Crackling and failing speakers?

[Antagony]

I got a set of speakers from a friend. They sound great . . . when they work. Thing is, after a couple of minutes, they'll crackle, the power LCD will kind of blink and fade a bit, and they'll all stop working. Then a few minutes later they will crackle and pop and start working again.

It's quite frustrating. I assume it may be some kind of power problem, so I opened up the jerk but found no loose connections or anything. I've also tried different outlets and what-not to ensure that it's getting enough power through the line.

Any ideas?

[mrap1]

What about dirty connections?

[j8ear]

Did you put a multimeter on the power line after the transformer?

Is there a tranformer that steps down from 110vac to 12vdc (or something else), you know one of those big box type wall plugs?

I'll bet this is power too. Somewhere in that system the 110 gets converted, and what you describe is a transformer going bad.

-bear

[losthellhound]

magnets could be loose. As you play them, they vibrate out of whack, then settle back down

just a thought

[Antagony]

Originally posted by mrap1
What about dirty connections?

I don't think that's it. I looked at the connectors and everything looks fine. Jiggling them doesn't make them crackle or anything like that either.

Originally posted by j8ear
Did you put a multimeter on the power line after the transformer?

Is there a tranformer that steps down from 110vac to 12vdc (or something else), you know one of those big box type wall plugs?

Wellll, I don't have a multimeter. And as for the big box type wall plugs, there aren't any here. These are just standard wall outlets in my apartment.

[j8ear]

I meant the plug from the speakers...not the outlet in the wall.

Things like telephones, laptops, PC speakers, cell phone charges, all have a transformer. Usually the big bulky plug that takes up three spaces on a power strip....Know what I'm talking about? It could also be inside the speakers but this is not likely.

I suspect this to be faulty. Find another with identical parameters, and this could fix the problem.

-bear

[poof]

Sounds (pun not intended) like heat might be a problem. As they are used, a coil or some other lectric device gets hot and resistance builds, snap, crackle, pop. The speakers stop, cool down, the open connection closes, then snap, crackle, pop as the heat happens again.

You should do as your "friend" did, give them to a bud.

[Antagony]

Hmmmm, both j8ear and poof may be on to something . . . I'll look into it further.

Thanks for your help, folks!

[sandeep]

If it helps, my speakers crack and pop as well, and every once in a while they'll (what seems like) blow themselves up along with one of those pops. Then they'll come back to life later on, whether that's minutes or days depends on the occasion.


For me, its my mini-fridge in my (dorm) room that turns on and causes the cracking. Check out if there's anything like that around your speakers. My Furnace used to do the same thing for me. When it would start up, the speakers would crack.

Take a look around and see if there's anything turning on when it happens. It could be a possibility.

[Antagony]

Well, I took a gamble and went to my friendly neighborhood Radio Shack. I purchased a generic power supply (one that matches the V and mAh of the factory supply) -- it put me out about $20, but it works now!

So again, thanks for all your suggestions!