The receiver you have is known to have had many problems and quirks, and was not considered one of the better marantz receivers in terms of sound quality.

It is quite possible that you generated some very high static voltage with the cloth and some chip blew out as a result. You should always use a soft cloth that has been thoroughly soaked with water and then wrung out.

My advice would be to replace it with a Harmon-Kardon HK 3490 stereo receiver, which has twice the power, a number of good features, and much better sound quality. It even has a phono preamp.

You can get it for about $400, which is a steal. Current Marantz receivers cost quite a bit more for comparable quality, and less flexibility and features.

It is an amazingly good price for a reciver that will make your excellent speakers sound a LOT better.

Archie wrote:

Hello, Very new to the hobby and trying to overcome my fear of tweaking things without ruining my equipment. Everyone here seems very knowledgeable and very friendly, so I wanted to run my problem by you. Here goes: I have a Marantz SR-5000 Receiver. It's connected to my Playstation 3 via optical cable. The PS3 is then connected to my Sony Bravia TV via HDMI. The Receiver drives Monitor RX 6s. Just those. No mid channel or sub. Just the two monitors. I like this setup because I only really watch older movies and play older music. I use it exclusively in stereo mode, as confirmed by the little *stereo* light on the receiver's display. Until about a month ago, this setup was perfect. Then, one day,I was running a dust cloth over the receiver and I think I bumped something. Now, for the life of me, I can't get that little *stereo* light to come back on.  That scares me. Can anyone offer any advice in this regard? Did I imagine this *stereo* setting? I got this receiver for a steal and, for all intents and purposes, I'm pleased with it. But can anyone recommend a well built receiver on par with this one that is maybe less feature rich? Many thanks for your help.