QuestionThanks for giving this a go. You asked.. the DVD player is also the tuner/amplifier, right? Yes I think so.
Can you describe the "scratching noise" further? VERY Loud deafening sound
Was it coming from the speakers or from the DVD/amplifier? I think from the amplifier but not sure
Did it happen ONLY when a DVD or CD was in the unit and paused (or at least left in the tray), or did the unit just have to be on to make the noise? Not sure if a CD was in the tray my guess there wasn't one in. The unit was just left on.
If you follow-up with more information I might be able to figure out what went wrong.
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Followup To
Question -
I have a Panasonic Home Theatre sound system SAHT700 (3 -4 years old). It is a 5 disc changer with DVD audio progressive scan. About two months ago if it was not playing but left on (on TV mode?), you would get a loud scretching noise (after sitting untouched for hours/days) until you turned it off. At this point the until still worked perfectly - now it doesn't. It won't turn on. Help. It was expensive and is now out of warranty.
Answer -
Hmm... unfortunately I'm not sure anything can be done to this unit - the 'SAHT' model number tells me this is one of Panasonic's "Home-theater-in-a-box" systems that came with speakers and the DVD player is also the tuner/amplifier, right?
Can you describe the "scratching noise" further?
Was it coming from the speakers or from the DVD/amplifier?
Did it happen ONLY when a DVD or CD was in the unit and paused (or at least left in the tray), or did the unit just have to be on to make the noise?
If you follow-up with more information I might be able to figure out what went wrong.
AnswerWell, if it was really loud then it must have been the amp going bad - it was really loud because the noise was coming out of the speakers, right?
I'm really sorry. No matter how many times I hear about this happening, it really infuriates me that any company would put out a product that fails in three years and NOT replace it. Especially Matsushita/Panasonic, whose professional grade equipment is amazing and guaranteed to the nines.
What's worse: there's not anything you can really do to fix this. You can try ordering the $12 service manual from the US distributor (www.ued.net) but from experience that's going to be about how to fix a few mechanical parts on the DVD tray and other misc bits of programming - not what you need.
This is the danger with Home-theater-in-a-box systems: if one part fails the whole system is kaput.
If your Panasonic service center won't let you purchase a new SAH700 unit without the speakers (and I doubt they will), I might suggest buying a DVD player and a seperate relatively inexpensive 5.1 surround-sound decoder. If you miss the single remote control then I would also buy a universal remote and program it to operate both.
