Speaker damaged/clipping? Or DVD problem?

[robbit]

Oh I agree with you completely - it's just that when you get this desparate, you're willing to try anything. Here I've spent all this money on a great system, the entire movie has sounded fabulous with rumbling lows and screeching highs and then the actors final monologue crackles right as the credits roll. It leaves such a sour taste in your mouth you could just puke. So, that's why I'll try rewiring

I just don't see why rewiring would help the dialogue on some movies and everything else is fine.
If it was wiring, it must affect all signals equally, unless there is a cold joint someplace and that happens to coincide with a center channel just at dialogue.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Oh I agree with you completely - it's just that when you get this desparate, you're willing to try anything. Here I've spent all this money on a great system, the entire movie has sounded fabulous with rumbling lows and screeching highs and then the actors final monologue crackles right as the credits roll. It leaves such a sour taste in your mouth you could just puke. So, that's why I'll try rewiring

Yes, I hear you loud and clear

Is this crackling(or the others) on this disc repeatable to the same location, every time?
If so, another greater possibility is the soundtrack itself on the DVD has stamping problems?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I've got a Definitive Technologies center speaker that's doing the same thing. I've talked to numerous people as well and they all seemed just as stumped. My situation is exactly the same: music sounds great (everything from classical to rock) and the movies themselves sound fabulous except for certain sections of dialog (I've heard this in "Letters from Iwo Jima", "Transformers", "Batman Returns" to date).

And you are watching this on blu-ray or hddvd?
TrueHD, PCM sound ?
Exactly what speakers & audio system do you have?

 

[robbit]

I didn't mean to hijack the original poster's thread, but since you asked

1. I hear the crackling in the same location each time. This occurs at low or high volume. This also has occurred on both regular DVD's and HD-DVD's.

2. My system consists of the following:

- 2 Definitive Tech's Super Towers (BP7004)
- 1 Definitive Tech's Center Channel (C/L/R 2500)
- 2 Definitive Tech's side speakers (don't remember #)
- Denon AVR (3806)
- Denon DVD Player (2910/955)

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I didn't mean to hijack the original poster's thread, but since you asked

1. I hear the crackling in the same location each time. This occurs at low or high volume. This also has occurred on both regular DVD's and HD-DVD's.

2. My system consists of the following:

- 2 Definitive Tech's Super Towers (BP7004)
- 1 Definitive Tech's Center Channel (C/L/R 2500)
- 2 Definitive Tech's side speakers (don't remember #)
- Denon AVR (3806)
- Denon DVD Player (2910/955)

You have a pretty great system there. It should not be making crackling sounds like that. Have you tried to swap speakers like Bloodstriker did? Hook the center channel to the BP7004?
Did you set the Center speaker to LARGE/FULL RANGE? & Vice Versa (to Small)?

I just read another post somewhere else about the same "crackling, buzzing" sound from the center speaker----did not say what kind of speaker he was using.

Man, we may be having a "Crackling Center" epidemic!

 

[mtrycrafts]

I didn't mean to hijack the original poster's thread, but since you asked
1. I hear the crackling in the same location each time. This occurs at low or high volume. This also has occurred on both regular DVD's and HD-DVD's.

Another possibility is the soundtrack on both dvds. Can you take the dvds to a store with a setup and see if it happens there?

 

[robbit]

I did perform the following test: I swapped one of my supertowers with the C/L/R and then played a variety of music. Everything from classical to rock, it sounded great. Sounds have never really been an issue though, only dialog. Perhaps a better test would be to rig one of my supertowers into the center position and then play the same movie track - would this work? Or are the two speakers too different to really validate the results?

Someone before mentioned something about a voice coil - do all speakers have these or only center channels? As you can tell, I'm relatively new to this but at the same time I love to learn. Thanks for the help!

You have a pretty great system there. It should not be making crackling sounds like that. Have you tried to swap speakers like Bloodstriker did? Hook the center channel to the BP7004?
Did you set the Center speaker to LARGE/FULL RANGE? & Vice Versa (to Small)?

