Hi all,

I do not think there is a forum for technical questions like this, so I just chose this one as the "least unlikely one", sorry if it doesn't really fit the bill. From time to time my loudspeakers, actually the left one in particular, will crackle. It has nothing to do with distortion while playing, it is this soft but s***** "electrical discharge sound". It happens every 5-10 minutes and it is just one single crackle. It happens when the system is idle with nothing happening or while playing, makes no difference. I am sure you've all heard this, but it is a little difficult to describe, actually it sounds a little bit like a single tiny scratch on a vinyl record would sound. What causes this, and more importantly how can I get rid of it?

Thanks for any info, Bob.

my right monitor used to do that too, and i figured out it was because i had it plugged into the same outlet as the refrigerator (in my dorm room). the crackle was when the thing would kick on. just plugging into a different outlet fixed the problem. hope that helps.

It's wasps. They get everywhere.

Are they powered monitors?

Do they make noises with nothing plugged in?(including cables)

Are you using some type of DAW or Digital console? Are you sure this isn't a digital clock thing? Is it a single "snap" sound? Have you switched the left and right speaker to see if the noise follows? Are you sure you have clean power? Is your gear surge protected?

I think you have a bad capacitor in the driver stage of your amp. That cap looks like this, , and a good one looks like this .

Maybe something fell in there, clean it out with a vacuum. Bad caps don't start their cracklin until it gets hot and warmed up.

Look for expansion on the top of electrolitics (caps), looks like a bulge, or look for fluid leaking from one.

Trouble is, a bench tech has to check all them caps to find it, unless it looks like this, , then it's in and out.

Hope this helps,
--LTL

I've been having a similar problem with one of the tweeters in my NS10's. I brought it in to the shop and we put it on a signal generator and did some other tests and it was fine. But occasionally (especially with loud guitar tones) I get a crackling sound.

It's not a clock issue, so do you folks think it's a bad cap? Any tips on finding and fixing it? Thanks in advance...

What amp are you using? What you describe sounds like clipping. Very bad for tweeters tut . Check your monitor chain carefully, and make sure you have enough headroom. Could be a bad contact in a connector too! Since you had it checked and all, leaves amp, and connections,

--LTL

Ugh, my S3-As started doing this a few days ago. I can't figure out why. It does that with no input connected. Must be some kind of power problem. Grounding issue? Maybe the AVR is gone bad? It used to work fine until a few days ago. Now it happens quite randomly. :(

I get this in one of my monitors when dealing with VST instruments from time to time. The other one sounds fine. Anything else and the crackly one sounds fine.

Steve
www.mojopie.com

Same thing happens in our studio, I noticed that it happens when the refrigerator turns on the thing that refrigerators turns on the get cooler, hehe dont know what its called

My minor crackle seems to come from anything w/ a thermostsat, dryer, stove, crock pot

mandiil, I believe that thing is called, (heh heh heh....) a compressor heh

Add THAT to your gear list