Hey people, I know it's my first post and all, but I just don't know what to do anymore. I have a question, that is driving me nuts!

Some time ago I bought a 5.1 sound system, from Genious, specifically a HW-SF5.1.

For starters it is made out of wood, I didn't realize until after I bought it and they wouldn't change it in the store for that reason. Then came the problem that when I installed it in my room, it picked up radio signals. So I drove it back to the store again and had them test it right there... it didn't pick up radio signal inside the store, they said it was perfectly fine and wouldn't change it then! they said it was my electrical connection. Meh, I was real angry that day.

So I decided I would test it on the living room, on my xbox/dvd. All was good, it didn't pick up radio signal, apparently it's my room that's filled with radio waves or something (but they should've changed it anyway! I don't think a set of plain speakers is supposed to do that!).

And then came a new problem... 4 of the speakers shut off for no reason if the volume is low/medium, leaving only the center speaker playing sound, all 4 others just stop working. In order to have all 5 speakers going at the same time I had to turn the volume REAL loud and turn it off and then on (I know sometimes the speakers don't have to sound all at the same time, but it wasn't a matter of surround sound, iI think the woofer plant is not sending enough power to all speakers or something). By this time the warranty had passed (Thank you very much Murphy) and I couldn't go change it.

That was about 9 months ago. Just two days ago I decided to bite the bullet and go buy shielded wires for the speakers so I could install it in my room, where it should've been. Those were DAMN expensive for a wire, but hey, I wanted to install the thing in MY room after all!

But then I still have the speakers-not-sounding problem.

Is there any way I can install some sort of capacitor, bigger plant, bigger power source, something on the woofer, so it sends more power to ALL the speakers, and not just have the central speaker sounding all the time? I would really like to avoid sending it to an electronic repair shop, because honestly I don't trust people in this city to know what's going on or how to repair it, I'd rather try myself first. (I live in Venezuela, so sending it all the way to the US to Genious HQ for an exchange isn't an option, that'd cost me like 200$).

Please help me! Really, it drives me crazy! I just don't know what to do anymore! It does sound nice, but I have to go really loud with the volume in order to keep all speakers working >_<

Thanks in advance!

 

That's really strange. The problem as I understand it then, is that at lower volume levels the other surround speakers go dead altogether leaving just the centre speaker working? Are you sure it's not just a case of the other speakers are still working, but because the centre speaker normally carries the speech and main events, that's the only one you can hear?

I think what I'd do in your position is get a surround sound test disc. You can buy them, but if you hunt around in your existing DVD collection you'll probably find a DVD which has a surround test as part of it's audio setup menus. On my surround sound unit, I'm able to alter the relative volume levels of all the speakers independantly - can you do this on yours as well?

If the unit IS faulty, and it's only recently gone out of warranty, you can still demand that the retailer do something about it. Even if they offer you a contribution towards a new model or something. As I understand it, trading standards will say that a product should work for a reasonable amount of time. If the warranty has just gone out, and it's faulty, then they should offer a reasonable compensation to you for that. At least that's how it works here in the UK. Of course the retailer won't just offer you compensation as standard, you'll have to lean on them to get it.

Try the test disc first and let us know what the result is.

Brian

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Electronics Test Development Engineer
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Hi Mormoran!

Does the low-sound cutout problem occur only in your room, or on the living room setup too?


Torben

 

I think he's saying the low sound cut-out happens regardless of what room he's in. If it only happened in a particular room, then it'd be REALLY strange!!

Brian

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Electronics Test Development Engineer
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A simple cheap circuit will pickup radio interference.
Now the circuit is defective and makes the sound cut out.

A technician who never seen it before might not be able to fix it.
I couldn't find it in Google so maybe it is a cheap Chinese No-Name-brand.

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Time to take it to a Certified Repair Shop.
It definately sound like an Internal Problem, Not a speaker wire problem.

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Thanks for the replies!

