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Right Channel Hell

Beauts

Beauts

New Member
Hi everyone!

I'm new to AK, but have been following for sometime now. I've always loved vintage audio but in the last few years have dove deeper into it, but am still pretty green. Currently I have a Marantz 2240, HK 730, and a Pioneer SX 1050. They get paired with Kef 150's and a Fluance RT81. One speaker is a foot away, and the other is three feet away from the source. When the stars align, they all sound wonderful together.

However, I've been experiencing a nagging right channel issue, which is the speaker that's three feet away, it keeps cutting in and out. It happens with both aux and phono and has happened on both the Marantz and Pioneer, never the HK, which is confusing.

I've taken the Marantz to the tech, it's been recapped, serviced, had solder reflowed, has had the relay and power switch cleaned, and he doesn't seem to have the same issue when he runs it... So makes me believe it's on my end.

At first I thought it must be the speaker, so switched those, and it continued. Tried new wire as well as a different guage, as well as a new RCA cable, and still it continued. I realize it could be so many things, multiple things, including the turntable. Feel like I'm overlooking something. I've had many setups before and never experienced such a frustrating issue. It's driving me a bit batty. Any light that could be shed would be hugely appreciated.

All the best,

Chris
 
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Hi and Welcome! When the Pioneer and Marantz act up, simply wiggle and/or push the tape monitor on both. Also deox all pots and switches. You wouldn't believe how many channel dropouts are contributed to dirty pots and switches.
 
Thanks for your reply @cademan, I'll definitely try it out. I feel like I've wiggled just about everything on the Marantz except for the tape monitors haha. It was just serviced, and cleaned. Appreciate you trying to help
 
if that does nothing, flip the L and R on the turntable cables. The channels will be backwards but if the problem moves to the other side, you know where its coming from.
 
@gadget73, thank you, I've read this before, and have never tried it, so when it's acting up next, I will definitely give it a go. It only ever seems to want to do it at inopportune times, like when my kid's sleeping of course :)
 
Sometimes it's best to use as few components as possible when debugging. I'd start out with the FM tuner. Hook up an antenna, tune in a clear station, and see if the problem still occurs. If yes, it's internal to the receiver; if no, it's external.
 
@gadget73, just to make sure, take red from from the turntable, and put it into the white in the amp, correct? And same on the turntable; red into white?
 
@gadget73, sorry, I understand now, put the red in the white on the amp, but leave as is on the turntable... And if the left channel cuts its the turntable, and if continues on right it's the amp. Will keep you posted!
 
yeah, that.

honestly didn't even consider that you could unplug the turntable end. All of mine are hard wired. Just thinking to try and rule out variables. You already did the obvious things, switching amps, speakers, and speaker wires. At this point it seems like it should have to be one of the things that hasn't been switched, so we're down to sources.
 
@gadget73, turns out the Marantz is fried :( Turned it on to start troubleshooting and the left channel frizzled out, just like that, with the right holding on for dear life. You win some and you lose some. Off to the tech it goes. At least now I know. I connected everything to the HK 730, and it all worked beautifully for hours. Thank you to all for your input, I'm very appreciative of your time and expertise. Hopefully I can get that Marantz back up singing soon.
 
Define fried! To a lot of us here, the term fried means it went up in smoke and/or blew a fuse.

If it just stopped working, it could be something simple like I described in an above post about pots and switches and the tape monitor.

Maybe take a pencil or chopstick and lightly poke around the circuit board and see or hear if there is a difference.

If the Marantz has a mono/stereo button, push it and see if both channels start working.
 
@cademan, well, I turned it on, and it sounded a bit like I was listening to track of "bacon sizzling," or a "rushing stream," and over the course of 30 seconds it faded to nothing.

I did try switching to mono and nothing. I learned that from my SX 1050, whic has also dropping on the right channel, but worked fine in Mono.
 
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