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POPPING DUE TO AMP OR SPEAKER??

1765 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Harris, Jan 7, 2000

Harris

Discussion Starter · Jan 2, 2000

I HAVE A SONY TA-E9000ES PREAMP, AND I WAS USING THREE B3000 SANSUI 115 WATT NINE YEAR OLD STEREO AMPS, TO DRIVE A 5.1 DOLBY DIGITAL SYSTEM WITH A NON POWERED SUB. THE FRONT AND REAR AND CENTER CHANNELS ARE POLK IN WALL AB-7'S, EACH SINGLE SPEAKER DRIVEN BY ONE CHANNEL OF THE AMPS (THUS SIX SEPERATE CHANNELS). THE AB-7'S ARE RATED AT 92DB EFFICIENCY, WITH A NOMINAL IMPEDENCE OF 6 OHMS, AND A RECOMMENDED AMP POWER OF 10 TO 100 WATTS. EVERYTHING WORKED FINE, UNTIL I SOLD THE SANSUI AMPS AND UPGRADED TO HARMAN KARDON PA-85OO 5 CHANNAL AMPS (TWO OF THEM). ONE AMP DRIVES EACH OF THE FOUR FRONT AND REAR AB-7'S, AND THE OTHER AMP DRIVES EACH OF TWO CENTER CHANNEL SPEAKERS (Y-CONNECTED FROM THE CENTER OUTPUT OF THE 9000), AND TWO IN WALL NONPOWERED AUDIOSOURCE SUBS (ALSO Y-CONNECTED FROM THE SW OUTPUT OF THE 9000). THE HK PA8500 AMP IS RATED AT 5 X 80 WATTS AT 8 OHMS, 20-20K AT .03 THD ALL CHANNELS DRIVEN ( AND 5 X 110 WATTS AT 4 OHMS, 20-20K AT .03THD). THE AMPS ARE HIGH CURRENT DESIGN (OBVIOUSLY THE OLD SANSUI AMPS WERE NOT), WITH A HIGH CURRENT RATING OF +/- 73 AMPS.

WITH THE ABOVE NEW SETUP, ON LOUD CD PASSAGES WITH GOOD DYNAMIC RANGE, PLAYED RELATIVELY LOUDLY (TA9000 VOLUME SET AT -38DB, AT 10 O'CLOCK - GUESTIMATE OF AROUND 90DB AT LISTERER POSITION IN A 20 X 14 FOOT ROOM WITH 8 FOOT CEILINGS AND NO CARPETING),

THERE IS AN INTERMITTENT POPPING OR CLICKING NOISE (SIMILAR TO WHAT ONE USED TO HEAR FROM LP POPS) ON THE LOUDER PASSAGES. IF PLAYED EVEN LOUDER, THE POPPING IS MORE FREQUENT, AND AT TIMES EVEN GRATING MOMENTARILY.

I CONTACTED POLK TECH SUPPORT AND THEY BLAMED THE AMP; I CALLED HARMON KARDAN, AND THEY BLAMED THE POLK IN WALLS. AT THIS POINT I HAVE JUST A FEW DAYS LEFT TO RETURN THE AMP FOR REFUND; I COULD UPGRADE TO TWO MARANTZ MM9000 5 CHANNEL AMPS WHICH ARE ALSO HIGH CURRENT, RATED AT 150 WATTS INTO EACH OF 5 CHANNELS AT 8 OHMS FOR EACH AMP FOR SUBSTANTIALLY MORE MONEY.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT ROUTE TO TAKE; I DO NOT WANT TO CHANGE THE AB-7'S - THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING FINE FOR YEARS AND I LIKE THE SOUND.

I WOULD BE VERY GRATEFUL FOR SOME GUIDANCE OR OPINION, AS TO WHETHER TO REPLACE THE AMPS FOR THE HIGHER POWER MARANTZ AMPS; TO KEEP THE HK AMPS AND LIVE WITH MAINTAINING A LOWER VOLUME THAN I AM USED TO (ESPECIALLY ON HOME THEATRE APPS), OR TO JUST LIVE WITH IT!

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Harris

Discussion Starter · #2 · Jan 3, 2000

Thanks for your help!! (Sorry about the capitals). Hopefully I didn't damage the speakers so far...I have no idea how to test them; the dolby digital test tone from the 9000 sounds fine; but, as noted, I was able to duplicate the pops on certain passages every time I played them at the higher volume. I do have one larger center speaker to test things on, but your points seem logically to make sense.

Again, your help is very much appreciated.

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ross

· #3 · Jan 6, 2000

Three suggestions/points:

1. Even if you are estimating the DB level accurately, you could easily be using 100

times the power on peaks and clipping the amps. Get a sound level meter. Furthermore,

the speakers are rated at ONE METER; sounds

like you're talking about a total room level

which is not the same "power". After all the amps are what you changed when you heard the problem, and the rated power is slightly less

than what you had.

2. If you hear the pops on all channels, it

would be hard to believe the TWO new amps are both bad; leading me to be suspicious of the SONY (I have the same unit but no problems like you're having.) I'm always a

little suspicious of y connections so you

should check them out.

3. I wonder if you haven't somehow loosened

something in your listening room - maybe even the inwall speaker mounts themselves. Most audiophiles play their systems real loud

after a major component change. When you hear

noises at high volumes it's almost impossible

for your ear to localize them; you may just have something loose in the room.

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Harris

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 7, 2000

Thanks for the feedback. I suspect that ttrif and PaulSiu are correct in that these amps may be pushing the inwalls beyond their limits; maybe as you had pointed out Ross, that with the new amps I am inadvertantly playing the amps at a louder volume than before. The SONY seems to be ok since there was no problem with the previous setup. Ross, I WONDER HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE AMP CLIPPING FROM SPEAKER OVERDRIVING?? How can I tell which of the two is occuring??? Would appreciate any help on this dilemma, so that I can figure out if I need to change to two MUCH more expensive 150WPC 5 channel amps; or if that would just continue the problem - or if it is the limitation of the Polks, than just to live with it.

Also, I like the 9000 VERY much; I had the 2000 previously and the 1000 before that; the latter two did as per your point Mark, have a digital clipping indicator; haven't found one as yet on the 9000. The preamp is great sounding for the money; but lacks 6 channel input for SACD, and the remote is HORRIBLE (if you get a 9000, get a Philips Pronto; it is amazing!). Also, the firmware upgrade 1feature of the 9000 is great, although it will never correct the lack of the 6 channel input. The tech support at Sony is "non-compus mentus;" at times its like talking to "audio experts" at Circuit City...A good place for feedback is: www.audioreview.com. It has user feedback on hundreds of components.

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Harris

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 7, 2000

Mark - if suggest your friend check out the above site for perhaps 60 different user comments on the 9000. Thanks again,

Mark, Ross, Paul, & ttriff.

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