Audio Systems: Harman Kardon AVR 245 problems, harman kardon avr 245, harman kardon avr

Question
Hi Sir,

This may be a longer message but I guess telling the story would give you further details of several problems which accuroed on the same equipment.
My father bought a set of JBL 5.1 HT (venue series) with HK AVR 245 as its reciever lately this end week of nov 2008. I had everything connected the cables and speaker wires correctly and it was working on my first installation at home. The problem started when I tried the following:
1)press the surround select while playing 5.1 DVD. I noticed how the sound shifts from different surround formats even stereo 2)increase the volume up to +3dB 3) switch back the surround at dolby 5.1..After that i've noticed that the surround left speaker has no sound so i tried the EZset-up and there was really no sound only at the surround left since i didn't hear the burst tone and the reciever shows speaker not present only on surround left. Other speakers are ok.. however when I play 5.1 DVD the indicator of Sur Left is lit up in the display (not blinking even) even there is no SurLeft output.

Second is the AVR 245 switch to standby mode. I admit on that time the AVR is hot on the top surface since there is no fan however there is enough space for exhaust on the cabinet. when i tried to switch it back on, it switch back again to standby after few seconds..sometimes it switches back on fully but after several hours it switches itself to standby again.

third, the AVR 245 still switches to standby mode and when it manges to swtich on fully there was very low sound (almost like a whisper) on "all speakers" even the volume is at -14dB.

My connections are the following:

a. DVD coax out to HK AVR245 coax1 in
b. DVD 6 ch out to HK AVR 245 6 ch direct input (RCA) (I intended this in case of SACD or DVD-audio playback).
c. DVD HDMI out to Sony Bravia LCD HDMI1 in.
d. 5 speaker out in its respective speakers.

I checked these connections and they were ok. no shorts.
These problems occured on the same AVR 245 consecutively. I really don't know what is the cause of the problem but the AVR is new. We are planning to return it the JBL store and have it checked however I would like to know and have an idea of what have possibly caused the problems I stated here. Hoping you consider addressing the problems. Thanks in advance. :-)

carlo  

Answer
If this is a new receiver and within it's warranty period, I would not waste a minute of time trying to figure out what the problem is. If after you replace it you still have the same problem (which I sincerely doubt) then I would be happy to troubleshoot it with you. If you want to be certain that one of the channels is not functioning then use the working speaker on the functioning channel and switch it to the other channel while taking the input of the working channel and also switching it to the other input. You can then return the system demonstrating that your test is proof of defect.