Crackling in right channel, what do I do? Help, please.


Sadly, I am experiencing crackling in the right channel of my system. The crackling happens intermittently and has happened on different sources, including my FM tuner, and from my DAC. It seems like the crackling is not related to the source. 

I have a monster of a system, including a Gryphon Colosseum amplifier, and a pair of Gryphon Cantata speakers. 

My system is described in the link below. How should I go about debugging this problem? Do I dare play the system? Should I buy a cheap amp and swap that in to see if the problem persists? Do I buy a cheap preamp as well? Do I start by swapping the speaker cables to the opposite speaker cables to see if the crackle moves to the other speaker? 

My system has been performing flawlessly for a number of years now. I did have to get cheap part replaced on the amplifier about three or four years ago, and used Soundsmith in Peekskill, NY.

I'm pretty brokenhearted about the possibility of having to get my system repaired. I had total hip replacement surgery two months ago and I can't lift anything. Moving the beast of an amp or the heavy speakers is out of the question. I suppose I could find somebody to help me if it comes to that. 

Sigh. 

Larry
 

 

Ag insider logo xs@2xlarrykell

I have an update! 

I swapped the speaker cables at the amplifier and the crackle moved to the other speaker. This happened after the amp was running for about fifteen minutes. So, I think we can conclude that it is not a speaker problem. 

How do I figure out if the problem is in the amplifier, preamp, or interconnects? 

I realize that this is a first world problem. Sorry for that. I should have replaced the whole thing with a Bluetooth speaker. :) 

Before my hip surgery, I had started Olympic weightlifting. It was kind of a joke for me, but the guy who runs the gym can squat over 500lbs so perhaps I can pay him to loud the amplifier into the back of my car, if it comes to that. That's what I did a few years ago when I needed to get the amplifier fixed. A seatbelt is recommended on a 150lb amplifier, lol. 


 

Hmmm, so, my preamp allows me to switch LR channels without switching cables. What if I swap the channels there and see if the noise persists in the Left channel, where it has moved to?

Do another swop L-R of cables from the preamp to the amp.  If it moves the problem is the preamp, if it stays put it's the amp.  You're already ruled out the source units and the speakers.  One more to go.