My Onkyo TX-NR616 set on fire, anyone else had that issue?

admin_exported

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I have a TX-NR616 that was working fine for the short time i have owned it (less than a month), but on turning it on it made a pop and after trying to turn it on again, it set on fire... I had to extinguish the flames that came from the front right.

Has anyone else had such an issue with their Onkyos?
 

ric71

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I assume that Onkyo has been informed via your dealer. This is a very serious matter that should never have happened. I am speaking from experience as a Fire fighter.

Has the receiver been replaced with the same model? We sometimes come across a batch of faulty domestic appliances that ignite and have led to many fatal fires. Not trying to scaremonger but it does need to be investigated.

You should ask for a full engineers report from Onkyo.
 

tvspecv

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i did have an issue kept cutting off so i read the manual which said disconnected everything then i started working again but yours just blew which means compensation smoke inhalation
 
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Anonymous

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Im in Australia at the moment so cant get it changed for a month or so, which is annoying. Theres no Onkyo representative I can speak to over here in Aus so I'll ring the UK office.

My distributor is replacing it, they are going to take it then give me a new one. They have been very helpful too.

In terms of stuff around it, it was just sat on a table, nothing on top restricting it, and it blew up the first time I turned it on after I came back from work, so it hadnt been running for a while. I had just made my dinner and was about to sit down to Mad Men :)

I was pretty shocked that it set on fire though, if I turned it on then left the room or something it could have been a significantly more dangerous situation.

I had a Denon since 2004 that ran without a peep, my trust in Onkyo is a bit shakey now, especially considering the value of the stuff connected to it.. its not just the Amp at risk.

I just wanted to make sure this wasnt a widespread issue and Onkyos were setting on fire all over the place :)
 

KiwiMoto

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That's terrible!If Aussie units are faulty there's every chance NZ units may have the same issue/s.
On a lighter note I was thinking of a song playlist for you:

Hotter than Hell-Kiss
Boogie nights-Heatwave
Burning down the house-Talking Heads
And if your fish tank was near by..Smoke on the Water-DP

Seriously though,you need Onkyo to Suss this out quick smart!
 
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Anonymous

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I actually tried talking to them before and they just told me to just get in contact with whomever I bought it from. The issue is that my unit is actually a UK unit, I bought it and got it shipped with the rest of my system with me when I migrated over here.

(Voltages + Freq are the same over here)

Im now trying to source a second hand amp so my speakers arent quite so useless for the next month until I go back. :)

@ KiwiMoto.. thanks for the songs, pity I cant listen to them as intended due to my broken equipment!
 

Andrew Everard

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Chalima

If you still have concerns, would you be happy for me to pass on your email address to Onkyo UK? I have spoken to the company, and it's keen to get to the bottom of this situation, so if I can give them your email address they will contact you directly with a view to resolving things.

You can email me at the usual contact address
 
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Anonymous

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Hi Everyone who may be following this:

I have been speaking to Onkyo both in Japan and EU and they could not have been more helpful in this matter, it seems this will be resolved soon.

They responded very quickly and did their upmost to try and help. Very pleased.
 
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Anonymous

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I purchased an ONKYO TXNR-616 a week ago, and last night I heard a few pops and cracks, and the unit started smoking. It didn't trip my surge protector, so I qucikly unplugged. By the amount of smoke, I'd guess a fire would have followed if I left it plugged in. No issues with the unit following up to this. I installed the latest firmware (1141-0108-0400) via USB when I received the unit, and was watching tv through the unit when it died. I've read of quite a few HDMI issues with the unit, but found your entry lasy night while searching. I live in Chicago, IL and purchased the unit through Amazon. Thanks for your post
 

strapped for cash

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I'm not surprised Onkyo are bending over backward to help. As others have stated, the situation could have been considerably worse. If a house fire were traced back to a faulty Onkyo unit, the company would have more to worry about than a replacement AVR.

