Speakers Crackling During TV Shows but Not Music

masonzero

Prominent
Dec 18, 2017
1
0
510
I've looked around online and haven't found a good answer. Essentially my issue is as said in the title.. I have an old pair of stereo speakers from the 80's, and I need to replace them because they're huge, old, and I believe one of them has a capacitor out. So, this question is more out of curiosity, rather than a need to fix them. But, if there is a fix, that would be great too!

I have absolutely no issues with these speakers when listening to music. I have them hooked up to a receiver that has radio, and I also have it plugged into a record player and a TV. When listening to music on any of those 3 sources (such as through YouTube on the TV), I have no audio issues, but whenever I watch a TV show (or other video that involves people talking) either on TV or through a streaming service, the speakers start crackling and going out. This is usually temporarily solved by smacking the woofer lightly. Even though only one speaker seems to have a capacitor out (and therefore slightly less bass than the other), both of them crackle.

My question is WHY. Mostly, what makes music and TV so different that it would cause this problem?

Speaker stats:

Sonic Studio Lab Series SL-100
https://i.imgur.com/Vhq4zsZ.jpg
 
Solution
Ground loop perhaps.....?

Not sure about how you have everything, including power sources, connected.

Start with the following link to narrow things down.

https://www.techhive.com/article/3063590/home-audio/how-to-get-rid-of-hum-and-eliminate-other-noises-from-your-audio-and-video-systems.html

However, if there is some physical problem inside a speaker (woofer) then that intermittent issue could cause misleading results.

May a loose ground connection but only appears with the TV being in use. You smack the woofer and connection is temporarily restored.



Ground loop perhaps.....?

Not sure about how you have everything, including power sources, connected.

Start with the following link to narrow things down.

https://www.techhive.com/article/3063590/home-audio/how-to-get-rid-of-hum-and-eliminate-other-noises-from-your-audio-and-video-systems.html

However, if there is some physical problem inside a speaker (woofer) then that intermittent issue could cause misleading results.

May a loose ground connection but only appears with the TV being in use. You smack the woofer and connection is temporarily restored.



 
Solution

nicolatesla

Distinguished
Nov 3, 2009
30
1
18,660


Connect amp to adjustable output of TV. Keep level on TV lower (till crackle is eliminated) and then turn amp up to regain the level.

I think what is happening here is TV audio output is overloading input of the preamp. By lowering TV audio level it should stop the distortion...then you can crank the amp volume up instead of the TV volume.