a long time ago using a few radio shack RCA cables. It was like they welded themselves to the terminals.

Tom V.

[bluRazor]

Originally Posted by SDBlu

I don't think it was ever loose, in fact, quite the opposite it still fits super tight, and so when unplugging it from the rear of the receiver, it doesn't come off easy. Quite a bit of force needs to be used to pull the plug off and the only reason I have had to unplug it was due to moving and different placement of the sub, thus having to use different lengths in cables etc. So I think the issue started due to that. I have searched for these sorts of problems online now, and it did reveal other people having similar issues with the Sub Pre Out, particularly with Onkyo subs. There are also some trouble shooting things that were also mentioned, which I will try out.

Thanks for the responses and the help.

I had come across a few posts from people who were pretty sure that their receiver had also been damaged by excessively tight rca connections.
Seeing that Tom is familiar with the issue, I would also speculate that this kind of thing is more prevalent with the sub pre - out due to the fact that people running multiple subs are probably going to have decent quality cables (heavier) running into a y - splitter hanging from a single pre - out & that the extra pressure pulling down can damage the receiver over the years.
I'm pretty sure that's what happened in my case. My pioneer elite sc-05 was pricey enough that I never manhandled anything on it, especially the connections on the back. Other than the occasional dusting, my avr had been untouched for a considerable amount of time when the issue first started to present itself.
It's also entirely possible that i had too many double ipa's, or imperial stouts one night & tripped over the damn cord.

[Tom V.]

Originally Posted by bluRazor

I had come across a few posts from people who were pretty sure that their receiver had also been damaged by excessively tight rca connections.
Seeing that Tom is familiar with the issue, I would also speculate that this kind of thing is more prevalent with the sub pre - out due to the fact that people running multiple subs are probably going to have decent quality cables (heavier) running into a y - splitter hanging from a single pre - out & that the extra pressure pulling down can damage the receiver over the years.
I'm pretty sure that's what happened in my case. My pioneer elite sc-05 was pricey enough that I never manhandled anything on it, especially the connections on the back. Other than the occasional dusting, my avr had been untouched for a considerable amount of time when the issue first started to present itself.
It's also entirely possible that i had too many double ipa's, or imperial stouts one night & tripped over the damn cord.

The weight can drag down the terminals for sure. But in my case(with the rat shack cables) I literally had to pull nearly as hard as I could...WHILE ALSO pulling up/down/left/right on the cable to get it off. Repeat this a few times and all sorts of odd behavior will start occurring at these connection points. I ended up using a needle nose to bend out some of the tabs a tiny bit so I could reuse the cables without having to "get angry" to disconnect them.

Tom V.

[SDBlu]

Originally Posted by Tom V.

The super tight ones are the problems. I ran into the same thing a long time ago using a few radio shack RCA cables. It was like they welded themselves to the terminals.

Tom V.

Yes! In fact I remember the rear wall of the receiver flexing outward as I attempted to pull the plug off. Even if done cautiously, it still presented a problem.

[SDBlu]

Originally Posted by bluRazor

I had come across a few posts from people who were pretty sure that their receiver had also been damaged by excessively tight rca connections.
Seeing that Tom is familiar with the issue, I would also speculate that this kind of thing is more prevalent with the sub pre - out due to the fact that people running multiple subs are probably going to have decent quality cables (heavier) running into a y - splitter hanging from a single pre - out & that the extra pressure pulling down can damage the receiver over the years.
I'm pretty sure that's what happened in my case. My pioneer elite sc-05 was pricey enough that I never manhandled anything on it, especially the connections on the back. Other than the occasional dusting, my avr had been untouched for a considerable amount of time when the issue first started to present itself.
It's also entirely possible that i had too many double ipa's, or imperial stouts one night & tripped over the damn cord.

Haha. Blame it on the alcohol!

[Krelldog1977]

Originally Posted by SDBlu

So for some time now I had been thinking that my ED Subwoofer was the issue possibly with a faulty amp, or the sub cables, but I now think my receiver is the culprit. Has anyone ever heard of the Sub Pre-Out on the rear of the receiver going bad or just failing to work properly? I kinda gave up on the ED sub (mistakingly so possibly) and broke down and bought another used sub. The issue was that it just would not power on. With standby mode set to on, it just seem it would not get enough signal strength to power it on. When i would turn it off and then back on manually, the green light would come on, but no sound at all.

I went and found a used Klipsch SW-450 on CL for $150, which I think was a pretty good deal since they still sell for over $400 dollars on Amazon and Best Buy. Plus the reviews on the sub were over-all pretty good. So i get it home and plug it into directly where my old ED sub sat and with the same connections and all. The blue light on the front of the sub came on as it should with power supply. I then plugged the same connections to it that were running to the ED and to my surprise...NO SIGNAL still! So that could only mean one thing to me, that the sub was not the problem all along...

I then tested out another Monoprice Sub Cable I had stored away and used it instead of the Monster Sub Cable. That one worked and now the Klipsch was up and running...So I decided to try the Monster one again and it worked as well! So then I tried plugging in the old ED A2-300 and it fired up as well! Based on both subs working, with both cables, the only thing I could think of being the issue is the receiver. So in the very least, now I have two subs that work, but after a day or two of working properly, again, no signal and now LFE from either sub. My question is could the issue be my recievier???

Any help would be appreciated...sorry for the long post

It is the AVR, I had the same problem. Nothing to do with cables. My solution was to return the onkyo and buy something better. Get an Anthem if you can swing it...their MRX lineup is not that expensive.