Sound cut out issues on Denon 3808CI and one dead HDMI input

Kawaii Koneko · March 7, 2019

So I have a Denon 3808CI receiver that I love to death but it has a couple problems. The first is that the right front channel likes to completely stop working sometimes. There won't be any sound coming out of it. To get it working again, I have to mute and unmute the receiver. Sometimes it only takes one time and others it takes several attempts before sound cuts back in. Sometimes this trick does not work and the only way to get it working is to turn up the volume super loud until the sound cuts back in and once I lower the volume, it is fine.

Note that the severity of this varies. Sometimes I will go a few days without this happening and others, it will happen multiple times a day. Could this be a board failing or perhaps some capacitor issue? Note that this issue has been going on for a few years now.

Another problem is that the first HDMI input stopped working a long time ago. Probably a couple years ago. It isn't that big of a deal since I have an HDMI switcher hooked up to it any way but it is still one less HDMI I have to work with. Is this likely the board that the HDMI ports are on or again, could this be a capacitor?

Do you think this unit is slowly dying or is this something that could be repaired without actually needing to replace any boards? I'd like to avoid any board replacement because unless I can find a really good deal on eBay, it just doesn't make economic sense. That is the same reason why I haven't had the unit examined. I can buy another used model off ebay for $250-350 so it only makes sense to put so much money into it.

I would like to keep this thing going if possible. While I do plan on upgrading to a newer Denon that supports 4k (bought an AVR Key to get around the lack of 4k on my current unit) and Atmos at some point in the future for my main entertainment setup, I would like to repurpose this to use on a separate setup for older gaming consoles.

I feel pretty confident in repairing this if possible. I've done solder work on my consoles in the past and built my own PC, so it can't be that hard. The only thing that I am unable to do is actually diagnose problems. I'm not sure where to start. Maybe if I had a guide walking me through every step but I don't lol.

Any ideas?

circeseye · March 7, 2019

it sounds like it could be slowly going out, but, there is a possibility it can be repaired.

hard to say on the one channel doing what it does..it could be a couple different things

hdmi could just be a bad hdmi jack or solder..i believe all the hdmi's are on the same board

looking at your receiver thou...it does only have hdmi 1.3...the surround it has is fine but if your looking to go 4k in near future you might want to upgrade so you can get the full 60htz. now your limited to 30htz and no hdr options..just a thought

Kawaii Koneko · March 7, 2019

1 hour ago, circeseye said:

hdmi could just be a bad hdmi jack or solder..i believe all the hdmi's are on the same board

Yeah, they are. I took it apart once to give it a good dust cleaning and they were all on one board. I could take it apart again and see if I can spot anything.

1 hour ago, circeseye said:

looking at your receiver thou...it does only have hdmi 1.3...the surround it has is fine but if your looking to go 4k in near future you might want to upgrade so you can get the full 60htz. now your limited to 30htz and no hdr options..just a thought

I already have gone 4k. I bought an HDfury AVR Key to bypass the receiver for video. So the device separates the audio and video from the HDMI and sends the 4k 60hz signal to my TV directly and then passes the audio through another HDMI to the receiver. It isn't ideal but I am still getting 60hz and HDR, just not through the receiver.

I'm just not ready to upgrade my receiver yet. I'd like to build a new gaming PC and do some mods to my car before I drop $1k plus on a new receiver. I'd really like to get the Denon AVR-X4500H but that thing has an MSRP of like $1,600 USD. So I have some saving up to do...