Theater Receiver

Theater Receiver
Why does the volume of my home theater receiver change by itself?

My JVC RX-6042 home theater receiver has started to change its volume by itself today. It happens every few seconds. It lowers itself then goes back up. Sometime goes to zero and goes up again. My girlfriend thinks the problem may be ghosts, but I'd prefer a more rational explanation. It's probably broken somewhere. What's your thought?

If you have DR-Comp on that's why and the most likely reason.

DR-Comp attempts to keep the volume level on systems. Another possiblity is that you are overloading the speakers or system.

I doubt that if your GF is in the room lol.

If that's not it your best shopping ebay for a new receiver(cheaper than repairing)

Theater Receiver

what are pre amps? and are they good to put on a home theater receiver for car subwoofers?

i have been looking at pre-amps and basically are they just a amp for the home? my home theater receiver i have is burned out by everything still works but the amp in it so can i use a pre amp with this receiver? and i only used the home theater receiver for subwoofers

A pre-amp is a device that provides input and switching of external devices and a low level signal to a power amplifier that speakers attach to. By itself a pre-amp isn't useful ... it must be plugged into a power amp.

A receiver is a combination of a radio tuner + a preamplifier + a power amplifier.

If you existing receiver has a burnt out power amp (in other words the radio and control/switch components work, but you get no output to speakers) then an external pre-amp simply duplicates what you already have. On the other hand if the power amp works (and your receiver has inputs for an external pre-amp) you can probably use the external pre-amp. Specifically, some receivers have jacks on the back with jumpers that connect the output of each channel of the preamp module (anywhere from 2 to 6 or more) to the corresponding input of the power amp module. If you don't have these you are out of luck and need a new integrated amp (pre + power amp) or receiver.

I would point out that using a receiver to power car subwoofers may give you sound, but it won't be great since this compromises bass management. (Normally a receiver controls what frequencies are sent to the subwoofer(s) and the main/surround speakers. By separating the bass and main speakers on different amplifiers you compromise this). I'd suggest considering a powered subwoofer attached to your main receiver ... particularly if you need to buy an amplifier (a powered sub would be around the same price)

Onkyo TX-SR606B 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver - JR.com