New Home Theatre Set Up

[bleck]

Greetings...

I just purchased new AV equipment for my apartment. I have a Onkyo TX-SR304 with Sony SSF6000 tall, floor standing, front speakers and a Sony SA-W2500 sub-woofer running from it.

Last night I noticed on several different DVDs that the sound would be fine for awhile and then you would almost hear like a skip or a pop or maybe even turn it's on volume down when it went from one scene to the next or just for no reason at all. On movie I was watching it was non-stop and I just chalked up to it being a bad sound mix or something. Then I put on the special edition of A Nightmare on Elm St. and it happened less frequently and the again with the speical edition of Transformers.

Any idea what might be causing this? I checked all the connections and even tweaked the db levels and volumes throughout the films but it some spots it would still happened.

Confused and Frustrated...please help!

Thanks!

 

[Exit]

You need to fault isolate to the problem component.

If the pop is low frequency, fault isolate to the subwoofer by trying it plugged in and disconnected

Check the speaker wiring on the receiver and speakers to make sure a random strand of wire is not touching another terminal.

If you have another A/V source such as a video game, you could plug it in the same connectors that the DVD was plugged in and see if the problem stays (i.e. problem in the receiver) or if it goes away (i.e. problem potentially in the DVD player).

Try plugging the DVD into another receiver connection in case you happen to have a bad connector in the receiver. If the problem follows the DVD player, then most likely the DVD player is at fault.

Try using this type of logic to see if you can pinpoint the problem. Then I would return the problem component and get a replacement. .

 

[bleck]

Just to add to my original post, I found that this problem only occurs when the subwoofer is connected...I just purchased it yesterday.

Would it have to do with the fact that the receiver is 65 w per channel and it's 100 w sub??

I really am new to this so forgive the stupid questions.

 

[Exit]

That helps locate the problem a little better. I assume you went into the setup menus and had the subwoofer selected for playback on LFE or else you probably wouldn’t get any sound out of the subwoofer. If not double check that. The power in the receiver and the power in the subwoofer’s amplifier don’t relate to each other. The subwoofer gets a low level signal out the subwoofer output connection and then amplifies it to drive the subwoofer. If you have another RCA cable, I would try hooking the subwoofer up with that, even just temporarily. You may have a bad cord. If that doesn’t fix it I would try using the receiver’s tuner to play some music. If the music plays without popping I would suspect the DVD source or interconnect cables, although music doesn’t usually play as deep of bass as a DVD. If the subwoofer still pops, I would suspect the subwoofer, particularly since the problems started when it was hooked up. At this point I can’t think of much else to try. I would return it and try a replacement.

Maybe someone else here on the forums may have some other suggestions to try. Over a day or so I would expect to get some other responses.

 

[Jack Hammer]

If your subwoofer has it, try switching the power switch from "auto on" to "on." Some movies don't have constant sound going to the sub, so it detects no signal and turns itself off. Then a scene changes and it switches back on - you get a popping noise.

Also, check your crossover setting in your avr to see if it's set too low, again your sub may only be recieving a signal that is very low. Generally, ~80hz is a good starting point for your crossover, but it could be higher or lower, depending on your speakers and personal preference.

As mentioned, check all your connections to make sure they are tight and try a different sub cable.


Jack

 

[bleck]

I assume you went into the setup menus and had the subwoofer selected for playback on LFE or else you probably wouldn’t get any sound out of the subwoofer.

I am not sure what this.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[bleck]

Also...

On the back of my sun I have a dial for LEVEL (Which goes from Min. to Max.), CUT OFF FREQUENCY (Which goes from 200 hz. down to 50 hz.), and a switch that says PHASE (Which has the option of NORMAL or REVERSE).

 

[Exit]

The setup menus are probably part of the receiver auto-calibrate if you have that feature. In the manual setup menus you can change the speaker settings. You have to have some low frequency information sent to the subwoofer. You can do that by selecting LFE to subwoofer setting or by setting all your speakers to small, which shifts all lower bass output to the subwoofer. You can look in your receiver manual for more information and direction.

I thought of another possibility. Your subwoofer might be bottoming out where the speaker is over driven and the speaker actually makes a mechanical noise (i.e. pop?) as it reaches it limitations. If so the subwoofer volume has to be reduced until the mechanical noise does not occur. Sometimes in order to avoid bottoming out on loud dynamic music or movies, you have to set the volume so low that the subwoofer may not operate during regular bass output. (I have an 8” subwoofer designed like that.) If this is the case the subwoofer is not useful and you should return it and look for a better one. Looking for a better subwoofer would probably be best addressed in a new thread.

Just for reference I entered “subwoofer popping” in the forum search function and it came up with a few posts. Here are a couple which may be useful.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40607&highlight=Subwoofer+Popping

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37006&highlight=Subwoofer+Popping

There are other threads but I didn’t go through them.

 

[bleck]

Thanks for everyone's help on this...I honestly do appreciated.

I played with volumes, crossover, lowered the hz going to the sub, etc... and it is still jumping every so often. I am just really baffled. I researched everything I bought and for my budget all the equipment scored high on nearly every review.

I cannot return the floor standing speakers I have in the front because I bought them through Amazon. The receiver and sub I can but man I wish I didn't have to. The receiver is great I just don't get it.

It really does seem like it is the sub causing this because it was fine prior to hooking it up.