I just read another post somewhere else about the same "crackling, buzzing" sound from the center speaker----did not say what kind of speaker he was using.

Man, we may be having a "Crackling Center" epidemic!

 

[robbit]

Definitely a good idea, though it seems to be happening way too frequently to simply be bad disks. What's also weird is that it only happens during certain parts. I would think if something were broken in the speaker, it would be pretty consistent throughout the movie. I dunno, maybe I'll try this anyway. It certainly wouldn't hurt anything. Thanks for the suggestion!

Another possibility is the soundtrack on both dvds. Can you take the dvds to a store with a setup and see if it happens there?

 

[Bloodstriker]

robbit, that sounds exactly my problem.

I tried the Transformers HD DVD on my XBox360 over the weekend. I didn't hear any crackle at all.

However, it seems like the voices were a lot quieter in this movie compared to the rest of the movies. I'm going to try other movies on the XBox to see if helps.

The 360 is connected to the exact same input and cables as the PS3. I simple moved the optical cable and HDMI cable over to the 360. All audio was in Dolby Digital.

Oh, and one thing off topic. I didn't find the Transformers sound to have that much bass! Maybe the 360 is playing the sound at much lower levels?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I would think if something were broken in the speaker, it would be pretty consistent throughout the movie. I dunno, maybe I'll try this anyway. It certainly wouldn't hurt anything. Thanks for the suggestion!

Yes, if it is a speaker issue, it would be consistently showing itself unless it is a volume based defect but still would show up all the time when the volume is increased, no matter if it is music or what.
Play the dvds at home to the spot where it happens, several spots where it is consistently happens, write it down so you can jump to those sections.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Perhaps a better test would be to rig one of my supertowers into the center position and then play the same movie track - would this work? Or are the two speakers too different to really validate the results?

Yeah, that would work. If the same crackle sound occurs (like in Bloodstriker's case), then it may be the fault of something else & not the speakers (CLR2500). It probably means that all speakers may have this same sound of "crackle".

The more I hear about this issue from other people, I more I think it's just the material itself or receiver/amp and not the fault of the speakers.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Another possibility is the soundtrack on both dvds. Can you take the dvds to a store with a setup and see if it happens there?

Yeah, I think the DVDs are at fault too. I've read other DVD reviewers in the past mentioning this crackling dialogue as well.

I think some of us are also more perceptive in recognizing this sound. I get the impression that this sound occurs only in louder/more dynamic scenes, which are often masked by the sounds of the other speakers?

I guess the next question is, is the center speaker volume matched to the rest of the speakers?

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Oh, and one thing off topic. I didn't find the Transformers sound to have that much bass! Maybe the 360 is playing the sound at much lower levels?

I saw "Transformers" HDDVD, then saw "Next" HDDVD. I may be wrong, but I got the impression that there were more bass in some scenes of "Next" than in "Transformers"!

The movie "Day After Tomorrow" BD has more bass than most movies I've seen, including "Transformers". Check this movie out for the Crackling Syndrome.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Oh, by the way. Have you guys (Bloodstriker & Robbit) tried to DECREASE the CENTER speaker LEVEL in your receiver setup? For example, if all your speakers are at - 0dB right now, decrease all of them to - 1 or -2 dB, etc. Then you would have to increase your overall system volume, but the speaker levels are decreased.

 

[snickelfritz]

I didn't mean to hijack the original poster's thread, but since you asked

1. I hear the crackling in the same location each time. This occurs at low or high volume. This also has occurred on both regular DVD's and HD-DVD's.

2. My system consists of the following:

- 2 Definitive Tech's Super Towers (BP7004)
- 1 Definitive Tech's Center Channel (C/L/R 2500)
- 2 Definitive Tech's side speakers (don't remember #)
- Denon AVR (3806)
- Denon DVD Player (2910/955)

Center channel program material is clipping the preamp. (not the poweramp)
Enable dynamic range limiting in the Denon setup, and see if it clears up.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Center channel program material is clipping the preamp. (not the poweramp)
Enable dynamic range limiting in the Denon setup, and see if it clears up.

