Clicking/popping sound at high volume

krt919

Hello,
I am currently building a surround sound system in my living room, and it's almost done. I have an Onkyo TX-SR604 retriever, and currently have setup 2 fronts, and a center. I am using 16 gauge wire for right now, until I purchase new front L & R speakers.

Right now I have Polk t15's as my front L & R, and I just bought a New monitor 25c for my center. It sounds good, but last night I was watching a movie, and during the loud part of the movie, I heard a few crackles/pops coming from the speakers. I looked at the specs for the receiver, and they rate at 110w/channel. I previously set the hz to 80 for front and center, and raised the speaker volume +5db on the front and center speaker.

So my question is, do I need a bigger receiver to output more power, or is the center speaker to big for the receiver? Could it be the wire that is causing the popping? Like I said, it only happens when the speakers during a loud scene such as last night. What are your thoughts? If I need to get a smaller speaker, I still have the box for the center channel.

BTW, I am considering getting the New monitor 45b, or should I go smaller?

mhardy6647

If the sound is more of a hard/metallic "clack" - it could be the woofers exceeding their excursion and 'hittin' the wall', so to speak.

krt919

I do have the sub set to 120 hz on the receiver.

Mystery

I'd try a different receiver or different pair of speakers first before deciding anything.

Test 1:
Same receiver with different speakers. If it still pops, get new receiver.
BTW, that Onkyo line gets very hot more than any I ever used.
I had SR-505 and couldn't touch the top cover.

Test 2:
Different receiver with same speakers. If it still pops, get new speakers and use these as surrounds or something.

Test 3:
Use speakers directly on the receiver if you have them running off of subwoofer's crossover.
So test them without subwoofer in use.

SDA1C

Id say turn the gain down on the center. And see if that helps. Sound like over driven amp to me.

krt919

SDA1C,
So what your saying is turn the db down for the center channel in the receiver correct?

Mystery,
I will give that a try too thank you for your input!

tonyb

Turn the gain down back to around 0. Next thing we need to know is how big of a room are these speakers in ? Where is the volume set on the receiver when watching movies ? Also, you make no mention of having a subwoofer. If you don't, set all speakers to large as using a crossover point is useless without a subwoofer.

cheezy

Guys, guys, it is always important to keep clean power feeding to your component. Sounds like his receiver or sub is infested with noise.

If the pop is coming from the sub, replace the power cord with an aftermarket one. Try Wireworld Stratus.

Yes try replacing the speaker wires too. It might be losing signals.

krt919

I am going to re-wire everything next week when the wire comes in. I ordered 14AWG copper oxygen free wire, and banana plugs. I do have a sub which is a polk psw10, and allso wanted to mention that I was watching a movie on HBO when this was happening. I will check the power strip that the reciever is plugged into, and move the speakers away from the center as they are temporarily close together.

Upstatemax

Was it only on one movie?


Try other movies and from other sources.

No point in reinventing the wheel if its a source problem...

SDA1C

tonyb wrote: »

Turn the gain down back to around 0. Next thing we need to know is how big of a room are these speakers in ? Where is the volume set on the receiver when watching movies ? Also, you make no mention of having a subwoofer. If you don't, set all speakers to large as using a crossover point is useless without a subwoofer.

Careful setting the center to large. that might be part of the problem. Most centers are not robust enough to handle full range under higher volumes especially when driven by an AVR. and most are actually in the small to medium range for driver size. Even without a sub, which I now see he has, I tend to have the center on small to purposefully eliminate the lower frequencies and lighten the load so to speak.

tonyb

His receiver won't have a problem pushing all those speakers. Still, we need to know the size of the room and the volume level he's listening at. He may be asking too much from too small of speakers in too large a room.

SDA1C

If he is pushing hard he will clip the center in full range. Setting to small will assist.

tonyb

If he's pushing hard, setting to small will make him turn up the volume, hence clipping sooner. Natural behavior is all I'm sayin'.

SDA1C

I get that but the small setting will reduce the load on the center an most likely add to the mid and high output. Also, if the center is small he can play it louder before the low frequencies push beyond xmax. I'm just saying try the small setting before buying anything.

krt919

Hey Guys,
Thanks for all your input. The room i'm in is about 9x15, and the movie I was watching was Apollo 13. I had the volume around 55, and the hz set to 80 for all 3 speakers. I did set the volume in the receiver to +5db for the center and fronts.

SDA1C

Where are your tone settings(bass and treble) if you are bass heavy that will compound the problem? If you are on+5 for front and center why not just put them at 0? Are you running in 5.1 with no rear speakers? If so go into the gui and turn off the rears if you don't have surrounds. I think you'll have better results with the filter set at 100 or 120 rather than 80. Those little bookies are no good below 60 even in ideal conditions. You wont get much bass out of the t15 or the 25c so why try? Leave that work for the sub. In a 9 x 15 room you should have bleeding ears before amp issues unless you have a overly heavy bass setting to the center.