Speaker crackling with new receiver

[Nekko]

Hello, I just starting setting up a new home theatre setup.

I bought a Pionneer VSXLX104. Because of covid, I got the last one at Best Buy, an open box like new.

I hooked it up to some advent speakers, it was doing fine for about a week hooked up to my tv. Then I noticed low bass sounds would make it crackle. Then I hooked up my record player, and it crackles with that. If everything is off, and I touch the receiver, it crackles the speakers.

I got a second set of speakers and testing it out and it doesn’t appear to be the speakers, unless 1990s era advent speakers can’t hook up to new receivers?

I checked the wire connection, I’ve taken them out and reconnected 3 times. It’s 12gauge speaker wire.

is it likely I bought a lemon? Or someone returned a defective product and Best Buy sold it to me?

what’s the best way to trouble shoot?

 

[PDoyle]

So when the receiver is turned off and still plugged in, you can hear this crackle sound through the speakers when you touch the receiver?
Is this a house or an apartment? Wondering if there may be a ground issue?

 

[Duane]

Did you use another receiver prior to the new one? If so, did it produce the same noise?

 

[Nekko]

So when the receiver is turned off and still plugged in, you can hear this crackle sound through the speakers when you touch the receiver?
Is this a house or an apartment? Wondering if there may be a ground issue?

no the receiver is on, just no sound inputs (tv or turntable) and it will still crackle the speakers if you touch it. Which is why I thought initially it was the cables, but they are brand new.

the speakers both work fine on the receiver in the living room.

 

[Nekko]

Did you use another receiver prior to the new one? If so, did it produce the same noise?

the speakers were on the living room receiver and worked fine. This is a new setup in the tv room, tv and record player. It seemed ok the first week and started making noise with deep bass sounds and now it’s constant when in use.

 

[Nekko]

I recorded the sound if anyone knows a way to upload it for free to post here.

I just can’t figure it if it’s a grounding issue or loose wire inside the receiver (it’s brand new so I hope I could warranty it).

 

[Nekko]

Also just realized the receiver is sitting atop a metal filing cabinet...could the surface be affecting the wires? It was supposed to sit atop a wooden cabinet but the turntable cables were too short that came with it and I haven’t ordered longer ones yet...as it’s got to reach the tv also.

Would a plank of wood separating feet of Receiver from metal surface help?

the sound it makes is not really static..it’s not a hum cause it’s grounded with built on preAmp. I’d say it’s more of a pop sound...but that’s not right either. It’s very strange.

 

[HTHMAN]

Take it back.

 

[Duane]

Take it back.

 

[Nekko]

Hopefully Best Buy will accept it, it’s been over a month.

figured out that when the turntable is attached, it’s worse. If I disconnect the turntable, it only makes the sound at very low bass sounds.

so it is some sort of grounding issue, but it seems like it’s coming from the receiver itself, not the components.

 

[Nekko]

So I swapped out receivers with my fathers, both sets of speakers make the noise on both receivers (my new one and the older one). I even set them up in two different rooms.

heres where it gets strange. Neither speaker rattles if I connect the CD player to it and play a CD. Rattle only happens with my turntable and the HDTV with low bass sounds.

option 1: speakers are old and coincidence that both rattle, and I just never noticed at my fathers house because he only uses them with CD player.

option 2: My receiver blew out both speakers and that’s why they now rattle with new and old receiver. Afraid to buy new ones if this is the case.

option 3: speakers can’t handle the audio from the newer HDTV and turntable but do fine with whatever the CD player is outputting. Nothing is wrong with my receiver it’s just the old speakers.

I suppose I need to take the receiver to an audio store and test it out to see if it reproduces the problem.

I am worried that because the speakers are old and I only had two, I turned the volume up too high into the positive db range..though I think I had them set to -6db. I have no idea how high the old advents were capable of going until they would blow out.

thanks for any thoughts, I haven’t set up an audio system before, always had bookshelf speakers ugh RCA inputs so this is a struggle.

 

[Bone Yard]

Simple question, did you hook up the ground wire from the turntable? Is the area between the speaker cone and the metal speaker frame intact? I don't know your experience level but the "surround" for the speakers might be rotted. I'd also try headphones and see if your getting the same noise. I blew some Advents with a vintage Technics mid-level Reciever a long time ago, your amp is rated at 80 watts which might be way too high for the speakers, post the speaker models to confirm.

It could be a few things, I'm leaning towards blown speakers, for some reason CDs seem to play ok with blown speakers, there's just no bass or high volume.

 

[HTHMAN]

Since you have eliminated the receiver as the problem, it can only be the speakers. Take off the grills and look at the speaker surrounds. They are likely rotted and torn-that would produce the buzzing sound you describe and highs would not be affected. If so, do not play the speaker in that condition as you will ruin them. Replacing a surround is pretty easy and you can find lots of info on the web to do it yourself.

A bad surround is not a blown speaker, just do not use until repaired or it will soon be a blown speaker that produces no sound.

 

[Nekko]

So I opened the speaker, looks like it is the speaker. I was just confused because they worked fine with the CD player they were set up with. I do not know the model, they were bought in early 90s I believe, they look like baby advents, possibly whatever model they made after being bought by Jensen. But the foam is all rotted and the cone is collapsed. If you touch the cone it reproduces the sound, so it’s def the vibration of the speaker there. My dad is going to buy himself new speakers, but I will probably hang on to these and try to repair if possible. We threw out our large advents in the late 90s as they molded in a basement and I still feel bad about that decision. They were pretty cool.

thanks for your help, hopefully this thread can help someone else someday. If anyone knows what model advents I have I’d love to know. I can’t find anything online about the serial number, but they are pretty identical to baby advents and can be turned on their side and the logo flipped to the side.

 

[HTHMAN]

It always amazed me that some people have a compulsion to push in those dust caps. Good news is that they do not appreciably affect sound. Sometimes you can pull them back out and there are many threads about various methods to do this. You can cut them out and replace, especially if you shim the voice coil when you replace the surround.

You should definitely repair those speakers. Lots of posts and videos available to help-probably even some Advent specific ones. Good shut-in winter project.