Crackling sound from Marantz amp

[Nyquil Driver]

Well....

I don't want to bore everyone with my tale of woe (as my previous Marantz amp had a different, but equally irritating fault). But my current problem is this:-

Every time I try to watch a film with 5.1 sound (on Marantz SR4300), I'm constantly distracted by a crackly noise emmiting from the left-rear speaker. The speaker is still outputting the usual surround sound, it's just that it's always accompanied by a faint static-like noise.

I tried changing the coaxial lead from the DVD player, and tried a different player altogether, but it didn't make any difference. I even tried swapping the rear speakers around, but the crackle is still present (and still left-rear, despite the swap). So I can only assume that the amp itself is to blame...

Any ideas what may be up with it? (some sort of magical quick-fix that hadn't occured to me would be ideal!). I've had it for about a year, but the problem has only been noticeable for the last month or so.

 

[trevor g]

no mencion of speaker connections left side?

 

[Nyquil Driver]

The speaker wire? No, I haven't checked that actually because all the connections are hidden away (and fitted under carpets etc), and I don't have any spare wire handy either... I never really considered that as a potential cause, because I've always used those connections and nothing's been touched.

Now you mention it though, I think I probably should try a new wire for the left-rear- you never know. I'd subconsciously ruled that out though because (and I should have maybe stated this above) the crackle was briefly evident in the left-front. That only lasted a couple of days and then went away on its own. It was a few days after that when the louder crackling started coming from the rear one.

So, because the problem had moved from one to the other, I assumed it was some sort of decoding malfunction... I'll get some wire and give it a shot though, cheers...

 

[bob1]

Swap the connections over on the amp,if the crackling swaps speakers its the amp, if not then it could be the cable.

 

[Nyquil Driver]

Bob1- I've just tried exactly that. I swapped the cables over at the back of the amp- which meant that the right-rear speaker was now connected to the left-rear socket. And... the crackle was then evident in that speaker!.

So, after eliminating every other possibility, the amp is obviously outputting the erroneous sound itself. It's a shame, because I'd got my hopes up whilst switching the cables over that the wire may indeed be at fault.

I have nothing left to try now though...