Hi All,
In the last week or so I’ve started to hear a soft pop from my right speaker. It may be in both but I’ve only noticed in the right one due to where I’m sitting when it happens.
I’ve checked and reseated all my cables, but it’s still happening. I’d say it happens about once every hour or so..
if anyone has any ideas as to what might be going on I’d be very grateful.
PS only new thing my system are the speakers which are now a couple of months old.
More information needed! Is that just a single pop, maybe a few tens of seconds or maybe just a few minutes after turning the amp off? Or does it happen periodically, not just once? And when it happens, is the amplifier powered up or off, and if off is it fully off or on some sort of standby (sorry I’m not familiar with the 500 and don’t know if it has a standby mode)
Have you got something mains powered in the house switching on and off - central heating, fridge compressor etc ?
My system is left powered on 24/7.
Occasional pop every hour or so.
When not in use I always have the volume control turned down. I still get the ‘soft pop’.
Mmmm maybe, the fridge maybe on the same circuit .. but I’ve never heard it before.
I have no new electrical appliances either.
If you can move the right speaker over to the left and vice versa. Is it the speaker or the channel that is carrying the pop. (You could try just swapping the cables if you can live with the left channel coming from the right speaker etc for a few hours).
If you suspect it is from something switching on/off on the same electrical circuit, see if there is anything that switches at the time interval you notice the pop. Central heating thermostat or hot water , fridge/ freezer.
Thank you for the suggestions. I’ll do some sleuthing and report back.
A passive speaker can’t pop by itself! I’d suggest swapping channels between pre- and power amp to see at what stage it is happening, but I’m not sure you can With 552 & 500? If not, can the pre-amp be turned off and power amp remain on (but to do that, power down the power amp first then turn the preamp off, then the power amp back on, and after assessment turn the power amp off again before turning the preamp on!) Certainly looking for anything regularly switching within the home would seem worth doing before anything else.
Hard Rock would be better! ( Sorry)
It’s the fridge …
I had something similar in my system a few years back It was the temporary electric oil field radiator I had put in the daughters room whilst waiting to have a new valve fitted for her on wall radiator. Every time the electric oil ones thermostat switched it on it made a low noise through my system for about 20 seconds.
This is why I added a 100amp subpanel when I need a bunch of electrical work done, with a dedicated circuit for the hifi.
I asked the electricians to add that with it’s own dedicated earth ground on the subpanel, independent of the 200amp main panel. That subpanel has a dedicated circuit for our garage (which was a big reason for getting the work done in the first place). That panel now includes a dedicated 20amp circuit for a quad outlet in the listening room, as well as a second one for a quad in the listening room (currently for video, but maybe for the hifi if we move the system as planned).
That has been one of the best upgrades I ever did. Not only does it sound better, but nothing that runs on the main electrical panel ever has any effect on the system. I never…and I mean never…hear interference from any fridge, bathroom fan, dishwasher, hvac, or other appliance in the house.
With your excellent system you really do owe it to yourself to get dedicated mains installed. We were prompted to get ours to stop the sitting room light switch causing a pop over the speakers. Of course, as well as no more pops, you get a better sound. There are oodles of threads on here about it, and it’s well worth doing. I’m surprised how many people run large expensive systems off the ring main, when for a few hundred pounds they could get better performance.
You can use a VDR (Voltage Dependant Resistor) on the fridge plug, which should suppress any pops, however, as it may be on the same circuit it could affect the system performance, so best try it out to see - VDRs cost very little so worth a go. Ultimately, a dedicted mains circuit for the hifi is the best way to go.
Yes , I’ve been thinking about this.. At the moment I’m stuck in a rental property, but I could be here for another 12 months.. I don’t think the landlord would object and I could always retrun it to the original config..
did this involve splitting the main supply into two, after the consumer unit?
The cause of your pop is potentially as others have suggested but there may also be other reasons.
If the pop can be timed to happen at the same interval, there may be a static build up somewhere and that is eventually sparking to earth.
A few years back, I changed the drive belt on my Gyrodec TT and inadvertently dislodged a earch wire. The friction of the new belt and the earth path of the TT compromised, causing a pop every few minutes. Once the earth was corrected, it went away.
A way to check this if you have a multi meter to hand is to put it on continuity testing which makes the meter beep when there is good continuity between the two probes. Place one probe on the TT centre spindle and then on TT chassis and the the earth of the connection to your phono stage or directto your amp. In all cases it should beep at you indicating there is a good connection. If not it may be a source of static build up.
It’s probably not that but may be worth checking if you can not find any other source of the pop.
In a typical UK domestic mains setup you should certainly split the meter tails so that the dedicated supply is separated from the main consumer unit. This may not be possible in many non-UK homes.
I don’t know exactly how it is connected to the incoming supply. I can see a very large supply cable between the two service panels, but I know nothing about the internal connections. What I do know is that the new 100 amp panel has it’s own copper ground, because I asked for it and i watched them hammer the copper rod into the earth outside the house.