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
re-lar-kvothe's avatar
re-lar-kvothe
174 posts
 

""I swapped the speaker cables at the amplifier and the crackle moved to the other speaker.""

Run one single attached speaker cable then the other to determine if it is the cable? Maybe you did that as I did not read every post. 

larrykell OP
122 posts
 

Who makes a good 150w into 8ohms Class AB amplifier for about $3k? I need to be able to lift the thing. It has to have balanced inputs. No tubes. 

jond's avatar
jond
5,841 posts
 

Yes seriously Larry make sure its not the speaker cable before you buy a new amp.

imhififan's avatar
imhififan
2,204 posts
 

Who makes a good 150w into 8ohms Class AB amplifier for about $3k? I need to be able to lift the thing. It has to have balanced inputs.

Check out the Benchmark ABH2 power amplifier, 100w x2 @ 8Ω, 190w x2 @ 4Ω, should has enough power to drive your speakers and only weight 12.5lbs.

 

larrykell OP
122 posts
 

I swapped the speaker cables at the amp and the crackle moved. It’s a channel on the amp.

I was excited about the Benchmark until I realized that the speaker binding posts will only take small spades. My Gryphon speaker cables have huge spades. To make matters worse, the Benchmark puts the speakers posts above the XLR inputs, almost guaranteeing that they’ll block my input cables. Sigh.

The reviewer of the Benchmark in Stereophile mentioned that he was looking for lighter amps because he could no longer lift or move heavier amps. I’m in the same boat, at the moment. 

 

 

 

 

More to discover