Since another poster has highlighted a similar issue, how confident should other owners feel? Again, not to scaremonger... It could be simply be a bad unit, though I'd feel a little uneasy if I'd bought the same receiver.
 

Benedict_Arnold

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KiwiMoto said:
Hotter than Hell-Kiss

Boogie nights-Heatwave

Burning down the house-Talking Heads

And if your fish tank was near by..Smoke on the Water-DP

The Heat is On - can't remember who by, but from the Beverley Hils Cop movie

Fire - Arthur Brown

The Fire Brigade - The Move

Anything by Smokey....

Oh, and, the relationship between smoke and electricity explained:

ELECTRICAL THEORY OF SMOKE...BY JOSEPH LUCAS

Positive ground depends upon proper circuit functioning, the transmission of negative ions by retention of the visible spectral manifestation known as "smoke". Smoke is the thing that makes electrical circuits work; we know this to be true because every time one lets the smoke out of the electrical system, it stops working. This can be verified repeatedly through empirical testing.

When, for example, the smoke escapes from an electrical component (i.e., say, a Lucas voltage regulator [or an Onkyo receiver - BA]), it will be observed that the component stops working. The function of the wire harness is to carry the smoke from one device to another; when the wire harness "springs a leak", and lets all the smoke out of the system, nothing works afterwards. Starter motors were frowned upon in British Automobiles for some time, largely because they consume large quantities of smoke, requiring very large wires.

It has been noted that Lucas components are possibly more prone to electrical leakage than Bosch or generic Japanese electrics. Experts point out that this is because Lucas is British and all things British leak. British engines leak oil, shock absorbers, hydraulic forks and disk brakes leak fluid, British tires leak air and the British defense establishment leaks secrets...so, naturally, British electronics leak smoke.

Author Unknown

The Theory Explained through Discussion.

When wires smoke, how come the smoke is not the same color as the wire?

This is not completely true. When the smoke is in the wire, it is under pressure (called voltage). The pressure difference causes the color to change from the normal color we are used to. Not unlike the blood in our veins and arteries changing color due to the oxygen content. When the smoke escapes the wire and is exposed to air, the pressure is released, and the color reverts back to what we commonly recognize as smoke. The wire then changes to the color of the smoke that escaped.

I hope this helps you understand.

I would only question the last sentence of that description. It has been my experience that the wire turns a color directly opposite of the smoke.

Not always true, I think it must depend on the composition of the smoke in question.

I should have made it a little clearer; the color the wire becomes, is directly proportional to the escape velocity of the smoke. Higher velocities generate higher heat. This heat tends to burn the wire and affect the coloring. The statement was meant to be a generalization, indicating the fact that the color of the wire does in fact change. Sorry for the miscommunication.

I was speaking of electrical smoke which is generally white. The spent smoke casing generally assumes a color somewhat near black after the smoke leaves.

I can't stand it anymore! If, as you say, light bulbs suck up darkness and convert it to smoke which is transmitted (via wire) to a power source for recycling...why do car batteries go dead when lights are left on? Do car batteries (and flashlight batteries for that matter) have a limited amount of storage capability? Is it like a hard drive that gets so full that you have to double-space and then lose all data?

Now you're getting it.......

I thought you guys were smarter than this. Of course the battery stores the smoke. In fact it can store so much smoke that if you open the top and light a match, the resulting explosion can do serious damage. I'm sure you are aware that usually where there's smoke there's fire. If you connect the battery to a charger, the smoke is then returned to the wire (Remember, a light bulb wont work unless it is connected to a wire system) for the utility companies to use. Your hard drive analogy is a very good example.

Our hardware guys might be onto something in their quest for superior wiring. I have noticed the unique method of of series/parallel wiring the power strips on our systems seems to prevent the smoke from getting out of the wires. A "Smoke Loop" of sorts. In the case of the "smoked" workstation recently, you should notice that this was a conventional single power strip installation.

Since color is percieved by the cone shaped receptors in our eyes, and cones require more light that their rod shaped counterparts. Is the sky blue at night?