ThermalRunaway, the problem is in the speakers, not in the surround sound. It does have individual volume for front, center, surround and woofer, and it's also got an aux entrance, above the individual entrances for each of the speakers, so if I understand correctly, if I just plug the aux, and play an MP3 on my DvD, with the surround and front speakers to max volume, they should sound. I've done this test. They only power up if the center speaker/woofer sounds really loud, and afaik, an aux setup with a MP3 going should fire up all speakers. The warranty is a problem, it was due over 9 months ago (I bought it for Christmas for my present to me on Christmas 2006 ).

Torben, the problem occurs everywhere I plug it in.

audioguru, the brand is Genius, but I think the model is a little less known, if I google it (Genius SW-HF5.1) only a handful of links show up. This is the model http://200.72.219.25/producto/Altavo..._3000/357/2326

I was just thinking that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance I could do something about it, before taking it to an electric repair shop, since a) I don't really trust these monkeys to do a good job, and b) I'm not exactly good on cash at this moment

Thanks again for your replies!

 

Hi Mormoran, I don't know where you live, but if you look at this link, I can phone these countries for free.

http://www3.telus.net/chemelec/Phone.htm

And it might be useful to discuss this on the phone if you want to email me your number.

From what your saying, this does not sound like Thermal Runaway. Thermal runaway occurs when the output devices get too hot.

And what inputs you use should not have anything to do with what the outputs do.

Take care......Gary
********************************************

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It is cheap junk. It is not a name-brand. The power output is only 3000W!

But it is the false peak-music-power-output number. Its subwoofer is only 35W RMS and its other speakers are only 9W RMS each.

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Nah, it'd probably be the sound card in that case. Doesn't sound like that's what's wrong from his follow-ups, though.


Torben

 

I agree its basically a cheap system, but either way he spent his hard earned money to buy it and obviously he would like it to work.

Gary

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My point regarding the surround test was not to suggest plugging an MP3 player (or any other external device) in. My point was you can get test discs that will send sound to each channel individually, and you're supposed to hear it clearly from each speaker in turn. If you plug an external MP3 player in, which only sends a stereo signal, then it might well only come out of the centre speaker because it depends what modes the surround sount unit supports. The only true way to test, is with a surround-sound test disc which you can buy seperately, OR you can find such tests on commercial DVDs as part of the sound setup. Often there is such a test built into the unit itself.

Brian

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Electronics Test Development Engineer
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I'll try to find a DvD with a surround test option.

Yes, I know the model isn't the best ever, but I was 21 at the time, working for minimun wage, and saving up for a decent car (got a 1969 black mustang, manual transmission 4 speed + reverse, it's crappy atm because I bought it cheap, but I'm working on it!). At the time I bought it I wasn't exactly a millionaire, but I did want a nice christmas present from me for me, and I thought a nice set of speakers for my computer would be awesome, seeing as I like to see a lot of movies and play games a lot. The brand isn't some cheap ass brand, afaik Genius is just a regular, normal brand :/ or that's what I thought.

Unfortunately I don't know what Thermal Runaway is, but I don't think it's the sound car, after all I tested it with an Xbox, an RCA DvD with individual speaker out and Karaoke function (should be able to power it nicely, right?) and the computer.

And it's not that bad actually, the woofer sounds really loud in my room, because it's small, and the speakers will make you scream if you want to talk to someone, after all, I don't need a set of 15k megawatts speakers for a 4m X 4m room.

I'll try a surround disc and see what happens, didn't actually know those existed :O

 

Generally computer speakers are complete crap - they even make car speakers look honestly rated!. They make all these ludicrous claims "1000w" etc. and if you take the back of the speaker it says "2 watts" or something on it.

BTW - sounds a nice car!

Don't spend time listening to crappy computer speakers, get out there and work on the car!.

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9w rms / 3000w peak? i will paypal you a dollar if you take a sledge hammer to that

seriously