I have a Sony receiver/amplifier that i use in my home theater system,
but i cant seem to get any sound to come out of the rear speakers, i
have checked the wire connections to see if they are right (yes)  i
have checked the wires to see if there are any breaks (none)  when i
hit the test button to test the speakers, the front two and middle
speakers both produce sound but no rear sound, i have checked all the
setting on my receiver and to my knowledge they are all set right, the
only thing i can think of is that something went bad inside the
receiver itself, i have been to electronics school and would like to
take a crack at repairing in myself, is there someplace on the web
that i can obtain the specs and circuit wiring of the model i am
using?  possibly for free!
the model is a Sony STR-DE915

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Request for Question Clarification by clouseau-ga on 14 Nov 2002 16:06 PST

Hello realimages,

I would be VERY surprised if something went wrong on just the rears in
your receiver. For one thing, they share a common power supply with
the fronts.

Do this for me, please. Hook the wires from the rears to the front
channel speaker terminal on the receiver and let me know if they work
then.

-=clouseau=-

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Clarification of Question by realimages-ga on 15 Nov 2002 10:43 PST

well i checked the rear speakers to see if they still work, and they
do, i double checked the settings again to see if i had the rear sound
turned on or up, and it is turned all the way up, but still no rear
sound

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Clarification of Question by realimages-ga on 15 Nov 2002 13:07 PST

how would i know if both amps went out?  is there a way i can check
them, no worries on the warrenty, its well beyond that.   what are the
possibilities that both of them could have gone?  Again i checked the
manual and all the settings are the way i had them in the beginning,
when it worked so thats all good on that side, any ideas????

I've had problems in the past with component speaker systems and their
sockets-- if the solder connections on the PCB are dirty, and if the
PCB itself isn't secured very well, sometimes just a few jiggles of
the sockets themselves can cause the solder around the socket's posts
to break away and disrupt the connection. Even without the circuit
board diagram, it might behoove you to open up the case and test the
continuity between the PCB and the actual socket itself, or just
visually inspect for broken solder. Of course, opening up your case
will void your warranty. If the item is under warranty, it might be
worthwhile to take it to an authorized repair center.

However, clouseau's recommendation is definitely a good one. Make sure
it's not the speakers first.

Also, sometimes the higher end surround systems have a separate
(sometimes hidden in the back of the amp, or accessible only by
remote) volume control to tell how much of the surround channel to
root to the surround speakers. Once I leaned on the remote for my
computer's surround speakers, and it took me a month to figure out how
to turn the surround channel back on! Double-check the manual!

Good luck,
smudgy.

hi folks,

a quick search on the net reviewed not too glamourous reviews for this
model of Sony receiver/amplifier.

http://www.audioreview.com/A-V+Receivers/Sony+STR-DE915/PRD_118819_2718crx.aspx

apparently, a lot of folks have their rear speakers dying on them.

Do check that its not the speakers that died.  My guess is that there
could be an innate loading design fault at the amps, which cause
speakers to die prematurely, circuit diagrams for this product is
quite hard to get (unless you know of any Sony folks who is willing to
publish this on the web).

Well, while it is possible that both rear channel amps have died, I
STRONGLY suspect it is a setting hidden in your menu choices. Not
knowing this particular receiver intimately, it is very hard for me to
say which. But I reccommend a bit more study of the manual before you
resort to hardware repair.

Good luck,

   -=clouseau=-
 Google Researcher