At night the process including contraction of the pupil is visual purple by which the eye adapts to conditions of increased illumination when facing 300 candle power redeflecting devices.

Since there is a spectrum of light that we as humans cannot see, I support the theory that everything is going up in smoke, we just can't see it. This may explain why the neighbors dog barks for no apparant reason.

I think your basic understanding of smoke systems is remarkable. However I find a flaw with your theory. The battery is a reusable storage device for smoke. therefore, one would assume that some sort of one way valve (we can call it a diode) should be needed to prevent pressure flooding back into the system while at rest. Unlike the A/C system, the smoke system is collecting darkness at the headlights and converting it to smoke. This causes the system to fill up. The battery can contain much higher pressures and volumes than the wires. If this pressure exceeds the capacity of the wire, it will cause a rupture as you described. The rupture can be controlled by a sacraficial device known as a fuse. But this still doesn't eliminate the problem. Perhaps a two way valve (zener diode) is used to allow a small amount of pressure to return to the system, and partially equalize. I find this theory unlikely though, due to the increase in the force required to start the pump (which is now under pressure) working again...

The smoke continues circulating through the system, due to the pressure differential in the battery (smoke pressure/vacuum reservoir). When the reservoir becomes depleted, the pressure simply equalizes everywhere in the system (similar to an A/C system when it's turned off) and stuff just wont work. Notice the relations: Work (W) = Force (F) x Distance (D); Force (F) = total difference in pressure (Dp) x Area (A). Therefore, the work done in a pressure system is: Dp x A x D. If the pressure differential (Dp) is reduced to zero then W = 0 x A x D = 0.

The smoke only escapes the wires when a path is created between the pressure differential areas (@ either the reservoir or the pump) that has too little restriction. When this happens, the smoke travels through the wires so fast that the friction between the smoke and the outer walls of the wiring heats the wires until they rupture. The smoke continues to escape until its pressure is equalized with the atmosphere, or until the conduit that provides the path between pressure areas is severed. When this happens, the sudden drop in pressure allows the wires to "collapse" slightly and, being soo hot, as the edges of the ruptures and severed ends touch, the material becomes fused, sealing the system and retaining the remaining smoke.

Don't forget, when the system is at rest, all the valves, (switches and relays) are closed, keeping the pressure areas separated. When restarting the pump, as long as everything is OK, the smoke pressure is equal on both sides of the pump and there is no net force on the pump when it begins operating again. Also, within the pump there are pressure/volume actuated one-way valves with restrictors built in, arranged in such a way that they keep excess smoke volume recirculating through an integral smoke loop, which maintains the pressure within manageable limits.

The excess smoke, created by the light/smoke converters (headlights and other darkness absorbing devices), is changed back to darkness and dissipated in small unit concentrations so its dark effect is not locally observed. The smoke pump impeller (stator), converts smoke into magnetic flux which does work on the engine. Some of the excess work energy is dissipated through the cooling system and exhaust in the form of heat, while the remaining work energy is converted back to smoke and distributed evenly in small concentrations as you drive. This maintains the total quantity of smoke in the system at an average that does not change over time.
 

Albion59

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As far as I know, all UK style plugs are fused. Did you just cut off the UK plug and replaced it with a suitable one for Australia or did you replace the entire cord? That requires opening the unit and soldering the wires in place, so if you replaced the cord you might have spilled some solder on the circuits by accident. I just bought a brand new 616 and it indeed gets quite hot, certainly if compaired to my old Yamaha. I have left the unit on for several days just to see if any defects would occur. In my opinion the difference between older quality electronics and today's stuff is the use of parts of only averge quality in modern stuff. Hence the sometimes rediculously low priced equipment. One just can't expect top quality for these prices. I payed as low as 250 euros for my unit. Brand new. If it breaks, I simply throw it away. My old Yamaha is now 14 years old and the only fault the unit has is it looses its memory after a power outage. Pretty annoying but it still works well apart from this little defect. I don't expect my new Onkyo will last that long.....

Willem, Holland.
 

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