Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Not sure if my Reciever is going or speakers?

Hey guys I have been having some slight problems recently. In the past 2 weeks or so every once in awhile I get a slight pop or crackle from my speakers. Sometimes its just sounds like one channel others its sounds like it comes from more then one. It mostly happens while I play games and in some areas I can reproduce it evertime. If I put my Reciever into stereo mode instead of 6.1 auto, it doesnt seem to happen any longer. Anyway this is what I have...

kenwood vr-6070 rated 100x6
M3Ti fronts, VP100 center, 3 QS4s

Somebody said that I was over driving the speakers that 100 watts is too much for them, but don't see how thats possible as the fronts are rated at 175 watts. Any suggests? Reciever on its way out or is it the speakers?

Hey Mike,

I can re-assure you that your Axiom speakers are fine. Whoever told you that your over powering them obviously is mistaken.

For starters, your Kenwood if tested in a lab, would most likely be rated around 70 watts per channel with all channels driven. Most Mfg's stats are misleading.

Also, I can guarantee you that your never using all the watts available, and even if you did, your Axioms could handle them and your receiver would clip before the Axioms gave out.

Your m3's are rated at 92dB efficient. Which means your only using 1 watt to achieve 92dB's (pretty loud) at 1 meter (3feet distance). During heavy music passages and action movies it will peak, but in most cases your never using all your watts. Below shows the affects to your dB's as you increase your watts.

1 watt......92dB
2 watts.....95dB
4 watts.....98dB
8 watts.....101dB
16 watts....104dB
32 watts....107dB
64 watts....110dB
128 watts...113dB

so as you can see by doubling your watts, you only achieve an increase of 3dB's in volume. So a 50 watt versus 100 watt receiver driven all channels would only give you and increase of 3dB SPL, not much difference.

My guess is that it is either your receiver, or possibly a cable issue. Does it happen to music and movies? If so, you can rule out your gaming cable connections. I would recheck your speaker and other cables. You may have a bad cable or connection.

Other than that, I'm not sure. But I highly doubt it is your speakers.

since you can reproduce it everytime, and it doesnt happen in stereo mode, this is my guess.

at some points in the game , something is happening withing the game and your receiver is dropping into/out of dolby mode. find the place where you can recreate the problem, and see if your reciever is trying to change modes as the problem presents itself.

hth
randy

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It mostly happens while I play games and in some areas I can reproduce it evertime. If I put my Reciever into stereo mode instead of 6.1 auto, it doesnt seem to happen any longer.

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Sirquack always to the rescue..=). I will recheck all my cable connections. If I still have an issue guess its time to buy a new reciever for this setup. I was over do for one anyway lol.

Okay I def think its the reciever. I took everything apart redid my binding posts, well just unscrewed them and made sure the wires were in their nice and tight and screwed them back in. Also pulled out an old 5.1 DD Yamaha reciever. Only problem is it just had binding posts for the mains and there was no way my 12gauge wire was fitting in those stupid little clips. So I tested it just with the mains using the one game I can reproduce the issue in....No problems, at least I did not hear any.

Took it all apart again and put the kenwood back in. Tried the same game again. Bingo static in the one area. Oh also noticed when I did my test tones to make sure everything was hooked up correctly I would get a slight pop/crackle when it went from speaker to speaker. Don't ever remember that happening before.

So I guess it is the reciever and I will prob but an order in for a Denon 2370CI tomrrow.

Could it possibly be the interconnect between the game and the stereo? Since you've determined that it's not the speakers or their cables, move down the chain to your other interconnects.

I've had an optical digital cable go bad before (kinked too much, too many glass strands eventually broke) and the result was similar to what you're describing.

Nope not the optical cable just tried a brand new one.

Well went on ahead and ordered a AVR-2307CI from 6ave, they gave me a pretty good price and they are authorized. Guy on the phone said it might actually be the transformer with age the solder joints go. Well whatever is causing the issue lets hope they are gone with the new reciever =).

I was having an issue with my 10 yr old onkyo receiver that was similar to yours, except it was completely random. I would get this LOUD pop noise that would scare the crap outta me. After doing some investigating, it appeared that the receiver was biulding a charge which would finally arc at some point, causing it to go into protect mode.

I replaced it with the Denon 2307ci about a month ago...great receiver for the money!!! Also, the mic-speaker-set-up thing works like a champ, i'm hearing stuff i never heard before out of my surrounds.