2. amps-preamps
  3. 179823-22849

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
 

 

larrykell
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
4,168 posts
 

It could be a driver undue and switch speaker cables.

pwerahera
122 posts
 

@larrykell 

1. Swap left and right speaker wires at the output of the amplifier. Please switch off the power amp when you do this otherwise you may damage your speaker. If the problem also moves from right to left speaker, then  you can rule out the speaker. Otherwise, problem is the right speaker probably a bad driver.

2. Now swap left and right connectors at the input side of the amp. If the problem also moves from left to right, then you can rule out the amp. Otherwise, it is the amp.

3. You can repeat this to the preamp as well.

Hope this helps

larrykell OP
122 posts
 

I switched the speaker cables and the crackle went to the other speaker. 

I'd go for a Son of Ampzilla II for around $1500. I missed one on Reverb. 220 watts into 8 ohms, 350watts into 4 ohms. A 20lb transformer is a good start. James Bongiorno always tried to provide a lot of bang for the buck. 

I probably won't be happy with any Class D in my price range and might be somewhat happy with Class AB. For me, Class A is the destination. 

fthompson251's avatar
fthompson251
429 posts
 

Actually it’s better to start switching the interconnect from the source and head down stream until it changes channels. Just because you switched at the pre amp doesn’t preclude the problem isn’t before it. I realize you found it's the amp but that’s what i had to do to isolate a problem in my pre amp 2 months ago.

larrykell OP
122 posts
 

Before the preamp are my sources, and switching between them did not get rid of the crackle. Hopefully, I’ll have a new amp to try within the week to see what happens. I’m not going to be able to move the monster amp for probably a month or more. 

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