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Nasty problem - ideas?

On two occasions now, during a movie, I've heard a sharp, unpleasant 'snap' through the right channel (or sub, which is on the right?) during dynamic passages. I haven't heard it on 2 channel only, even at high volume. On the one hand, to narrow down the source requires having it happen repeatedly, but it's an ugly sound, and I'd rather not have it keep happening and potentially damaging something, so I thought I'd post here to see if any of you have experienced something similar.
Nothing in the system changes between 2 channel and HT, although the sub is obviously worked harder during HT, and last night I heard it during Olympus Has Fallen when the C130 was going down (for those of you who've seen the movie). Maybe the volume was a little high, the wife thought we were having an earthquake ;)

Anyway, thanks for any input. It's a sharp 'SNAP' that is either a tweeter, or something electrical in the sub amp at first thought.
english210
jeffb28451
129 posts
 
I had the same issue and after decades in this hobby, it was a bear to find. I replaced tubes, etc., because I didn't want to strip the whole system down(quite complex). I had to do it anyway and finally, some of that old gear I'd stashed away (because nobody wanted it) came in useful. I went back to solid state, 2 channel basic and tracked it down after several hours, to small, hard to see, speaker wire interference/arcing at higher volumes only. I thought I'd blown out PM4 Lowthers before that ($$ouch). Hope you're as lucky as I was.

Not the fault of the gear, but if you have recently added Walker links or other RF "sinks" at either end of speaker cabling, start there and make sure you have not gotten wires too close.

Good luck.
tls49's avatar
tls49
1,351 posts
 
Your description sounds like the bottoming of a woofer, either the sub or main speaker. That means it is being pushed a little too hard. I'm guessing the subwoofer. You'll just need to turn it down, or get a more powerful subwoofer.
english210 OP
175 posts
 
Ok, thanks, I'll retry the same passage with the sub turned down - it was impressive, but didn't seem too loud. Maybe it was too much. Thanks.
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
you could try the switching the cables from left to right and eliminate the source etc... until you find the problem

good luck
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
I'm also guessing that the sub bottomed out. it's pretty hard to diagnose at a distance but luckily this issue is pretty easy to test.
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