dcmo Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Last May I purchased a 7.1 set-up, with my floors being RF-7's. Now one of the RF-7's are making what I would call a crackling sound out of the horn. I don't know if I have noticed it with music, but it is happening with movies. It doesn't always happen, but only during certain tracks. What could be wrong, is it something in the sound track or is there something wrong with the horn (or driver or whatever). I have a Pioneer 53tx which I never turn up past -5 which goes up to about 18 (not really sure, maybe lower than that). The RF-7's are set to small with all LFE going to the sub, and are bi-wired. Really need some help, any would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMays Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Pain in the butt, but switch right-to-left and that should tell you prett quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Probably 1 of 3 possibilities... 1) bad connection (this can be outside or inside the speaker cabinet) to the driver in question 2) bad diaphragm - sounds pretty much the same as a bad connection usually from over-driving the driver 3) bad output from the amplifier - should be easy to trace, the sound will move with the wires DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMays Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 D-man suggested a loose connection...I had that with one of my RF-7's right out of the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcmo Posted September 27, 2004 Author Share Posted September 27, 2004 Okay, what does a bad connection sound like? The speaker sounds great except for a few places during the movie, then it just sounds like crackling coming out of the horn. My worst thought would be a bad driver (although I would rather have to replace a bad driver than my receiver), which shows up when the frequency reaches a certain level. Anyway I'll be off soon, and will be checking out what you have suggested. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilMays Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 A loose connection could sound like static, popping, garbly goob, etc. Again change right to left to see if it is a speaker issue or a signal issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 A bad connection can sound EXACTLY like a blown diapragm. It's sort of a scratchy sound and can only happen on certain passages and frequencies, which makes it even harder to track down. Play with the wiring first, as that is the way to tell what kind of a problem that you have... DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 One more thing to think about... I don't know what you are hearing, but is there any chance that it is actually on the soundtrack? I have heard distortion that I thought was my midrange driver giving up the ghost, that turns out to be actually recorded distortion...beleive me that one can cause endless trouble until it's tracked down... DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 I wonder if what you are hearing is Jitter. Is the DVD player located in such a way that it is subject to excessive vibration? I don't think the speaker size setting would cause this issue but I suspect that even with a sub the RF-7s should be set to large. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in ABQ Posted September 27, 2004 Share Posted September 27, 2004 Hello, I recently had a similar problem with my Fortes. I was getting a crackling sound with certain tracks of a couple CDs. I was pretty bumed, but then started trouble shooting. I checked my speaker connections = good, checked the CD RCA cables = good, switched RCAs on CD to receiver = good. ??? Finnally, played CD in DVD player, and presto!! no more crackle. Tried it with other offending CD tracks, same good results. Put CD back in original CD player and offending noise is back. I've disconnected my CD player for now and have not had time to investigate further. The ol Kenwood carasole has lasted me over 12 years, so I'm not too bumed. Good luck to your problem. Hope its a simple fix like mine. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcmo Posted September 28, 2004 Author Share Posted September 28, 2004 It has crossed my mind it could be on the soundtrack, but I don't know. I noticed it first on LOTR II, but didn't really think all that much about it as I was just testing volumn levels. It really became noticeable on Empire Strikes Back though, but one would think that the sound track would be fine on this as it was just done and Lucas strikes me as one that is meticulous on things like this even if he isn't when it actually comes to plot. It could be the soundtrack though, as I noticed during action scenes the narrative was recorded way to low (as if they were only talking little more than a whisper). Tried tracking it down last night, but I was unable to find the portion of the track with the distortion. Another question, when you say a bad connection inside or out, I take it an outside connection is the speaker wire from the receiver and an inside connection is the internal wiring which connects the horn. Anyway, I thank you for your help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcmo Posted September 28, 2004 Author Share Posted September 28, 2004 Wouldn't it be harmful over the long run to the 7's to set them to large. Their lower frequency is only rated to 32 hz, and my receiver won't cut them off if they are set to large. Since I got this system my tastes in movies are greatly influenced by the sound track, so I end up playing mostly movies with a lot of LFE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted September 28, 2004 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Large is fine - that's what I'd set them to, but alas, it won;t fix the problem... It sounds like there is a problem with the speaker. To check whether or not its on the soundtack, switch speakers. If the sound appears on the "other" speaker, it's on the soundtrack or is coming from the source. If it sounds clean on the "other" speaker, there is a problem with the one speaker, as you suspect. DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironwoods Posted September 28, 2004 Share Posted September 28, 2004 Hi, this has happened a number of times to my system, and I've always found a bad RCA connection as the culprit, where just unplugging and replugging remedied the problem. I usually don't have this kind of luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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