Yamaha YAS-209 Sub issue

[RobDogDog]

I've had this above for just over 3 years and have had no issues. Been pretty happy with it... until now.

I can't get the wireless sub to work any more. I've tried everything I can think of:

- Powered off both the soundbar and sub and have tried a manual pairing.
- Reinstalled the app on my phone and played around with settings that way.
- Updated firmware.
- Have turned on the soundbar using the sub minus button on the controller.
- Have tried every variation of turning on the soundbar and sub.
- Have left both unplugged for over an hour.
- Factory reset of the soundbar.
- Turned off the router and then tried to pair.

Nothing works. The standby light on the back of the sub just constantly flashes red. Contacted Yamaha support and they've just asked me to do everything I've already done. Any suggestions to any random fixes that I've overlooked, or is it looking increasingly likely that I've got a faulty piece of equipment?

Without the sub, the sound is awful.

 

[lucid]

The link between the sound bar and sub is 2.4GHz RF - probably Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct. This doesn't use the house Wi-Fi as it's a fixed point-to-point connection between two known devices, therefore no passwords or complicated pairing rituals required normally. For this reason, resetting or restarting the house Wi-Fi router won't have any effect on the sound-bar-to-sub connection as the signal isn't going via that Wi-Fi system.

If nothing else has changed in the house - no new Wi-Fi devices, no babycam monitors, no new DECT phones, no wireless door bells or anything else that could bleed 2.4GHz interference over the bar-sub link then a fault is likely. To work out if it's a fault or interference, place the sub near the sound bar and try the connection. If signal interference is an issue then moving the two items closer together will overcome that. You'll still have a problem though once the sub is moved back to its main location.

Faults that appear over time are often related to heat affecting some capacitors. It's usually the ones that look like little plastic-wrapped cans on a circuit board. LINK A sub sitting next to a radiator for a couple of years will have experienced enough external heat to have accelerated the decay of the caps.

Fortunately, caps are relatively easy to source and to replace for someone who knows how to solder.

 

[RobDogDog]

The link between the sound bar and sub is 2.4GHz RF - probably Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct. This doesn't use the house Wi-Fi as it's a fixed point-to-point connection between two known devices, therefore no passwords or complicated pairing rituals required normally. For this reason, resetting or restarting the house Wi-Fi router won't have any effect on the sound-bar-to-sub connection as the signal isn't going via that Wi-Fi system.

If nothing else has changed in the house - no new Wi-Fi devices, no babycam monitors, no new DECT phones, no wireless door bells or anything else that could bleed 2.4GHz interference over the bar-sub link then a fault is likely. To work out if it's a fault or interference, place the sub near the sound bar and try the connection. If signal interference is an issue then moving the two items closer together will overcome that. You'll still have a problem though once the sub is moved back to its main location.

Faults that appear over time are often related to heat affecting some capacitors. It's usually the ones that look like little plastic-wrapped cans on a circuit board. LINK A sub sitting next to a radiator for a couple of years will have experienced enough external heat to have accelerated the decay of the caps.

Fortunately, caps are relatively easy to source and to replace for someone who knows how to solder.

Thanks for the reply.

Nothing has changed at all. The sub is next to the cabinet that holds the soundbar - pretty much next door to it. No radiator anywhere near. I think something must have gone bad in the sub.

 

[RobDogDog]

Fixed it!

Did all of the things that I tried previously, but this time I tried the setup using an iPad rather than my Android phone and voila, worked straight away.

 

[RobDogDog]

And it's dead again. Sigh.

 

[RobDogDog]

Update.

Finally got the chance to take it to bits. Turns out that there were approximately 40 children's toys of various shapes and sizes that had been posted through the circular bit at the front.

Removed all the toys and it's working again without issue.

Who'd have thought that two toddlers would post toys into any hole they could find lol.

 

[Grim5]

Lmao this is more common than you think - always keep children away from ported subs or they will stick stuff into there

 

[Grimley]

No surprise there. When I worked in Electrical retail in the late 90's, a VCR was brought in for repair after a toddler thought the front slot was a postbox and decided to post his Jam Sandwich.

 

[Grim5]

No surprise there. When I worked in Electrical retail in the late 90's, a VCR was brought in for repair after a toddler thought the front slot was a postbox and decided to post his Jam Sandwich.

Owners wondering why the lounge smells like strawberry jam every time they watch a movie

 

[lucid]

No surprise there. When I worked in Electrical retail in the late 90's, a VCR was brought in for repair after a toddler thought the front slot was a postbox and decided to post his Jam Sandwich.

Similar story, but from the mid-'80s. A young mum came to the store with a Philips VCR they'd bought a few weeks earlier. She was creating a bit of a fuss about a rental tape that had got stuck loading and how we'd sold her a bad make of VCR. I said I'd see what I could do, and so I opened it up on the shop counter right in front of her.

Yes, there was the tape stuck. The cause was a plastic comb that had been posted at some point before the tape was loaded. The lady went very quiet. The toddler in the pram looked like butter wouldn't melt.

 

[jaybee]

I own a YAS 209!
A similar thing happened to me in 2010 and I posted about it on these here forums!