Yamaha RX-V479 turning off no warning

[MBBlat]

I’m using the above AV amp to pump out surround sound, source is an Apple TV box. With the resent warm weather is started turning off at random, unless the volume is set really low. Thinking it might be heat related I’ve taken it out of the stand to get some airflow, but this hasn’t made any difference.

I’m presuming something has failed on the amp, not sure if it’s even worth repairing or if I should just replace with something newer.

[tonyg58]

It's almost certainly going in to what is called "protection".
It's shutting down because something (usually in an amplifier circuit) is faulty.
It may be a reasonably cheap fix, but it's quite an old amplifier and it may be better to spend your money on something up-to-date which will have better processing and also (probably) more functionality.

[Timothy Bucktu]

The power supply capacitors start to dry out and bulge on these. Pop the top off and have a look.

[MBBlat]

Any recommendations for a replacement?
I find I’m increasingly struggling with hearing the dialogue over the sound effects in modern movies and TV, do more modern amps boost the centre channel, or am I better off just getting a soundbar?

I already have a few old Sonos speakers around the place for music, is their soundbar worth it or just a gimmick?

Maximum budget around £500.

[heisthegaffer]

MBBlat said:

Any recommendations for a replacement?
I find I’m increasingly struggling with hearing the dialogue over the sound effects in modern movies and TV, do more modern amps boost the centre channel, or am I better off just getting a soundbar?

I already have a few old Sonos speakers around the place for music, is their soundbar worth it or just a gimmick?

Maximum budget around £500.

I had this when I had 5.1 systems and used phantom centre mode instead which used front L&R speakers to simulate a centre speaker, worked a lot better.

[TX1]

MBBlat said:

Any recommendations for a replacement?
I find I’m increasingly struggling with hearing the dialogue over the sound effects in modern movies and TV, do more modern amps boost the centre channel, or am I better off just getting a soundbar?

I already have a few old Sonos speakers around the place for music, is their soundbar worth it or just a gimmick?

Maximum budget around £500.

I have a cheapish Yamaha RX-V377 (discontinued) which I bought a few years back which was well within your budget, and yes it has the option of boosting the volume of every speaker that is connected. Does make a difference boosting the centre when it comes to speech.
Just go to RS website and choose the one you like and lookup the user guide online to make sure the option is available.
Edited as put your model on by mistake.

Edited by TX1 on Saturday 18th May 11:35

Edited by TX1 on Saturday 18th May 11:36

Edited by TX1 on Saturday 25th May 08:07

[rottenegg]

I'm the same. Dialogue gets swamped by stupidly loud effects and music. This has been a problem for years that movie producers seem to be ignoring. It gets so bad sometimes, we have to put the subtitles on to avoid annoying the neighbours with too much volume.

Have you tried the 'Reduce Loud sounds' and 'Enhance dialogue' feature on the Apple TV? That works quite well for me on just a pair of speakers.

But anyway, in the living room I have my ATV hooked up to an old Yamaha RXV-777 which has a parametric equaliser and individual channel volume adjust, which is a god send. But that also turns off, or fails to switch on via arc. As someone mentioned, I think it could be capacitors drying out and corroded HDMI connections maybe.

I've looked at upgrading it but there's nothing around with same feature set (I need 7 RCA outputs as I use active speakers) that doesn't cost a fortune or isn't the size of a house.

[MBBlat]

Just resurrect this thread, does anyone have an opinion on the Sonos Beam 2? Seems to get good reviews, is under budget and would play nicely with most of my existing Sonos kit. Would probably add a sub and rear speakers as funds allow.