Speakers give static unless I turn volume up

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  • gooniegoogoo
    gooniegoogoo Posts: 20
    edited December 2004
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    yea, i was thinking the same thing. i'll see if i can find a repair shop in my area and see what they say.
    hopefully it will be a cheap fix.
    i'll let you guys know what they say, but i probably wont get to one until tomorrow.
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited December 2004
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    Originally posted by Polkmaniac
    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...


    Ummm, where have i heard this before?

    :D
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  • gkellerman
    gkellerman Posts: 8
    edited December 2004
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    Hey Polkmaniac, you're not too far off. I've seen behavior you describe with electrolytic capacitors. When cold they're off value and nearly open. When they 'warm up' they work better. Not like they should but better. The quickest way to spot really bad electrolytics is with an ESR (equivalent series resistance) meter. They are few and far between and not extremely cheap. The next best thing would be to use an Oscilliscope to look to see if there's excess AC on a capacitor that's supposed to be a filter.
    gkellerman@niche-soft.com
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  • gooniegoogoo
    gooniegoogoo Posts: 20
    edited December 2004
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    Dangerboy - lol, yea its funny that you said the exact same thing right at the beginning of the thread and after all this trial and error we ended up comming to the same conclusion. it was good going through all that stuff though. the led on the knob is working now, the knob doesn't vibrate when i turn the volume down with the remote, and i learned a few things i never had a clue about.

    gkellerman - i see what you're saying but the problem i'm having occurs even when the capacitors are warm. i could be playing music for an hour or two, but if i turn the receiver off (or even just turn the main speakers off without actually shutting the power off of the receiver) and then turn it back on right away i get the static. it may be that the capacitors are bad even when they are warm though so i guess you could be right. anyways, i don't have access to the equipment you referred to, or even the knowledge to know what to do with the equipment, so i will most likely go have it looked at tomorrow.
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  • gooniegoogoo
    gooniegoogoo Posts: 20
    edited December 2004
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    i went to a repair shop today but the guy wanted to charge me $20 to just open the cover and look inside. even if he didn't do anything to it. he said that it would be over $80 for sure, without even looking to see what the problem was. so i told him not to touch a thing and i left.

    he did say that it was a fairly common problem though and most likely there was a leak somewhere. i don't really know what that means but maybe one of you guys know. i'm assuming he meant an electrical leak. is that something that would cost a minimum of $80 to repair or is this guy just trying to screw me?

    i called a couple of other places and one said they also charge a $20 fee just to give an estimate, but the other one said there is no fee so i will go see him tomorrow.

    so far it looks like i will just have to live with the problem for a while until i can afford a new receiver. oh well. i will update you guys with what the guy says tomorrow.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,832
    edited December 2004
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    He refering to a cap leaking. As for the cost, depends. You should have all the caps replaced since at least one is probably bad the others are probably not far off, so with parts and labor $80.00 isn't bad. You'll have to weight the value of the unit you have against the cost of repairs and against the cost of replacing it.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

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  • scottnbnj
    scottnbnj Posts: 709
    edited December 2004
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    i might have missed if someone mentioned it,.. maybe the balance control. you could probably shoot that the same as the volume pot. is there any scratchiness when turning or switching any control knobs or buttons (like balance, power, bass, treble, speaker a/b, source, tape...)?

    i doubt this is it, but, it's probably not a bad time either way to cut the speaker wires back a few inches and make fresh connections for the receiver and speaks. for folks familiar with deoxit, can you spray that on binding posts or clips?

    )
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 49,832
    edited December 2004
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    All good points!

    Yes, you can spray it on those parts, but I would use the liquid and just wipe it on. Spraying stuff tends to get it everywhere else too.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • gooniegoogoo
    gooniegoogoo Posts: 20
    edited December 2004
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    No, none of the knobs make scratching noises when I turn them. I rarely ever turn them, just the volume knob. Most of the time I even just control the volume level from the computer and not the actual knob on the receiver. But I guess there is no harm in trying.

    I have already cut the speaker wires back, restripped them, and then connected them back up. That didn't help. I was actually thinking about using deoxit on the binding posts but I wasn't sure if that was a good idea. They do look a little dusty behind the receiver. I will give that a try too.
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  • scottnbnj
    scottnbnj Posts: 709
    edited December 2004
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    i really don't know anything about this stuff, but, you think, since it's open anyway, blowing out some dust with compressed air could help or hurt anything?

    )
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  • gooniegoogoo
    gooniegoogoo Posts: 20
    edited January 2005
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    i just thought i'd leave an update of whats going on now.

    i haven't had a chance to take the receiver to the other repair shop i mentioned, but things are sounding a little better.

    over the past few days there hasn't been any static when i turn the receiver on. both speakers play fine. but occasionally the right speaker will give static for about 3 seconds and then play fine again. this happens very rarely though. most of the time everything plays fine now. i didn't do anything different than what was mentioned in my earlier posts. for some reason the receiver just started working better.

    anyways, i am sure the problem is still there but for some reason its not as bad at the moment. i don't think it is worth it for me to take it to a repair shop though so i will just keep things how they are for now. hopefully the receiver doesn't get any worse.

    thanks to everyone who read this thread and made suggestions. i appreciate all the help. i was impressed at how fast and how often i got replies. keep up the great work.
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  • scottnbnj
    scottnbnj Posts: 709
    edited January 2005
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    maybe the change in indoor humidity, with heating season and all.

    )
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  • Tour2ma
    Tour2ma Posts: 10,177
    edited January 2005
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    Originally posted by gooniegoogoo
    No, none of the knobs make scratching noises when I turn them. I rarely ever turn them, just the volume knob.
    This is a potential source of the static... All pots/ selectors are self-cleaning to some extent, but to be so, they have to be worked. Oxidation is the enemy here, not just dust...

    With the revceiver turned off, you can try working them all (balance, input selector, speaker selector, etc.) a dozen times or more and then see if there is any improvement. Do the same with any and all switches your receiver may have, e.g., Loudness, Tone Flat, whatever... If this helps, great. If not, Deox them all... even ones that look "sealed".

    If still no good, there's a couple more "simple" checks you can make, but I'm betting on the above doing the trick...
    More later,
    Tour...
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  • gooniegoogoo
    gooniegoogoo Posts: 20
    edited February 2005
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    Tour2ma, I tried what you said but there is still a little bit of static on the left side every once in a while. What are the other simple checks you're talking about?
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