RT3000P plays radio station without receiver on

dwjackman

I was ever so lucky to inherit a complete RT5000P set of speakers that had NEVER been out of the box. After installing the speakers using the best stuff I could afford I have a strange problem. At certain times of day I'm picking up what sounds to be a local A.M. radio station playing through the RT3000P subs at a low volume level. I've tried everything I can think of, including calling Polk's help desk. According to a supervisor (the only person that had been there long enough to have experience with these speakers) the problem is with the speaker amplifiers being sensitive to this type of broadcast. He said the best thing was to move the speakers around until the interference went away...not exactly practical since the whole room is the way it is just to house the darn things! Anyone have any ideas?

Fatbrando

That's GOD talking to you...

you better listen!

FB

ViperZ

Unplug the power from the amplifiers?

The other thing - change the length of your speaker wires (make them longer / shorter).

mantis

dwjackman wrote: »

I was ever so lucky to inherit a complete RT5000P set of speakers that had NEVER been out of the box. After installing the speakers using the best stuff I could afford I have a strange problem. At certain times of day I'm picking up what sounds to be a local A.M. radio station playing through the RT3000P subs at a low volume level. I've tried everything I can think of, including calling Polk's help desk. According to a supervisor (the only person that had been there long enough to have experience with these speakers) the problem is with the speaker amplifiers being sensitive to this type of broadcast. He said the best thing was to move the speakers around until the interference went away...not exactly practical since the whole room is the way it is just to house the darn things! Anyone have any ideas?

Try unplugging the Sub feed. Also try removing the speaker wire. You making something a antenna. Even the powercord if wrapped up the wrong way will become a antenna.

If you are using cheap speaker wire or Sub cables, replace them with higher quality. If you need suggestions, I have many.

Dan

trubluluc

The same thing happened with my RT3000's.
You probably have the older amps in them.
If the green LED's on the front only come on when there is a signal...
from receiver, and then shut off 5 minutes or so after you have shut down your system, you have the older amps.
The new ones stay lit as long as they're plugged in.
I was picking up a Mexican radio station on mine.
Once I got the new amps installed, the problem stopped.

-Luc

F1nut

RT3000P plays radio station without receiver on

Anything good?

ESavinon

Try these on your power cable,and rca input cables:
http://cgi.ebay.com/25-Snap-on-EMI-RFI-Choke-Current-Balun-255-ID-RG-58_W0QQitemZ300275966045QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item300275966045&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1234%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

Fatbrando

This is GOD Talking...

...since you live in So Cal, you shall now relinquish your SDA's to Fellow Polk forum brother FatBrando!

That is all...

dpowell

Is it possible that your speakers could be picking up the radio signal through the ground wire in your house? You might try using a 2-prong adapter and eliminate the ground connection to the amp to see if the problem goes away.

BTW, congrats on an awesome inheritance!

dwjackman

Thanks for the hints folks. Several of these things have already been tried but I didn't want to accidentally lead you, or myself, off in a specific direction. The speaker wire for the 3000Ps is Monster 10 gage and a different length from first set of 14 gage wires I started with. BTW, the noise plays on even with the speaker wire completely removed. At certain times of day the interference goes away. I like the Balun idea as that's something easy to try, as well as moving the speaker wire and power cords to different positions. Polk help desk supervisor also suggested that I try inserting aluminum foil between the speakers and the direction that I believe the station to be broadcasting from. He also said that this was a problem that he encountered several times with these speakers when they were being sold and that the problem was in the amplifier section. Also he as much as said that if after moving the speakers and trying the foil that I should be happy this isn't something that happens constantly...thanks...I think! I hope to get a chance to play with this on Friday or Saturday after the Thanksgiving company heads home.

zingo

Being a HAM, we have used EMI/RFI chokes for a long time to remove radio signals from equipment it's not supposed to be in. You could try putting them around the cables for the speakers, but if it does it even when they are disconnected, this may not work. You could try opening up the speakers and shielding the amp with some foil, or using a choke on the internal wiring between the amp and the woofers. Good luck.

dwjackman

Thanks for all the ideas folks. In the end I did several things at one time and one of them WORKED!!! No more aye yii ii music or La Cucaracha!!! I took back the power unit I purchased (Monster 1800) and replaced it with a Monster 3600 at half the price. I put baluns on the power lines AND moved both the AM and FM antennas...bottom line is NO MORE NOISE! Again, thanks for the help...and DAMN these speakers are GREAT!

comfortablycurt

My friend was having that problem with a couple of 15" Cerwin Vega floorstanders for a while. He had been getting ready to upgrade all the wiring in his system anyway, so he replaced the wire with some higher quality speaker wire, and it fixed the problem.

It was crazy when that first started happening...we're just sitting around hanging out, and we keep hearing the radio. We all thought we were going crazy until we finally tracked down where it was coming from...lol