Speakers "popping" - seems to be power related... (1 Viewer)

[RyanYYZ]

Periodically my speakers are popping - it seems to be mostly coming from the rears.

It seems that when something is turned on or off on the circuit the speakers will pop.

- I HAVE all of the components on a surge protector

- I DON'T HAVE more than one power bar plugged in (daisy chained etc.)

- I DON'T HAVE any extra splitters (ie a six-way out etc.) in the mix for the stereo equipment.

My suspicion is the issue is coming from a power line somewhere along the speaker run. For the rear speakers I ran the cables straight down the inside of the wall to a hole near the floor and then back out and along the baseboard. Could there be a line in the wall that they're crossing or something?

Trouble shooting suggestions?

Remedy suggestions?

Thanks,

Ryan Coleman

 

[Charlie C]

purchase an ISOLATED surge protector

 

[RyanYYZ]

Can you define the difference between an isolated and a regular surge protector?

 

[Charlie C]

sorry no I cant. I assume in addition to the surge protection, the isolation makes sure each unit plugged in isnt causing static thru the other equipment, or within the rest of your house.

isobar is what I use

 

[Roy Lumsden]

I used to do power quality inspections for customers having computer problems so I'll share what I know:

To the best of my knowledge, all surge suppressors are "isolated". Isolated usually refers to the neutral and safety ground isolated from each other. Additionally, if your are feeding your load from a sub-panel (a second breaker panel seperate from your main breaker panel), the neutral and ground should be continuous back to the main but seperated in the subpanel (i.e., seperate neutral and ground busses).

Roy

 

[RyanYYZ]

Thanks Roy/Charlie.

Right now the system just feeds off the main breaker panel - "theatre" is still a relatively loose term in my case.

I'm still wondering if I've crossed something behind the wall and my speaker cable is picking up interference from there. It seems to only be the rear speakers which are affected. I would think if it were something through the powerline that was coming through the amp I'd hear it in all around the room.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Ryan,

> when something is turned on or off on the circuit the speakers will pop ... I HAVE all of the components on a surge protector <

A surge protector is of no use here. (Most of them are of no use anyway in my opinion.)

What you need is an RFI filter. If you're the DIY type you can buy the basic component for about $25 and stick it in a little plastic box from Radio Shack. For more on this see "Hum and Buzz," 4th in the list on my Articles page:

www.ethanwiner.com/articles.html

--Ethan

 

[Charlie C]

sorry, but my Isobar from triplite fixed my speaker popping problem. I just thought id share it.

 

[BobK]

Does it happen when someone is using a cell phone? I had interference from my cell phone with my subwoofer. My installer used a shielded cable since it is at a preamp output level, but it didn't seem to work. I fixed it by replacing the shielded cable with RG6 shielded cable. No more interference.

BobK