Popping sound! Help!

Milsivich
Milsivich Posts: 43
edited September 2011 in Troubleshooting
The problem:


Occasionally (at least once every 15 minutes) I get a loud popping sound over one of the speakers, always the same one. The sound is somewhere between someone clipping a finger nail and someone snapping a book shut, but it definitely originates from the speaker. The sound intensity is directly correlated to the volume my system is at at the time.

My setup:

Pair of polk R10 bookshelf speakers (soon to be upgraded!)
PSW10 polk powered sub (replaced after speakers)
Parasound 2100 preamp (new)
Parasound 2125 amp (new)

Additional information:

Until recently I have been running the speakers and sub through an old crappy Denon receiver that couldn't adequately power the system that I have, or the one I play to upgrade to. I never had any problems with popping. Because I was already underpowered, I decided to upgrade my amp/preamp first. The overall sound my system produces increased in quality astoundingly, much more than I thought it would by simply upgrading amplification, but the popping is definitely a serious concern.

Thank you all in advance!
Post edited by Milsivich on
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Comments

  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2011
    Reverse the speakers and see if the pop follows the speaker. If it does, the problem is the speaker. If the pop stays on the same side, then the problem is somewhere else, so you'll have to start eliminating components one by one until you track it down.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,552
    edited August 2011
    Sounds like you have a bad driver. Since you are upgrading, I woudn't bother repairing it.
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  • Milsivich
    Milsivich Posts: 43
    edited September 2011
    Okay, weird stuff going on here. Tried switching the the wires around on the back of the amp. For reference, lets refer to the speakers as 1 and 2, and the back of the amp as A and B. I had speaker 1 hooked up to a (and 2 to b) when the popping occured. I switched them around so that 1 was connected to b, and the popping still happened on the same speaker! I figured, okay great, problem solved; bad driver.

    But no. I thought maybe it was really happening in both speakers, but just quietly in one of them, so I switched the physical position of the speakers. 1 still connected to b, 2 connected to a, but now 1 is left instead of right. The popping stayed on the right! Which means that the driver is eliminated and the amp is eliminated... that leaves on the physical POSITION of the speakers. How close does a laptop have to be in order to cause such a problem? Also, a few feet away is a little microwave, but that is never on when the problem happens.
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  • HTguru1982
    HTguru1982 Posts: 1,066
    edited September 2011
    Does the popping occur when something is turned on? AC, light switch, etc? Definitely sounds like electrical interference, though. Try hooking the equipment up to an extension cord and plugging it into an another outlet or even another room and see if the popping follows. Do you live in an apartment complex? Perhaps someone with electrical expertise will chime in.
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  • stuwee
    stuwee Posts: 1,508
    edited September 2011
    Welcome to Club Polk Milsivich!!

    Is the laptop your music source to the preamp? can you borrow another source, a CDP from a friend? I think your preamp might be picking up something through an interconnect or from the laptop hook up is doing it somehow, try to search in that area, do you have some other IC's you can use? Good Luck to you, keep us posted what else you find, these things are a real PITA :frown:
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  • Milsivich
    Milsivich Posts: 43
    edited September 2011
    It seems as though my laptop was the problem... when I hooked up my turntable it sounded great, and even hooking up my iPod sounded fine, no popping. I'll have to figure out what was going on, because a lot of my music is on my laptop. Perhaps it was a bad cable. Thanks for the advice!
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  • Tony M
    Tony M Posts: 11,151
    edited September 2011
    The output jacks are famous for wearing out on laptops. I've seen a few in the past couple of years.:frown:
    Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them.
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  • inspiredsports
    inspiredsports Posts: 5,501
    edited September 2011
    Post #9 by Laurel421 reported as spam for removal.
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  • kolbywhite28
    kolbywhite28 Posts: 49
    edited September 2011
    tony millard wrote: »
    The output jacks are famous for wearing out on laptops. I've seen a few in the past couple of years.:frown:

    Couldn't agree more on this. Well aside from the laptop battery and the screen, speakers of laptops always come defective first.
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  • BeefJerky
    BeefJerky Posts: 1,320
    edited September 2011
    tony millard wrote: »
    The output jacks are famous for wearing out on laptops. I've seen a few in the past couple of years.:frown:
    Am I the only one who's has never had this happen on any of his laptops?
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  • Gayla Norris
    Gayla Norris Posts: 1
    edited September 2011
    We bought a sound bar and we keep getting a popping sound when we change our tv channels and than the popping starts when the tv goes into commercials. What could be causing this problem?
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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 7,658
    edited September 2011
    Hello,
    Thanks for posting on Club Polk forum. That is probably something you would want to discuss with Polk's CS department. Call them at 1-800-377-7655 or send an email to polkcs@polkaudio.com. There could be a problem with not having a sufficient ground connection between components. I'm sure they'll be able to help.
    Regards, Ken
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