I own a harman Kardon avr7000. I am having trouble with the center channel playing in and out when in any of the surround sound modes(prologic/dts/dolbydigital).I sent the receiver to hifi buys repair shop and it test out fine. When i came home it play fine but , after 45min to a hour the center channel cuts out. I can fix the problem if I increasing the volume higher than 7db. I can have verified that the center channel is not playing my running the receivers' 5.1 volume balance check.

If you can help please email me..or just reply

I bought my AVR 7000 last year and have had nothing but good luck with it (knock on wood). You might try e-mailing H/K and see if they have any TSB's on the problem. They have alsways been real helpful whenever I needed something

Nathan, let's start with the simple:

You determined that the center output is truly dead by using the pink-noise channel-balance test. Good start.

The obvious then leads to either:

a) The output is really not working, which has to be an internal problem, or

b) The speaker itself is crapping out.

You can eliminate the second by trying another speaker on the center output. Never assume.... anything. Always try the speaker on another amp (or amp channel), and the output on another (known good) speaker. If that's dead, too, then the receiver has a bad output section, and the only fix is a trip to the repair shop.

Is it still under warranty? Most "manufacturer-approved" shops are not patient with intermittent problems.

Most repair shops won't just sit and let a receiver play for 45 minutes waiting for a problem, but the 45-minute time span suggests a heat-related problem, and should be attempted to be repeated by the shop with all channels driving speakers, not just the one channel, and at similar loudness to your usual usage.

One other thing...if the receiver has pre-amp outputs/main-amp inputs, you could try swapping the center with another channel, to isolate the lost audio to the pre-amp or amp section.

Hope this provides some help.


Larry