Receiver had burning wire smell for 1 night...bad?

[Wekiva]

I have a Sony 333ES receiver that I use whenever I am watching TV. Two nights ago I turned on the TV and the receiver to watch some stuff on my TIVO and after about 5 minutes I started smelling a burning smell. After sniffing around my entertainment center for about 5 minutes I was able to determine that the smell was definitely coming out of my receiver. I turned everything off and ate supper. About an hour later I turned it all back on and....nothing.....no smell at all. Last night I watched TV for 3 hours and never smelled it again.

Now I know that I was smelling an electrical burning smell coming from my receiver. But could there ever be a time when this could be temporary? Could a dust bunny have fallen on wires and smoked a bit and is now gone? I do have 6 months left on my 4 year warrenty (got to love ES warrenties!) so I'm not overly fretting...just curious.

[kexodusc]

I have a Sony 333ES receiver that I use whenever I am watching TV. Two nights ago I turned on the TV and the receiver to watch some stuff on my TIVO and after about 5 minutes I started smelling a burning smell. After sniffing around my entertainment center for about 5 minutes I was able to determine that the smell was definitely coming out of my receiver. I turned everything off and ate supper. About an hour later I turned it all back on and....nothing.....no smell at all. Last night I watched TV for 3 hours and never smelled it again.

Now I know that I was smelling an electrical burning smell coming from my receiver. But could there ever be a time when this could be temporary? Could a dust bunny have fallen on wires and smoked a bit and is now gone? I do have 6 months left on my 4 year warrenty (got to love ES warrenties!) so I'm not overly fretting...just curious.

I had a similar problem a few years back with my Marantz SR5000, I took it into the local dealer and they assured me it was in fact "dust bunnies".
I couldn't believe it, the only house work I do is dusting my system off every Sunday.
The techie that worked on it even went so far as to suggest putting a "Swiffer" rag on top of some of the vent holes in the casing to catch more of the dust. Apparently a few people have had success with this.
I haven't tried that yet because I'm not sure how it would affect airflow or cooling, and I don't recommend it.
Just curious Wekiva, would it cost you much to take it in and tell them you've had burning smells?

[JSE]

A burning smell is never good because it means something is BURNING in your receiver. Dust Bunnies or not, I would get it checked out asap just to be sure. Or, you could chance it and "hope" your house does not burn down.

JSE

[mtrycraft]

I have a Sony 333ES receiver that I use whenever I am watching TV. Two nights ago I turned on the TV and the receiver to watch some stuff on my TIVO and after about 5 minutes I started smelling a burning smell. After sniffing around my entertainment center for about 5 minutes I was able to determine that the smell was definitely coming out of my receiver. I turned everything off and ate supper. About an hour later I turned it all back on and....nothing.....no smell at all. Last night I watched TV for 3 hours and never smelled it again.

Now I know that I was smelling an electrical burning smell coming from my receiver. But could there ever be a time when this could be temporary? Could a dust bunny have fallen on wires and smoked a bit and is now gone? I do have 6 months left on my 4 year warrenty (got to love ES warrenties!) so I'm not overly fretting...just curious.

If it is under warranty, and convenient to take in, do that. If not under warranty and able to lift the cover, do that and using a flashlight check the parts inside for discoloration. It should be obvious if there was a part overheating that much.

[joel2762]

I own a Sony STR-DE585 Reciever and a Sony CMT-CP100 in my room. They both have vents on the top and dust enters all the time. I use them both regularly so there is never any dust build-up to burn if I only used them every once in a while. We once re-did the floor here. Sanded down the hardwood floor. I had the Reciever moved in the other room, we had this room sealed off but there was still dust building up in some places. After a while I fired up the reciever and got a slight smell. I figured it was just the dust. I've never got the smell after that because I always have my reciever on at a good volume 1-5 hours a day and the small amounts of dust just burn up. I know what my problem was, but that doesn't mean you could have the same problem as mine. It won't hurt to get it checked out anyway just to make sure. Let us know what happens if you do, do anything.