How To Fix Sony Stereo Protect

You've switched on your Sony AV receiver only to be greeted by the word 'Protect' on the display screen and doesn't do anything else. "Something is amidst", equally yous think to yourself, and unfortunately you are right. Don't be alarmed and before y'all send your Sony AVR off for repair, there are some troubleshooting steps you lot should attempt commencement. As this may not be your amplifier's fault and y'all should isolate the bodily problem start.

What is Sony Protect or Protector mode?

When your Sony AV receiver enters this mode, yous will see either the word 'Protect' or 'Protector' appear. Protect/protector manner is activated to prevent damages to your receiver'south internal components such as the ability amps, circuits, transistors, etc. The possible culprits that would activate this mode, will exist a ability surge, a short in the circuitry, excessive heat, speakers outcome, and more. Too, when the Sony protect mode is activated, your speakers will not office every bit you'll demand to find the culprit and remove the threat.

Y'all can do some troubleshooting on your own and hopefully solve the effect earlier the need to send it for repair. Yous should ever turn off the Sony AVR first, in one case you have turned it off, you tin can start past following the below steps.

Overheating / Excessive Oestrus

One time you take switched off the Sony receiver, you should allow some fourth dimension for it to cool downwardly. Afterwards some time has passed, you can try to have a experience of the heat past hovering your manus near the chassis. If you lot are confident enough that is not too hot, you tin can try physically touching it. Y'all will also demand to cheque if the vents/exhaust are been blocked. If it is, you should remove the objects that are blocking the Sony receiver vents. If information technology is not possible due to the placement within the cabinet, and so y'all will take no selection just to take the receiver out of the cabinet and place it somewhere else with proper ventilation.

You should always place your receivers in an surface area with proper airflow and ventilation, this is to foreclose them from overheating every bit information technology will trigger Sony protect/protector mode. The expanse will too need to be a clean environment, remove dust from the area and AV receiver, equally they may block the vents or deteriorate the airflow. Exercise not place your Sony receiver near appliances that generate oestrus or under direct sunlight.

If recently, you lot detect that your receiver generates a lot of rut, just by turning information technology on and nothing is been played. It is advisable to switch information technology off immediately and bring information technology in for repair.

Ability Outage / Electrical Surge

If the protector mode is been activated due to a ability outage or electrical surge then this could be easily solved by turning off the receiver and plugging out the power string from the power outlet. You should wait at least half an hour before plugging back the power cord and turning the Sony receiver back on. This step should have reset the internal surge protection excursion and your receiver should exist working fine now.

Sony Receiver is Overloaded

If your Sony AV receiver is overloaded to the bespeak of clipping, it will trigger the Sony protect mode. This usually happens when y'all plow upwards the volume too loftier during a music/movie playback every bit information technology draws more power from the amps. Another reason will be, there are besides many speakers such as your surround speakers, center speakers, ceiling speakers, etc., and your Sony receiver is unable to provide plenty power to all of them, causing the amp to clip.

Y'all should lower downwards the book to a moderate level or to a betoken your receiver wouldn't prune (with plenty headroom for peaks). You tin can disconnect the speakers (by pairs) starting with your environs speakers first until you reach the number of speakers that wouldn't overload your receiver. Another solution is to get boosted ability amplifiers to drive the forepart mains such as your left, correct, and center speaker. And permit your Sony AV receiver to power the rest of the speakers. If you exercise not have an active subwoofer, then information technology is recommended to get 1 for this situation since it could help to save your receiver, equally producing bass uses a lot of power.

Speaker Wires are touching

You lot should cheque for loose speaker wires or wire strands that are touching each other, touching other wires, touching the back of your Sony receiver, and the speakers themselves. These situations may curt the receiver, and activate the protector manner. Either due to wear and tear or past accident, strands of speaker wires may exist exposed. You volition need to check your speaker cables/wires occasionally and change to new ones if required. Think to switch off your Sony receiver when you are doing this stride.

Disconnecting all Speakers

This is another way to check if a specific speaker and/or speaker wire/cablevision is causing the issue. Turn off your Sony receiver, and so proceed to remove all speaker wires/cables from your receiver. Turn information technology dorsum on, and if the problem stops, that means one or more of your speakers or wires is triggering the Sony protect/protector mode. You can either bank check your speakers and wires individually or reconnect each one at a time to see which speakers are the culprits. Replace the faulty speaker wires or the speakers, this should solve the issue.

Disconnect all Speakers from Sony Receiver

If the trouble persists when you plow the receiver dorsum on without attaching any speaker wires, this will mean the error lies with your Sony receiver. Y'all should send the receiver back to the service center for repair as you won't be able to set it yourself and likewise you do not have the components to replace the damaged ones.

Speakers Impedance

You lot must match your speakers' impedance with the impedance of your Sony receiver that is designed to drive. If not, your receiver volition activate protect mode. Your speakers may get damaged as well due to incorrect impedance. To solve this issue, you tin either change your speakers to the ones with matching impedance or change your Sony receiver to match your speakers' impedance.

Reset the Sony AV Receiver

Turn off the receiver and turn it dorsum on while property the ability button for roughly 10 seconds. A screen will appear prompting something like printing enter to clear all and y'all'll only need to press 'enter' on the remote command. Your Sony receiver volition default back to mill settings and all your previous configurations will be gone. Different models may require a different method to do the reset, you can always refer to your transmission.

Problems with Specific Models

In that location is a slight possibility that information technology could be an upshot with your receiver model only or your batch. Y'all can cheque online to confirm this and if it is true, there's maybe a firmware update that tin solve this result.

Final Words

Please think to power off your Sony receiver first earlier proceeding with the steps above, unless it is necessary for the receiver to be switched on. If all the steps above fail to fix the issue, information technology will at least isolate the problem for you lot and you will know which sound component is to be sent for repair due east.g. speakers or Sony receiver. If your warranty has expired, you may want to check and inquire for potential repair costs. Based on the provided costs, you might want to consider either go on with the repair or buy a new AVR. Peculiarly y'all accept used your Sony receiver for many years, and likely more problems may appear in the future. Might also use the money to get a new AVR, since it will have the latest features, a longer lifespan, and a warranty.

I besides wouldn't recommend buying 2d hand AV receivers since yous wouldn't know if there are any problems internally and you lot may encounter issues just later on a few months of use. Withal, the decision is yours to make, just audition the used receiver as thoroughly as possible.