Sherwood R-925/R 5.1 receiver broken?

[gammmmo]

Bought this 5.1 recevier from RicherSounds at the start of 1999 and it seems to have died. I haven't altered any inputs e.g. CD, TV, minidisc, DVD sound goes via SCART to a Freeview box to the TV SCART and phonos back to the amp from the TV.

I used to use a coax cable from a Sony DVD player into the amp but I sold this back to RS about a year ago and have been making do with a Logix DVD player that doesn't have a coax output, before I go the whole hog and get an HDMI player, plasma etc. Anyway the sound I get now regardless of source/input connector on the amp is a very distant muffled sound. Do amps have a given life expectancy, are they expensive to repair, do specifc parts need replacing? It may actually be the perfect opportunity of course for me to buy a new amp with DPL 2 / DTS!! Thing is I'm not really ready to make the leap just yet because I was waiting to see if HDMI would emerge as a standard.

 

[Dfour]

Sounds like a perfect reason to invest in a nice new shiney amp

 

[garyroboff]

The 925 is a well built amplifier, and it should not be approaching the end of its useful life. Have you checked the speaker wiring both at the speakers and the amplifier? The first thing I would do is to start with a simple stereo pair of speakers. Disconnect everything else, and make sure the amplifier is in the stereo mode. If the sound is clear, recheck the wiring to all other speakers. Also, you should remove any external processing loop to make sure the fault does not lie in that loop. If after you've confirmed that the wiring is not shorted anywhere and the external loop has been removed you are still hearing distorted sound you may indeed have a fault. I can't comment on Sherwood service in the UK, but in the US the factory repair service is outstanding. You should consider e-mailing [email protected] (he runs the service lab) for more (and better) advice.