Help with sound distortion / volume controls

[carsonjmiller]

I have a new set of outdoor speakers that have a significant distortion in the sound (fades in/out, choppy, nasty sounding).

I am hoping someone might be able to help me troubleshoot.

Here is my setup:

iTunes -> Airport Express -> Optical Cable from APX into Receiver -> Speaker wire out of receiver (through wall) -> Volume Control box on wall -> Speaker wire behind wall again -> Outdoor Speaker Set

So far, I believe I have eliminated the problem being iTunes or APX related because I have another APX in the house that is connected to a set of powered speakers directly (no receiver in the middle). This sounds totally fine.

So - I am at a loss as to what might be going on. Are their certain volume controls at each of my different change points (iTunes, Receiver, Wall Volume Control) I should use to get the highest quality sound? Does this sound like more than a settings problem? The audio is really bad.

If anyone out there can provide a few pointers on what might be going on, I would really appreciate it.

Thanks...

 

[soundguruman]

Due to the way houses are wired, airport may not work correctly in any electrical outlet. You may need to try moving it to another outlet or circuit.
You may have a bad receiver, try another sound source such as a CD player, plugged into the receiver directly, without an optical cable.
You may have blown speakers. Try other speakers.