Crackling in right channel, what do I do? Help, please.


Sadly, I am experiencing crackling in the right channel of my system. The crackling happens intermittently and has happened on different sources, including my FM tuner, and from my DAC. It seems like the crackling is not related to the source. 

I have a monster of a system, including a Gryphon Colosseum amplifier, and a pair of Gryphon Cantata speakers. 

My system is described in the link below. How should I go about debugging this problem? Do I dare play the system? Should I buy a cheap amp and swap that in to see if the problem persists? Do I buy a cheap preamp as well? Do I start by swapping the speaker cables to the opposite speaker cables to see if the crackle moves to the other speaker? 

My system has been performing flawlessly for a number of years now. I did have to get cheap part replaced on the amplifier about three or four years ago, and used Soundsmith in Peekskill, NY.

I'm pretty brokenhearted about the possibility of having to get my system repaired. I had total hip replacement surgery two months ago and I can't lift anything. Moving the beast of an amp or the heavy speakers is out of the question. I suppose I could find somebody to help me if it comes to that. 

Sigh. 

Larry
 

 

larrykell

Showing 6 responses by ghasley

@larrykell 

 

If you cant get a loaner amp, may I suggest it almost doesnt matter what you purchase for the short duration of getting your Gryphon serviced. Buy a decent preowned amp that has reasonable demand when it comes time to resell. There will be nothing you drop in to your system that will provide you with the amplification experience you are used to.

Hi @larrykell 

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles, first world or otherwise, and I hope your hip is mending according to plan.

 

First thing to do would be to isolate to a particular channel so swap your speaker cables from left to right and right to left. Im almost certain the noise will move to the left speaker but thats step one. In the event the noise stays in the right channel it s your right speaker.

 

Next up, replace the speaker cables to the way they were before. Turn everything on and ensure the noise is still present. Then turn off one component at a time to see if the noise ceases with each subsequent power off. Repeat until only your amp is on and if the noise persists, your last checkpoint would be to disconnect everything from the amp except power and speaker cables. If the noise is still there, then the right channel in your amp requires attention.

 

If the noise is NO LONGER there, then you will have to chase it back up through your chain. I would switch left interconnects with right interconnects for each piece of gear and methodically take notes as to what you. Have done and what you will do. This will help you stay on track in the event the phone rings, the doorbell sounds of if Judge Judy comes on the TV. In the event the noise moves from right to left channel then you might have a bad interconnect or more likely, that the interconnects needed to be properly seated/re-seated.

 

You will get it sorted, just be patient, it will work out. Getting a high quality piece of gear serviced isn’t the end of the world…it might be something as simple as seating your cables properly or removing tension from the routing of certain stiff interconnects. It might even be a fuse in your amp slowly faining or improperly seated due to transit/moving it around.

 

Good luck.

 

@larrykell 

How do I figure out if the problem is in the amplifier, preamp, or interconnects? 

See my third paragraph on in my post above.

Yes...sounds like the right channel to your amp. Im a tube guy myself but you will be very surprised with some of the better engineered class d amplification. Atmasphere has come out with a new pair of small monoblocks but maybe your dealer has a loaner?

Is the amp you purchase to tide you over going to get sold when your Gryphon returns or will you keep it for the occasional "something different" mood that plagues so many of us? What is your budget for your given scenario?

@larrykell 

 

you are making this too hard. Almost any amp will do. You seem to be worried about the speaker cable lugs fitting and you can look for a LOOOOONG time before you THINK they might fit. In the meantime you could buy a reasonable amp, you could buy some spade to banana adapters (transparent among many make them) or better yet, buy some cheap cables or even marginal bare wire that will get you by. Once again, you are looking for something temporary and you will dislike to varying degrees virtually everything you might acquire.