Speakers give static unless I turn volume up

gooniegoogoo

I have an old Onky TX-906 receiver hooked up to my computer and I had an old, crappy pair of Hitachi HSP-531 speakers that I was given for free.

The problem recently was that when I turned the receiver on the left speaker played really quietly and had a lot of static. This only began about 2 or 3 months ago. It played fine for a year before that. The thing is that the speaker would play fine if I turned the volume up and then I could turn it back down.

Anyways, I figured I should get some better speakers so I got the Polk R30 speakers which were on sale for Boxing Day and I got a pretty good deal on them. So I hooked them up and to my surprise I get the same problem but now its the right speaker.

There must be something wrong with my connection but I can't figure out where. And I don't understand why the one speaker is quiet and plays static but only until I turn the volume way up. I have the white and red rca cable connected to the back of my receiver and I have an extension cable connected to that, which is then connected to my computer. The speakers are connected with 16 guage speaker wire from radio shack.

Can someone please explain to me what I am doing wrong here? I am fairly new to this stuff so if there is a simple solution that I am missing I'm sorry.

Thanks in advance.

F1nut

The problem is in your receiver, probably a dirty volume pot.

danger boy

that's my guess too. the volume knob on your old Onkyo.

OR

it's the amps in the old Onkyo that are going out. either way.. if you want to keep it.. i'd suggest you get it serviced. that way it'll clean up the receiver.. and you'll know for sure if it is the Onkyo.

good luck

gooniegoogoo

thanks for the quick replies.

is this something as simple as opening up the case and cleaning the area around the volume knob with a hand held vaccum? I do notice that there is always alot of dust around the receiver. I usually dust around the area once every week. maybe there is dust in the receiver.

its funny that you both mention the volume knob. the red light on the knob fades out when I move the volume to certain levels. I just assumed the light was getting bad. could it be because of dust?

anyhow, if it is as simple as opening the case and doing a little cleaning then I will give it a shot. but if you guys recommend I take it to a professional just let me know.

F1nut

If it is the volume pot, which I'm almost certain it is, the inside of the pot needs to be cleaned with Deoxit. It wouldn't hurt to vacuum the insides, but that's not going to fix this problem. If you don't feel like trying this yourself, you could take it in to be serviced. However, you'll probably find it more practical in the long run to replace/upgrade your receiver, IMO.

danger boy

F1 makes alot of sense..... i on the other hand, tend to keep things for a long time. if it were me.. and i liked the Onkyo and it's in decent enough condition. I'd take it in for service. BUT, if a complete service and repair is over like $50.. then i'd think twice about sinking any money into it and do as F1 says.. and replace it instead.

My integrated Yamaha amp's right channel went out.. completely. totally dead. I liked the amp enough to get it serviced. they first cleaned it up. then.. replaced some cap. cost of the cap was like $3, and the total bill came to $22 (that's what like $290 Canadian):p that's it.. and it brought back to life a 25 yr old amp. That was worth it i think.

Key is to find a mom and pop electronics repair shop.. they usually charge the least amount for repairs.

gooniegoogoo

I know I need to update my system as I have alot of old equipment, but I am in university and I don't really have the budget to purchase a decent receiver right now. When I do get a new receiver I want to make sure I get a good one and not have to worry too much about how much I am spending. For now my current receiver should do. I mean it is working fine, but its just that I have to turn the volume up when I turn it on and then I can turn it back down again. Kind of annoying, thats all.

I think my Onkyo is a decent receiver though. I shopped around for some good lower end speakers that I could afford and a few of the sales people I talked to told me I have a good receiver. It is possible they were trying to convince me that I needed better speakers for a good receiver though.

So is this remedy with deoxit fairly simple? Is it something I just pour into an opening? As long as I don't have to take any internal components apart I think I should be able to handle it.