I read this little piece from an ariticle in Widescreen Review:

"I ran a low frequency sweep signal from the AVIA DVD, and the CLR3000 center speaker produced solid bass down to 23 Hz. An impressive feat which I’m sure wouldn’t be possible in a speaker its size without the powered subwoofer in the design. As mentioned above, the C/L/R 3000 is a vented design. I had this system for nearly two months, and watched literally dozens of movies during that time. Only two soundtracks I auditioned during this time had low bass that was loud enough and low enough in the center channel to cause some port chuffing from the C/L/R 3000 to become audible in the form of a slight fluttering sound (for lack of a more descriptive term). The port on this speaker is tuned below 20Hz, and the bass in these two soundtracks must be even lower than that, as the 20Hz frequency sweep from AVIA wasn’t low enough to get any bass to the port at all. Similarly, on all other program material I played, there either wasn’t low enough frequency content to bring the port into the equation, or it happened with effects transient enough in nature that it simply wasn’t audible. In any case, I didn’t consider this enough of an issue to warrant any changes in the speaker’s configuration."

Is is totally different from the "crackling sound"?

 

[robbit]

Whew, lots of great replies...

I'll try to answer some of the many topics added:

1. As far as speaker levels go, they should be fine. When I set the system up, I went through the process of measuring levels at six locations within my room and had the AVR calculate the proper settings. Things have been great ever since.

2. As for the fluttering sound during bass playback, no this is not the same. The crackle we are talking about occurs when dialog is playing and is more like the distortion heard on a walkie talkie (though not nearly as bad).

Here is something to offer hope though: I traced the problem back to when I set my AVR to simulate a 7.1 setup (i.e. I only have 5 speakers, it was simulating 7). When I disabled this feature, the problem appears to have cleared up, though I still need to perform a few more tests before I'm convinced. I now have the AVR setup to simply play the pure digital format of the signal (Digital Direct) and all seems well. Apparently, if this is the case, the algorithms used to create two additional "virtual" speakers must have caused some sort of distortion on the center channel. Anyone heard of this before? I'll have more on this later...

 

[Bloodstriker]

I just lowered each of the speaker levels by 10 and still have the same problem. I also double checked the DVD player against the PS3 and both have the same problem at the exact same scenes.

I don't have my AVR set to simulate a 7.1 setup. The rear channels are turned off.

Robbit's description of the problem is dead on. It sounds a bit like the walkie-talkie thing.

 

[mtrycrafts]

...Here is something to offer hope though: I traced the problem back to when I set my AVR to simulate a 7.1 setup (i.e. I only have 5 speakers, it was simulating 7). When I disabled this feature, the problem appears to have cleared up, though I still need to perform a few more tests before I'm convinced. I now have the AVR setup to simply play the pure digital format of the signal (Digital Direct) and all seems well. Apparently, if this is the case, the algorithms used to create two additional "virtual" speakers must have caused some sort of distortion on the center channel. Anyone heard of this before? I'll have more on this later...

Not heard of this causing such issues for anyone before, but I suppose it may be possible, somehow. But, if you have your receiver do the number of channels as you have speakers and the center ch issue is history, well, something in the setup as you had it may be the cause.

Now you can also contact the receiver brand maker and see if their techs are savvy enough. But, I just still have a hard time why it would do it with some and not all discs and at certain points only.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I just lowered each of the speaker levels by 10 and still have the same problem. I also double checked the DVD player against the PS3 and both have the same problem at the exact same scenes.

I don't have my AVR set to simulate a 7.1 setup. The rear channels are turned off.

Robbit's description of the problem is dead on. It sounds a bit like the walkie-talkie thing.

And both you guys have the Center Speaker set to "Small" or "Large"?