Distortion from Speakers?

rpettit63
rpettit63 Posts: 3
edited June 2011 in Troubleshooting
I purchased a pair of Polk Audio Monitor60C speakers last year. I love good, clean sound, but I don't know enough about the technical side to be considered an audiophile I guess. Anyway, I have an Onkyo HT-RC230 5.1 channel receiver connected to these speakers, a Polk CS1 center channel, and a JBL 10" sub.

I got the Onkyo receiver a couple of months ago to replace my aging HTIB Onkyo receiver. I thought the source of the distortion may have been the receiver. It doesn't appear to be.

How can I objectively tell if the sound I am hearing is as clean as it should be? I have used many different types of source music (CD, MP3, Pandora, etc.) to make sure the blame doesn't lie with a poor signal. These speakers are too nice to ignore the issue. Please help.
Post edited by rpettit63 on
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    edited June 2011
    Hello and welcome to Club Polk. Could you please describe the distortion you are experiencing [as best you can] and at what volume levels you are experiencing them at? Have you isolated it down to one speaker or is it coming from all of them?
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • rpettit63
    rpettit63 Posts: 3
    edited June 2011
    Thanks for the quick response. The volume level doesn't seem to have much of an impact. I wouldn't expect it too sound super clean at very low levels. Playing Supertramp right now on the PS3 and the drumbeats don't sound as clear as they should. The vocals and instrumentals sound "muddled" together. Can you give me some common industry terms to try and define this? Again, thanks for the help.
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    edited June 2011
    Well, distortion is usually described as a crackle in one or more of the tweeters, flabby bass, a mechanical sounding scraping during playback, an unwanted noise that follows voices or something like that. Then you have distortion as you are describing it. That can be from a number of factors.

    Let's see if we can't isolate the issue a bit, shall we? Do you have a CD of Supertramp that you can take out of the PS3 and put into a dedicated CD player or is that your only source besides the others you have mentioned?
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • rpettit63
    rpettit63 Posts: 3
    edited June 2011
    Well, I'm listening to Supertramp on the PS3 through Sony's Qriocity. It's kind of like Pandora, but better quality. Anyway, my only other viable option is grabbing a CD and comparing the sound from the Polks to the sound on my daughter's 20 dollar Wal-Mart boombox. :) Thoughts? Any particular music style better than others when troubleshooting these kinds of issues? Thanks.
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,029
    edited June 2011
    Well, I'm not familiar with what music you have so let's stick with the Supertramp for now. If the boombox has a L&R RCA out then by all means, hook it up and tell us what your observations are. I'm not expecting anything to change but you never know. Also, let us know if you use the same interconnect to hook the boombox up, please.
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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