F1nut

You'll have to spray it inside the pot, but you don't have to take it apart. Maybe talk to a local repair shop and see what they'd charge you, as DB stated, it could be cheap.

gooniegoogoo

Yea, I will definately try finding a repair shop and see what they can do.
Although you've got me a little curious now. I opened up the case of my receiver already. There was quite a bit of dust in there. I got most of it but there is still a bit in there that probably needs to be rubbed off. I just dont want to touch anything. I looked in the area of the volume knob and it looks fairly clean from the outside. I'm guessing the pot is that metal cylinder thats comming out from behind the knob. I see two tiny holes in it but I don't see how I would spray something into that. I also pulled off the knob from outside but there is just a metal rod with a led on it.
I'll put everything back together and look for a repair shop tomorrow though.

danger boy

your Onk appears to be 80 WPC and was built around 91 - 92.

cost new was around $500

gooniegoogoo

I bought it used a few years back for about $150 CAD I think. I didn't know much about this stuff back then so I didn't really know what I was getting or what it was worth. Not that I know much about this stuff now either...
I have the owners manual and it indicates the following specifications:
Power Output: 80 watts per channel
Musical Power Output: 2 x 190 watts at 4 ohms, 2 x 115 watts at 8 ohms
Continuos Power Output: 2 x 115 watts at 4 ohms, 2 x 90 watts at 8 ohms
Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.08% at rated power
Frequency Response: 20 to 30,000 Hz, +/-1 dB

it also says a bunch of other stuff, but like I said, I don't really know alot about what this stuff means.

gooniegoogoo

ok, so i did some more research. I'm pretty sure that the metal rod and the cylinder that has 2 small holes in it is the potentiometer. I read that the deoxit comes with a small tube that I could insert into one of these holes and give it a quick spray. and then all I would need to do is rotate the volume knob back and forth a few times.
it almost seems too easy. does that sound right?

F1nut

Yep, you got it.

gooniegoogoo

thanks for the help and the quick diagnosis. i'm glad its a pretty straight forward solution. now all i need to do is find some deoxit. i'll let you guys know how it goes.

gooniegoogoo

I bought some deoxit after searching about 6 different places.

There are 3 small round holes at different areas of the potentiometer, so I did 1 quick spray in each hole and I turned the volume knob for about 2 minutes. Then I let the reciever sit for about half an hour. When I hooked everything up, the right speaker still gave me the same problem.

On the plus side though, the led on the volume knob doesn't filcker anymore and works fine. Also, before when I used to turn the volume down with the remote it gave me a vibrating sound but now it sounds perfectly smooth.

I want to try spraying the pot again but I just want to know if it is ok for me to do that or if too much deoxit can be harmful.

F1nut

Spray away and shoot some in the shaft area too.

gooniegoogoo

yea, there are 2 holes in the shaft area and then 1 hole in the cylider shaped casing. I sprayed in each hole. I will spray some over the actual shaft too though. I noticed that inside the shaft the part that turns when I turn the knob is actually a white plastic. does that matter at all?
and how long should i wait after I spray the deoxit? the can says 2 minutes, the guy at the shop said half an hour, and caig's website says overnight.

F1nut

It won't hurt the plastic and a half hour is good. There is always the possibility that it's not the pot causing the problem, but if it's something else at least you took the cheapest route first.

gooniegoogoo

well i still have the same problem. i switched the speakers around though and now its the left speaker thats giving me the static (same speaker that was on the right before). it almost seems like its worse though. now both speakers are giving static occasionally while i'm playing music too and not just when i turn the receiver on. they sound fine when i turn the volume up and then back down but after a while one of the speakers will have a little static until i turn the volume back up.
does that mean its something other than the pot? or does it mean that it is the pot and the dust/dirt in the pot was moved around when i was turning the knob which might have made it worse?
i think i'm going to try the deoxit one more time later tonight and just let it sit over night.

F1nut

It's looking more and more like the problem is elsewhere. Can you try using different interconnects and/or speaker cables to rule them out? How about different speakers?

gooniegoogoo

Ok, so the overnight deoxit didn't work either.
I hooked my old speakers back up and they are giving me the exact same problem as the new ones. The left side speaker is giving static. I switched the speakers around (left to right side and right to left side) and its the left side giving the static still. I think its safe to rule out the speakers though.
I moved my receiver closer to my computer and took the extension cable out of the connection. So its just my computer hooked up to my receiver with an rca cable. Still giving static so its not the extension cable. Its possible that the problem is the rca cable since it is not gold plated like my extension cable. I will try picking up a new cable today or tomorrow.
I also disconnected the receiver from the computer and hooked it up to my minidisc player and that gave static too, so the problem isn't with the computer's connection.
And the problem could very well be in the speaker wire. Like I stated before, I am just using cheap radio shack 16 awg wire. Now that I think of it, it is probably most likely the speaker cables because the left one is longer than the right, and I think it is possible that it may be over 25 feet because the wire is running around my room along the walls.
So that narrows it down to the rca cable, speaker wires, or something wrong with the receiver.
Do you think I should go pick up some 14 awg wire? Or pick up a more expensive 16 awg? I always thought radio shack wire was sufficient, but maybe I should go with a better brand. I only use my system for music though. Not movies, so I don't know if I really need a top of the line speaker cable.

