Yawnny

Hi There, I have a pair of Klipsch RP150M Passive Bookshelf Speakers. I've owned them for about six months and have really enjoyed the sound so far. This morning when I was playing some usual "It's-Saturday-so-let's-play-it-loud" music I heard an odd buzzing resonance at, what seemed, infrequent intervals out of one of the speakers. Almost an electrical vibration of sorts. The sound is akin to an electrical "Zzzzt" and would only ever happen in quick bursts.. it would never be a long drawn out electrical sounding buzz. I first thought this was my lamp against the wall vibrating but then I replayed a portion of the song, then another song, and kept an ear open while holding the speaker. These odd quick-burst electrical sounding buzzes would come from the back of the speaker, seemingly right where the binding posts are. This noise only comes out of one of the speakers and it only occurs when there is a constant bass frequency in a song. (ie: shortly after the 3 minute 30 mark in Bipolar Scientist's cover of The Scientist. Seemingly when there's a solid resonance of low frequency, and at a touch higher than your wife might want it listening levels. I disconnected this left channel speaker and brought over the other speaker to connect in it's place. Same buzz/"Zztt" sound. Almost an ultra quick rattle. I then connected the problem speaker to the right channel and still had the same bad noise. I hooked up the speakers to another amplifier and same issue with the single speaker but not the other. Again, the sound is coming right behind the speaker at the binding post area. Not from the front of the speaker in any location. At first I thought it might be some rattling of the binding posts but I tried banana plugs and screwing the plugs right down, then screwing them up, then trying no banana plugs and just use bare wire..I tried applying pressure with my hands around the binding post area and the binding posts themselves, all yielded no change in results. The sound it makes is as if the lead of a hot wire is tapping something to make a Scrapey, Rattley, sort of buzz. Pardon my use of not real adjectives but I'm trying my best to describe this pain in my a** I attempted unscrewing the binding post area on the back of the RP150M but there isn't much to look at and the binding post section won't fully come out of the speaker because it seems to be attached to a circuit board that is too large to come out of the port.. I can't notice any wires to see if something looks loose. Does anyone have any ideas what could be happening here? I was running these through a crappy Sony STR-DG720 receiver..which is rated for 100W per channel even though the THD is crap. Could this receiver have done some damage? These RP150M's are super efficient (as most Klipsch seem to be) so I'd be really surprised if how loud I was pushing them was the peak at which the speakers could go, and if that was the case then wouldn't both speakers be affected in the same way. Would they not have the same limits? This doesn't happen with all songs either. Only if a song has a sort of muddy base section ,or high pitched vocals plus bass with drawn out notes. Any and all suggestions/advice is welcome. Thanks!

Ok, I've set it all to 80Hz and like the sound of it, others have suggested to put the LPF of LFE to 120Hz, is this optimal? I'm not even sure what that setting is! You guys have been so helpful, I love learning this stuff.

Ok I think I figured out the xover frequencies, Now I want to adjust the dB's.. I want my center channel just a bit louder then it set it at.. Is going into the "-" dB levels making it louder? or is it when it goes into the "+" dBs its getting louder? thanks for the help guys!

How do i adjust the Large or Small setting on this amp though? All I see that I can change is the distance from my speakers, and the crossover settings.. How do I set them to small?

Alright just picked up a Onkyo TX-SR876 Sounds great so far, I've attempted to calibrate it a little, used the Audessey mic, but I feel I should calibrate further Now for the questions! [] First off, with SO many listening modes to choose from which is the most common one I should use for Movies or games? It's automatically on ALL CH STEREO But I'm assuming thats pretty vanilla? Secondly, I know I should set my speakers to "small", But just have NO idea how to do it with this Onkyo .. I did the auto calibration thing, but most say Audessy sets the speakers to Full Band which is there way of saying "large".. apprently just changing the crossover frequencies is me changing it to "small" but I haven't had it completely explained so Im so very confused [:|] They had set my center channel (RC-52) to 60HZ.. but I heard people say change it to 80hz(THX) ? .. the fronts are at 150HZ right now, with the surrounds at 120HZ .. I also read to set the LPF of LFE to 120HZ.. So I did, Is this the right thing to do? Here's where I read about manually calibrating Im still fairly new at this stuff so I don't want to muck it up configuring.. All help is appreciated!!

Alright, The Onkyo TX-SR876 is now sitting at a very reasonable $1200 at London Drugs, and am thinking I should pick this one up tonigh would this be a good idea? The majority of review I've read have been solid, so seems like a good buy. Of course then there's the Onkyo TXNR1007B, which is a touch more expensive Your thoughts are greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

Hey there guys, I'm now officially in the market for a new amp and would love to hear some of your suggestions. Currently I have a Sony STR-DG720 (it was nice and cheap), which works fairly well.. but now I want bigger, fuller sound Im running 2 RB-61's as my mains, an RC-52 center, Cinema6 sats for my surrounds (Ill upgrade the surrounds later as well)..and a not so great Jamo sub. The amps Ive been looking at are the Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K (one of Cnets top picks).. or do I spend even more money and get the Yamaha RX-V1900? wiill I notice a huge difference upgrading my amp? I'm still somewhat of a home theater noob, but I'm really trying to learn, and from my research an upgraded amp will be a failry nice Improvement. (any other thoughts on AMPs I could buy would be great My budget is up to $1500 CAN) What are you guys's thoughts? thanks

Alright, well thanks alot Wuzzer, you've made me feel at ease!

