Crackling Tweeter

gregure

As some of you may have read, I've been helping a friend build a system. We were going to go w/ the LSi 9's, but found a pair of RTi 6's for dirt cheap at Circuit City, and went w/ those instead.
Set them up today, and we were running them off of an older (maybe 5-7 yrs old) Onkyo reciever. It's a stereo 100wpc receiver and we were listening to some Pink Floyd. I heard some intermitten crackling from the tweeter in one of the speakers when we were listening to music. Some recordings did it, others didn't. I'm not sure if it's the reciever or not, but we've got a Harman Kardon 3480 stereo reciever on order.
Called a guy at another A/V store that I know, and he suggested that it could just be a matter of break-in, and that the tweeter was topping out due to Onkyos being a little bright. That could be, but I never heard any crackling tweeters from my RTi's, and I ran them off Onkyos for awhile (albeit current models).
Again, the crackling wasn't constant, some recordings did it, others didn't. What do you think? A tweeter problem, a receiver problem, or a recording problem? I'd like to think it's not the tweeter. We'll have the other receiver soon enough, and can test it out w/ that, but I'd like to see what some ideas might be for the problem. Anything you've got would be appreciated. Thanks.
PS. Got an SVS PB10 on order for her as well, but the 6's really belt out a lot deeper bass than I expected. We're using 12 awg wire. Any danger in blowing them out w/ this reciever? She likes it loud, but I warned her to keep it down a bit until we get the new receiver and sub.

F1nut

The word for today is clipping. Turn it down or buy better gear.

gregure

Better gear is on the way. Like I said, a HK 3480 stereo receiver. I would expect it to be better, anyway. However, the crackling was present even at low volumes, which leads me to believe it is something else.

danger boy

until the new receiver gets there... change out the speaker wires.. maybe they are old or something. Sounds like 12 guage is good though.

I would say.. it's the receiver myself. It may have a problem with it's amp. Is it in both the left and right tweeters? Or just one? Take em back to CC and have them hook them up to their gear and see what happens. That way. if they are bad.. they can swap them out for you right then and there.

DO you have acess to any other receiver in the time being? Or any other speakers? Swap them out if you do.. and see what happens.

Crazed

Reverse the speakers. See if the noise goes with them.

Tour2ma

Yup to all the troubleshooting tips above... plus...

Sporatic noise can indicate a poor connection. Sound waves at certain frequencies can move the bad connection sufficiently to generate noise.

Check for dirty/ loose connections from your source's output through the old Onk's input and speaker selectors (if any) to the speaker posts.

All RCA jacks should be clean, if not shiny, with little or no movement. The Onk's slector switches should likewise have no play in them. Ditto for the binding posts on the Polks. If all seems well here, it's possible one of the IC's you are using has a break in it.

If I were a betting man and that Onk has been idle a while, it's the most likely the source of the problem.

Happy hunting...

gregure

Thanks guys. I'll try some of those exercises to see if I can narrow down the problem. The HK should be here within the week. Probably have time to go set it up for her next week sometime.

Another issue came up--after we ordered the SVS PB10 ISD, I read Doc's review, and noticed for the first time that there is no crossover knob on the box. The HK receiver has a line level output for sub, but the manual does not say anything about bass management whatsoever (I read it online). I emailed HK's customer support, but it's been over a week and I haven't heard anything. Did I get her the wrong sub to match this stereo receiver? I guess I assumed there would be some sort of bm setting on the HK considering the thing has a line level out. Any suggestions here would be good, and please keep in mind we've spent about all the money she's willing to spend at this point.

If worse comes to worst, I may just buy the SVS off of her, and we'll order her a HSU.

Tour2ma

Don't know, but Line Level out to sub w/o bass mgmt capability makes little sense to me..

gregure

Finally got a hold of Harman Kardon. Turns out their speaker outputs for the 3480 stereo receiver are set to full range no matter what. The line level output for the sub is set to output at 100Hz and below. I'm sure it will still sound fine, but I would like to have been able to cross the 6's over at 80Hz and relieve some of the congestion that occurs at higher volumes. Hooked up the 3480 for her today, and it sounds great. Big improvement. I'm still hearing some crackling in the right speaker, so I think I'm going to take it down to the store and see if I can get someone to help me out. We'll see. May have to go thru Polk if it comes to it.

Tour2ma

Glad to read of your enjoyment... sorry to read that the cracking is still occurring...

Of course, if your speaker layout permits it, you can always go the speaker wire route through your sub to your mains. Consider this if either:
- the sub alters the soundstage noticeably as it is operating in the low end of your ability to localize sound; or
- having your mains running "large" with a sub creates bass anomalies at one or more of your listening positions...

Good luck in resolving the cracking...

gregure

Thanks for your interest Tour2ma.
Unfortunatley, in my zealousness to get her a kickass system, we ordered the SVS PB10-ISD, which has neither speaker inputs or a crossover knob. And the HK has no bass management whatsoever, not even an option to set speakers large or small. So, we're a little stuck. If the sound stage is too out of whack, I may buy the SVS from her or take the SVS and pay for an HSU for her. At least that will have the speaker inputs and the crossover knob. We'll see.