Noise in one channel


Newbie here, both to the forum and to high quality home A/V.

I have a two year old Emotiva Fusion that was never used.  I just purchased KEF Q300 and Q600 and have some old Onkyo surrounds.  

Upon install, I have been hearing intermittent crackle/pop sounds from one channel (FL).  I assumed I had compromised speaker wire somewhere so to confirm I swapped Center and FL channels at the receiver.   The sounds followed the swap and began emanating from the Center channel.   I believe that points to the amp circuit from the receiver, does it not.

What are my options to fix or further isolate this?

thx,
Stevie
srbarnes4ever
Is it not cleaner power anyway to forego the power output of the receiver in favor of a separate amp?  I had been planning on the Emotiva A500 amp....any others that compare in terms of spec vs price?

Does this noise happen at any volume, low, medium, or high?

"any others that compare in terms of spec vs price?"

That can be very costly and lead to a bad purchase if you don't fully understand how to interpret them. IHMO, they are more useful to rule out a choice rather than make a buying decision.

I meant are there other entry level audiophile grade amps in the price and spec range of the Emotiva A500.