New Monitor 70's - Tweeters crackling

Trenchant

I'm not getting very clear sounds out of the tweeters on my Monitor 70's. I have them hooked up straight to my pioneer vsxd409 receiver. It happens mainly when I turn them up loud.

Audio source is my laptop. I have a 15' stereo headphone to rca cord. Sub is a psw10.

I've heard these speakers really like to be amplified and you don't get the best sound out of them without amplifying? Whats the best way to accomplish this? My receivers rated at 100watts average over all channels.

I scored a sweet deal on these speakers. We can't by from newegg up here in canada but Visions Electronics had the monitor 70's on clearance for $400! My brother picked up a DSWmicro1000 and monitor 70's to replace his 60's and the sub he gave me. I'm slowly replacing my old 80's technics speakers.

zarrdoss

try a different source, compressed MP3 files or like can damage your speakers. And yes a high current amp will sound better than a AVR

dorokusai

It's most likely distortion. Does it sound great when you don't play it loud?

cnh

WELCOME TO CLUB POLK!!

That Pioneer probably puts out about 50 watts/channel in surround...unless you have it hooked up for 2 channel only it WILL DEFINITELY DISTORT AND BLOW YOUR TWEETERS OUT...if you insist on using it to PLAY LOUD.

M70s love power but it has to BE CLEAN POWER...not the kind of power put out by an a several year old entry level Pioneer AVR.

You'd be better off with an AVR uprade to a High Current AVR...like Harman Kardon, Denon, or Onkyo for example....It's very very EASY to clip a Pioneer 409 as its distortion ratings are about 1 percent normally?

cnh

Trenchant

Well now I'm glad I paid $50 for the hassle free 10 year replacement warranty! I've heard the tweeters are the weak link in these speakers?

Does anyone have any receiver recommendations? I recognize those brands but I'm not to sure where to start looking as far as models go. I would rather have a high end 5.1 receiver then a mid end 7.1 Cheapers better but obviously not at a great sacrifice for quality. If I have to wait 5 months until I'm working again to buy it I can wait.

We put a CD in my laptop and still had distortion problems. My brother figured it was the receiver because there seemed to be interference at all audio levels. From the replys so far it sounds like this might be a cheap receiver?

Its hard to tell but you can hear some distortion at low levels.

cnh

Do you have any other speakers you could run with that Pioneer...that would tell you if your receiver is giving out or not. I have an older VSX-711 running somewhere. And it is still doing OK but the 409 is even older and a lower model than that.

Almost all good receivers are now have at least 7.1 so you have no choice there.

If you like Pioneer I recommend the Elite 21 or 23 as a good mid-range (600-800 dollar) AVR that should be good for you.

An Onkyo 706/707 would work.

A Harman Kardon 254, or 354, or 3600 would also be fine.

Or a Marantz 5004 and so on.

Get your ears on some of these and see what sound 'you' like...

Also try another set of speakers. I should also warn you that PCs and laptops tend to put out distrotion to an AVR and also can cause a ground loop HUM in some cases...so I don't know if playing a Laptop CD answers the question?

cnh

Trenchant

A proper input is definately on my shortlist. My first thought is to use one of my extra computers but I imagine that would have the same problem? I have a tower computer that I was going to buy a sound card for and connect it to my pioneer with an optical cable.

I had a set of technics towers that I used to run. They had the same problem only worse.

Here's my current setup:
Receiver: Pioneer VSX-d409
Fronts: Monitor 70's
Center: Technics SB-C938
Surrounds: Technics SB-S938
Sub: PSW10

Thanks for the models. I'll start researching those.

cnh

Why don't you just try to find a clean FM station and play it as your test source...that AVR has a tuner in it after all?

cnh

Trenchant

The audio sounded very clear on the radio when played loud. I guess it is my source then.

Trenchant

I forgot to add, this only occurs with low frequencies. If I turn the base down(below baseline) is stops making the crackling and I get nice clear sound. The only problem is the sound has no depth to it then.

When i turn down the base its on my laptop. Using the digital equalizer feature in windows media player. This shouldn't be the issue though because it sounds fine on the radio right?

Our low frequencies usually the source of distortion on low quality sources.

cnh

I have a reasonably good quality of Sony headphones (about a 150 dollars worth) that I am using while I'm away from home...they sound pretty good...will play very loud, but if I use the equalizer on Windows Media player and boost the bass frequencies too high they WILL distort.

If the FM sounded good, your source is the problem.

So I think you've found your problem....output through a headphone jack has horrible distortion potential..get a USB interface with a decent DAC box and adjust the sound from your AVR..

cnh

wayne3burk

Trenchant wrote: »

Audio source is my laptop. I have a 15' stereo headphone to rca cord. Sub is a psw10.

I believe the culprit is the headphone to rca cord. I've ran a bad cord from my iPod to my receiver before and got the same results.

tonyb

wayne3burk wrote: »

I believe the culprit is the headphone to rca cord. I've ran a bad cord from my iPod to my receiver before and got the same results.

That and his sticky fingers on the volume knob.

Trenchant

I guess I could just buy a usb sound card. I noticed there were some with optical outs for 20-30 bucks. Can't beat that.

john E

I have the ONKYO TX-SR607 and my Monitor 70's sound great and it just puts out around 100watts per channel and once I run the Audyssey EQ with the mic I can play it at full volume and get no distrotion.The monitor 70's take a while to break in ,but you should'nt be getting no poping or crackling sound unless you have it to loud and running it into distrotion.They have a five year warranty and POLK has great customer support.One of my Monitor grills came cracked and they sent me a new one.

tonyb

So you play the 70's at full volume on the receiver...thats cool. You might want to call customer service ahead of time.

Trenchant

I ordered a 7.1 usb sound card and a 50 foot optical audio cable off ebay. Total cost was under $50.

I just got it today and tried it out. Crystal clear audio now! It was the cheap analogue 25' audio cable I was using. It was a standard headphone jack to rca cord.

Here's what I bought for anyone looking for this kind of stuff. I watch movies on my laptop and it will be nice to be able to turn them up again.
Sound card:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120507417759&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Optical Cable:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170405626015&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT