Pop noticed with new audio system

Kelley959

Finally got my upgrade, who hoo. I’m rocking the T-Series Polk speakers. Two T-15 surrounds, T-30 center speaker and two T-50 floor standers with the TCL S405 49 inch 4K smart tv. I purchased the Onkyo TX686 receiver and the Polk PSW-108 Sub (my apartment neighbors will now hate me.). I went through the standard setup, mic room calibration and it sounds excellent. Still will tweak later. But in watching Hulu last night, watched Knightfall, and in the intro, the speakers “popped” a couple of times. Only time we noticed it in the music. Rest of the show was fine. I have adjusted the settings “full band” on the T-50 speakers and have the Sub set to 120khz. I want to say the manual volume was only about 35 percent on the sub. Is there something I need to do to prevent that from happening again? I’m wondering if I need to replace my speaker wire.

Tony M

Set your sub to 80 and your T50s to small or 80hz also.

That might help with that popping.

Or just enjoy the set-up the way it is if the popping doesn't happen very often.

Enjoy!

DaveHo

How loud did you have the volume turned up? Speakers may have been bottoming out, which is bad. Like Tony said, set fronts to small & crossover freq to 80Hz in the receiver setting. Turn the physical sub crossover freq to max to get it out of the way. That receiver is not particularly powerful, careful you don't clip the amp & damage the speakers.

If you didn't have it loud, it may have been Hulu dropping the audio causing the receiver to lose lock then re-lock on the signal, which can cause popping noises.

Kelley959

Volume was 74 out of 100. The Onkyo receiver says the reference is 82.

Tony M

I have a big onkyo receiver and 74 on mine is this; LOUD! My Def. Techs can take this but your T50s, they might be at their limit. Let that sub handle the lows like Dave said. Raise the subs frequency output and turn the volume up on that sub a bit more.

In fact, after this night of christening my BP30s, I feel a powered sub will help the low end. I like bass too much. Adding a sub sure will ease the work these BP30s will have to do to get to 100+dbs again.

Kelley959

See I thought 74 was high too. I’ll change those settings and replay that part off Hulu and see if it helps.

Tony M

Great.

The changes might help, but it's your ears that will be the judge and jury.

DaveHo

Yeah, at 74 & the T-50's running full range you are likely clipping the receiver's amplifier, especially when driving more than 2 speakers. You will not be able to achieve reference levels with that receiver. The power supply simply isn't stout enough to drive all 5 speakers to that level.

recoveryone

Was the pop sound happening only during certain audio ranges (highs, lows...) or random?

1. Could be Hulu streaming audio drops (I get clicks on my AVR when sound feed changes, even from shows I'm watching to commercials)
2. Could be wiring in the apartment (other electronics cycling, power peaks and drops) get a power conditioner.
3. The least likely would be that all of your speakers have an issues, but always check for proper connections of positive/negative to each speaker.

BlueFox

‘Sounds’ like your system is under powered for its use. Does it always happen with the same settings at the same place?

codycatalist

For what it's worth, Hulu sometimes has bad recordings of the shows and I get some odd sounds or dialog syncing issues that only happen on one episode of the show. I would go to another show and see if the same thing happens, if it doesn't then probably just a crap recording on their end.