Speakers noise help

lockmart

I've got some crackle and what I guess is electronic interference every now and then. How far should the power cords be from the speaker wires? I think my attempts to separate them have yielded some improvement. I'm not sure if any further will completely improve it so, I'm curious how can I tell if I have a receiver with bad soldiering or shorted speakers etc? What are the symptoms of these two things? I got my receiver from ShopOnkyo, it looks perfect on the outside and came with everything. This is the first time I've used these speakers (Polk Rtis) & this receiver so I can't isolate it to one or the other.

lockmart

Additional info:

The crackle or almost static like sound comes from the DVD player when playing music and also some with movies. It is kind of faint and doesn't seem to have a pattern, I'm still listening to different CDs and movies to try and narrow it down. Not sure what could be the problem though. It is faint, but my wife noticed it too and she isn't as picky as I. It did sound better to her when I separated the wiring from the power cables more. I'm trying to get it as good as possible.

Thanks

20hz

Does it do while on the radio?
I had one 6.5" on my polk ls-90 make a faint noise at low volume only(intermitant), the speaker felt fine, I think it was defective from factory it just took me a while to find it.
Switch 1 thing at a time start with easy cheap stuff, borrow-switch what you can dont buy anything untill you know whats wrong.
Email me if you have a questin.

lockmart

20hz wrote: »

Does it do while on the radio?
I had one 6.5" on my polk ls-90 make a faint noise at low volume only(intermitant), the speaker felt fine, I think it was defective from factory it just took me a while to find it.
Switch 1 thing at a time start with easy cheap stuff, borrow-switch what you can dont buy anything untill you know whats wrong.
Email me if you have a questin.

Thanks, I copied a new write-up I just did for the AVS below and perhaps it more accurately states the issues I'm having. I will try the radio as soon as possible to see if it might just be my DVD player. I'm thinking it might be my refurb receiver as I tried the Rti-4's when I got them in and it did it too along with my Rti-8's which I first tried.




Just got a refurb Onkyo 705 and new speakers Polk Rti. They sound great, except every now and then on music and movies I notice a small static or crackle noise. I have my DVD player hooked up with a coaxial cable to the receiver. I haven't tried the radio yet to see if it is the DVD player, although I didn't notice any interference using the DVD player on the former system which is sold and gone.

I'm trying to determine if the interference is cables, my new receiver or my new speakers? I'm still learning this stuff. What symptoms would a shorted speaker, or a bad receiver make? I'm wondering if it is one of these causes or something else. I don't have another receiver or speakers to try switching out.

I tried to isolate my power cords from the speaker wire and I think it has helped although not completely fixed the issue (how far apart should they be)?

I have a Belkin pure AV surge protector for the electrical hookup. I'm running 16 gauge wire on 8 ohm speakers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm still trying to listen to different CDs etc. to see if I can pickup a pattern but would like to see what others can offer as tips.

mrmusicman

If its coming from only one speaker,on the back of the reciever switch the speaker wires with another channel and see if the noise follows to the next speaker and that should tell you if the problem is in the speaker or mabe a bad channel in the reciever.If it is coming from multiple speakers than you will have to isolate componants and wiring one source at a time.
Good luck
Mike

treitz3

Try changing out the coaxial connection with an RCA connection.

lockmart

Thanks I was using an RCA originally but I think I will go ahead and setup the receiver in another room with just one power cable and one speaker to test each channel. I was listening again yesterday and noticed it is coming from each speaker which leads me to believe it's either the DVD player or most likely the receiver since the DVD player was fine before. It's not incredibly harsh, almost like an imperfection in the recording but I think it is more than that.

lockmart

I notice it seems to show up at the same spots when listening to Simon and Garfunkel. I guess it would be a easy conclusion it is the track except could it be that track in particular is playing a higher frequency which is the one causing the problem or is that over thinking it?

treitz3

Well with what limited information we have, my guess would be that it's either the connection or your amp has an issue. I have experienced issues with both being a culprit on the high frequencies that seems to be a "phantom" noise that drives you nuts.

Try playing a woman's voice / solo and a piano combo and see if it rears it's ugly head again. In the meantime, don't play Simon and Garfunkle again until you can replicate the issue with another track. If you can not, then your rig is fine and if it does reappear then you have some isolating to do.

lockmart

Thanks, I recorded Keene on my HD-DVR and heard some noises there too. My connections appear to be solid and I used new wiring. I'm guess maybe the receiver is bad since it was a refurb and I am now noticing it on all speakers. It could be the HDMI cable is bad on the HD-DVR recording but maybe that's too much coincidence between the HD-DVR and DVD being the culprit vs the receiver. I'd probably feel better to try another receiver. The sound is amazing but it kind of interrupts things when I get that phantom noise.

It's hard to describe exactly but it's like a static and it's while I'm watching or listening so not the listening modes not being set. I get my sub tomorrow and will try doing the mic calibration and running it with no other power or av cables except what's needed for the DVD player.

lockmart

Update I replaced my refurb 705 with a new Yamaha RX-V663 and the noise is completely gone. SQ after running calibration on both is very similar so I'm very happy to have that behind me.