danger boy

i doubt it's your speaker wire. but it wouldn't hurt to replace it anyways. i'm still thinking it's your receiver. since you've changed the speakers out.. disconnect the extension cord..

i also doubt it's your RCA cable. it's the receiver..

but what you're doing certainly won't hurt anything. but i doubt that it's any of the cables/wires.

AsSiMiLaTeD

so when you're switching the speakers, I assume that you're taking the wire out of the right speaker and putting it into the speaker on the left and vice cersa???

Are you actually moving the speakers at all? Are you changing the wire at the receiver or changing anything else on the receiver?

gooniegoogoo

dangerboy - yes, as i'm trying different things its looking more and more like it might be something with the receiver. especially since I have used these speaker wires for a few years with no problem. i might as well try the cheaper possibilities first though. any suggestions on whether I should try 14 awg wire instead of the 16 awg? or should i just not bother with radio shack and get some higher quality cables from somewhere?

polkmaniac - when I switch the speakers I am not changing anything in the back of the receiver. i just disconnect the cables from the back of the speakers, move the right speaker to the left side, and move the left to the right side and then connect the wires to the speakers again.

AsSiMiLaTeD

If I understand correctly then, the issue is following your speakers...I don't see how that's possible...

That could only indicate an issue with the speaker itself, which doesn't seem likely since you've changed the sets of speakers...

Either you're not explaining it correctly, or I'm not understanding correctly, or the impossible is happening...

AsSiMiLaTeD

Okay, nevermind...looks like you're saying it's just on the left side...

earlier you mentioned that it changed with the speaker, not you think it's just on the left side. Did that actually change, or did I just misunderstand you?

gooniegoogoo

sorry for being unclear.

the problem is mainly just with the left side. it is not following the speakers. but after i used the deoxit the problem shifted over to the right side as well. it seems to be better on the right side now, but occasionally the right will give a bit of static too. the left side seems to be giving a problem all the time though when I turn the receiver on, regardless of which speaker i hook up on that side.

I turn the receiver on and there is static (mainly just on the left but sometimes the right too). when I turn the volume up the static goes away and i can turn the volume down again and it will play fine. but if i turn the receiver off and then on again right away I get the static again until i turn up the volume.

gooniegoogoo

ok, sorry. i should mention that when I was using my old speakers the static was on the left side. i assumed the left speaker was the problem so i bought some new speakers. then when I hooked up the new speakers the problem was on the right side. i didn't switch any wires around or anything. i just hooked up the new speakers. but now the problem is mainly on the left side again whether i use the new speakers or the old ones. the right side does occasionally give static too though, like i mentioned, but not as bad as the left.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Well I'd say difinitely try the speaker cables since it's cheap enough, but I doubt that'll fix your issue. I also doubt it's any type of interconnect issue, as that wouldn't go away after you turn the volume up and back down...this is definitely something inside the receiver itself...

I'm not an electronics engineer, maybe Chuck (madmax) or one of the other guys can help out more...my best guess is a bad cap somewhere...

Capacitors hold a small (or sometimes large) charge, even when the unit is turned off. My only thought is that one of the caps may be bad and not holding a charge when the unit is turned off and that's why you have this issue every time you turn it back on. After you turn it back on, the cap continually receives a charge, and that's why you're able to turn up the volume and then have good sound, until you turn it off again.

I really don't know how caps work and there's an excellent chance that everything I just said above is total crap and 100% fiction, but maybe it will stimulate enough ideas to get you a solution...

F1nut

Originally posted by Polkmaniac

I really don't know how caps work and there's an excellent chance that everything I just said above is total crap and 100% fiction

LOL




I think it's time for a trip to the repair shop or a new receiver.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Originally posted by F1nut


I think it's time for a trip to the repair shop or a new receiver.

I'll second that...if you can't afford a new receiver right now, then just take that one and have it looked at...anything above 50 bucks to fix it though probably ain't worth it...just live with the issue until you can afford a new unit...