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Please help me solve a mystery - speakers cut out at low volume only
I've been dealing with this problem on and off for over a year with TWO different receivers and speaker setups in two different rooms. Not sure if the two cases are even related, or what, but I will list all the variables (too many, I'm afraid) to see if anybody can make more sense of this than I can.
The biggest similarity I can think of is that in both cases, when the sound begins to cut out at low volumes, I can fix it by cranking the volume way up and then back down. Of course 5-10 minutes later it may start happening again.
Setup #1:
In one room I have a 10 year old, sort of cheap, Pioneer SX 205 receiver powering two large Pioneer tower speakers (also old). From time to time one speaker will start cutting out, if I'm listening at low volumes. This happens from multiple sources (iPod and PC sound card) so I am pretty sure it's not the source. Usually the problem happens with the right speaker, but when I swap the speakers the same thing happens, so it's not the speaker either. I figured it was the receiver for a long time, but now that this is happening in another room with my GOOD new receiver, I'm thinking otherwise. Sometimes I will go days without it happening, sometimes it happens every 5 minutes all day. I am using Acoustic Research 16 gauge speaker wire (for setup #2 also).
Setup #2:
In the other room I have my "good" system - a Pioneer VSX-816 and Athena Audition series 5.0 speaker setup (all less than a year old). However, I have the same audio cutouts here on low volume, occassionally. Usually it is most evident in the center channel, but I think that's just because of its dominance; if I put my ear up to the towers when the cutouts are happening, I can hear it there sometimes too. It was mostly from the cable box for a long time, so I thought it was the cable signal or the box device, but again, cranking up the volume would fix it, so that would make you think it's not the cable. However, it has also happened from DVD and Wii connection now too. One thing that may be in common in some cases is that it's in Pro Logic II mode (something I was made aware of with my new Wii... a sort of surround signal actually being sent through a stereo component connection), but I really don't think that has anything to do with it.
One glaring similarity between both cases is Pioneer receivers, but I really doubt that has anything to do with it.
My top guesses are:
1) The connections somewhere (speaker wires or stereo inputs)... but I took a lot of care with all my connections and I can't believe this would be happening on both systems
2) Something I do that may be really stupid... in some cases I use speaker wire lengths that are way too long (25' wire for 8' run, for example)... and I simply coil the excess up between receiver and speaker, on the ground, sometimes near other cables and power lines. So if you look behind my TV stand there are GOBS of cables back there, between all the power cables, the massive surge protector, and all the coils of speaker wire. I am fairly ignorant about analog signals and power transmission/interference, etc... but I am just guessing maybe I'm doing something wrong here?
Any ideas? I really doubt both of my receivers could be bad. This has stumped me for a very long time, and it's even tougher to troubleshoot since it doesn't happen consistently, even at low volumes it only occurs sometimes, and at high volumes never.
Thanks!!!
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