..How unfortunate.. I just don't understand good, 5 star Blu ray reviews (Lost, Drag me to hell..etc) when there is damn sound crackling. Wuzzer, do you ever hear sound crackling then if it's the mixes?

Well I switched the center off during Lost, so it was only playing on the bookshelves and the little, subtle buzz when it got too loud was still there.. So that makes me feel better about the speakers. I think either way I'm going to get a new amp.. then Ill just accept the sound I get

Ok, I attempted to switch it to 2ch while playing the episode of Lost, but my amp wont let me switch it to 2 channel? Is this because I have the PS3 hooked up via HDMI? (I seem to remember it being able to switch when it was hooked up through optical?? I no longer have an optical cable long enough to check at the moment. When im on the Lost Season3 menu, where it asks me to select Episodes, Set up, Special Features I can switch between settings (2ch, plix MC, dolby ..etc) but once I start the episode I'll try and switch to 2ch or anything else for that matter and it just shows "NOT USED" in grey transparent text on my amp screen.. wtf? I tried to improvise and popped on my Sennheiser headphones to listen 2ch, and that works.. and I maaay have been able to hear the buzz, but It could just be my ears wanting to hear it?, it didn't seem as prominient? ( I've had people say it might be the source, the recording itself that just isn't perfect.. But if thats the case, then why do all these Bluray reviews get superb critical praise, such as LOST on BluRay, when there are noise crackles!?, I still think it's something to do with my amp ) Anyway, if someone can keep helping me through this problem that would be great! EDIT I was doing some research and looked at options of setting your speakers to "Small" or "Large", and that the optimum setting is Small. I have no Idea how to do this on my AMP, can someone let me know? thankss. Figured out that easily enough, everything was already set to small :S

Hey guy's, Im hoping someone here can help me with my issue, I've been going insane for nearly a year now of this problem persisting no matter what I try! I'll be playing a movie, or game, TV, DVD, BluRay you name it and whenever there is a sudden loud yell by a character, actor, game villian (again, you name it) ther will be a center distortion; a sort of crack that lasts about a milisecond but it's definitely distorting when it gets really loud.. and ONLY during dialogue, mainly when someone is yelling suddenlyeg. Lost season 3 blu ray disc 1 episode 1, when everyone is at the book club discussing how Ben isn't there, lots of dialogue and it pops a couple times. Any action movie and someone saying Get me outah here!! is a good example.. I just can't feel the same when theres a sudden very subtle pop..Im going to go insane. I've tried switching wires a thousand times,every store I go to (London drugs, Future shop etc..) they ALL say the same thing "try switching wires? try resetting your amp? give the speaker some time to break itself in(yes the guy at london drugs actually used that one..I could have slapped him right there) I've upgraded speakers 3 times, I had a shitty Jamo set up, then a Klipsch cinema 6 satelite setup now I have a Klipsch RC-52 center channel and 2 RB61 bookshelves (the RB61's work great btw!), still using the cinema 6 rear speakers for my surround, all being powered by a Sony STR-DG720 amp.. Im thinking the next step I may have to take is upgrading my amp? I just don't know what to do anymore.. I feel so left out, so unloved by good sound quality.. I'll always buy new speakers thinking "Yayy better sound and maybe THIS time the center won't crack!" I want to know what people REALLY mean when they say This sound will stir your soul! (Oh really? because a crack when people yell too loud isn't what I pay thousands of dollars for!) Sorry if im coming off as a pessimist.. I've just tried so much..and the center ALWAYS cracks at the same moments...loud..yelling..dialogue.. ugh.. I think I may just give up Of course. maybe you guys can help out *wink* [:'(]

Alrighty I finally have my RB-61's set up and they sound stellar. I'm very happy with them! I switched my PS3 recently do HDMI sound and think I hear a crisper difference? one question though, when using HDMI sound does it seperate the sound differently than say Optical Sound? It seems like the center is being used a lot more, and the bookshelves a lot less.. Could just be my imagination though [:|]

Alright I got my PS3 hooked up via HDMI sound, and it sounds great, very crisp. However, when I try to hook up my X360 via HDMI sound the audio switches to primarily 2 channel it seems? when I play music through the 360 when it is hooked up all through HDMI it's really only coming out of the 2 front speakers, yet when the 360 is hooked up via Optical Cable The music booms out the center, and all around. Is the 360 just not made for HDMI sound? if not it's no big deal, it works really fantastic on my PS3, and thats my main device I cared about running HDMI Audio. (NEW) upon further research it could just be the X360?

Getting the HDMI cords is no prob, I am already using HDMI cords for my ps3, and 360 for the video, and running an optical cable from each of the systems in to my amp for the audio. My question is this. Once I re-direct my HDMI cords and plug them all in to my amp, then have the one HDMI out cord running from my amp to my tv, is the video all going to be running off of one channel? Will switching audio between the systems be the same deal as before only now all the video is on one channel? I know these are extremely noobish questions, thanks for all the patience guys.