Independant of this post, I went through the same procedure to fix a volume control problem on my VSX-1015. But I went one step further: knowing the volume control could not be a good old fashion "potentiometer" (analog resistor), but rather a pulse generator, I was curious what could possibly go wrong inside it. So I de-soldered the thing (need solder suction pump), and opened it by gently plying the 4 lips holding it together. The problem was... grease, having seeped in from the axis (probably injected to generate the heavy duty quality feeling when turning the knob). So I removed the grease using cooton swabs firt, then the finest paintbrush I could find from my kid, and then cleaned the contacts and copper tracks with isopropyl alcohol - ALL VERY CAREFULLY. After having put everything back together - works like a charm now :)