Yeah, I noticed the "turned down to halfway" statement as well JohnK. How large is your room franknbeans?

If I had my ep500 set at half way it would be way too loud! However, I seem to remember that they may have revamped the volume control on the v3 amps though.

In any case, the crackling and popping doesn't sound normal? Do you have an SPL meter to see how loud it is playing when the noises occur?

-David