Sierra Center...buzzy/crackly sound on voice and music?!?!

[mrsollars]

I just noticed on my (maybe 2-3yrs old) Sierra Center.....

When i'm listening to music, (7 channel surround setting on my yamaha 633) and when i'm watching a dvd or netflix via apple tv2, i'm getting a fizzy sound with the audio from my center.

I moved the right channel to the center, and center to the right channel to check if it was maybe a connect with the receiver on that center line.....and no. the problem followed my center channel speaker everywhere that it went.

No abuse, or BLASTING VOLUME, just started happening in the last week or so.

Any help Dave??!

thanks,
Matt

[Dr. House]

I just noticed on my (maybe 2-3yrs old) Sierra Center.....

When i'm listening to music, (7 channel surround setting on my yamaha 633) and when i'm watching a dvd or netflix via apple tv2, i'm getting a fizzy sound with the audio from my center.

I moved the right channel to the center, and center to the right channel to check if it was maybe a connect with the receiver on that center line.....and no. the problem followed my center channel speaker everywhere that it went.

No abuse, or BLASTING VOLUME, just started happening in the last week or so.

Any help Dave??!

thanks,
Matt

At a low volume put your ear up to the speaker to localize where the crackling/buzzing is coming from the speaker.

Check for any loose screws around the drivers (don't over tighten) to start. Doubtful that is the problem, but worth checking.

[Jonnyozero3]

Just give ascend a call, i'm sure they'll work a solution with you

[mrsollars]

i'm going to try to give them a call tomorrow. (tuesday)
i'm hoping nothing is seriously wrong. they haven't been abused so i'm hoping it will all work out. makes me want to send them all in to be checked.

(like they're alive......if one has the chicken pox, maybe they've all caught it....sort of thing.) :)

thanks for the suggestions guys.

Matt

[Mag_Neato]

Sounds like the tweeter may be at fault. I also wonder if it could possibly be a problem with the crossover. Maybe a component has gone bad. Might be worth the effort to swap the tweeters between two of the speakers and see if the problem follows the tweeter or stays with the speaker/crossover.

Just a thought.

[TomK]

Matt,
Can you tell whether the sound is mecanical or electrical? If mechanical perhaps a crossover component is loose and vibrating with the sound. Might also be a speaker voice coil out of round. But that would be from overheating and deforming. That I would assume would be from over driving the amp into distortion and overheating the voice coil. But from what you have said about "no abuse", I doubt this is the problem. I had the same symptom on a pair of Dynaudio speakers.
The problem was a distorted voice coil from my son attempting to get "live rock" bass volumes out of a 6-1/2 woofer! ( He will only be able to look at my new Towers!!)

[Mag_Neato]

Matt/Dave,

Any update on this? Tweeter? Crossover? Something else?:confused:

:cool:

[mrsollars]

no update. i submitted an inquiry through the ''contact us'' via email, but haven't heard anything back.
i got both suggestions from you and 'tomk' but i don't feel comfortable removing woofers and tweeters. don't want to do anything to mess with my warranty.
i'm just waiting patiently for DaveF to get this thread and respond....or somebody from the website to respond to my 'contact us' inquiry.

i'll keep you posted.

Matt

[davef]

no update. i submitted an inquiry through the ''contact us'' via email, but haven't heard anything back.
i got both suggestions from you and 'tomk' but i don't feel comfortable removing woofers and tweeters. don't want to do anything to mess with my warranty.
i'm just waiting patiently for DaveF to get this thread and respond....or somebody from the website to respond to my 'contact us' inquiry.

i'll keep you posted.

Matt

Hi Matt,

I apologize for the delay... It is ALWAYS best to simply give us a call for problems like these. Our phone line is manned for at least 10 hours per day during the week but we are often a bit slow with monitoring the forum.

I am also somewhat concerned because we did not receive any email inquiry from you through our contact us forum. I just tested it from my PC and it seems to be working so please try it again so that I can determine why it is not reaching us. I sincerely hope our own contact us form is not being wrongfully tagged as spam and deleted -- that would not be a good thing :eek:

From your description of the problem, it sounds like either a woofer or tweeter problem. These are highly mechanical devices and while we use some of the best components out there, problems do arise on occasion.

We need to determine if the problem is with the woofer or the tweeter so we can send you a replacement driver. The other option, of course, is to simply send the complete unit back to us but I doubt this is necessary.

Does the fuzzy distorted sound you are hearing sound like it is being produced from the woofer or the tweeter? Is it in the high-frequency range or is it lower? Try running some low volume dynamic music and listen from about 1 foot away -- cover the tweeter with your hand (but don't touch the dome) -- do you still hear the distortion?

Also, please feel free to give us a call at the office tomorrow :)

[Mag_Neato]

Hi Matt,

I apologize for the delay... It is ALWAYS best to simply give us a call for problems like these. Our phone line is manned for at least 10 hours per day during the week but we are often a bit slow with monitoring the forum.

I am also somewhat concerned because we did not receive any email inquiry from you through our contact us forum. I just tested it from my PC and it seems to be working so please try it again so that I can determine why it is not reaching us. I sincerely hope our own contact us form is not being wrongfully tagged as spam and deleted -- that would not be a good thing :eek:

From your description of the problem, it sounds like either a woofer or tweeter problem. These are highly mechanical devices and while we use some of the best components out there, problems do arise on occasion.

We need to determine if the problem is with the woofer or the tweeter so we can send you a replacement driver. The other option, of course, is to simply send the complete unit back to us but I doubt this is necessary.

Does the fuzzy distorted sound you are hearing sound like it is being produced from the woofer or the tweeter? Is it in the high-frequency range or is it lower? Try running some low volume dynamic music and listen from about 1 foot away -- cover the tweeter with your hand (but don't touch the dome) -- do you still hear the distortion?

Also, please feel free to give us a call at the office tomorrow :)

Good point, Dave! Hadn't thought it could be the woofer.

Matt, If I had this issue, I would first swap tweeters with my other Sierra and see if the noise went away. If not, I'd then swap woofers. If that cleared it up then it needs a woofer. If the problem remains, you may be looking at the crossover. Dave is the best person to trouble shoot this, so don't take my word as gospel.

[mrsollars]

Dave,
I did just as you said and i'm definitely thinking it's the woofer. I noticed it more in mens voice (lower tones) and didn't notice it higher (doorbell ring, etc)

I will run a couple more tests (frequency specific), maybe tomorrow and report back here. i'm about 95% sure it's the woofer though.

thanks for the 'how to' on testing it.

also. is there a frequency range that you suggest i use to test. 60-100hz and it's the woofer.....higher than 100hz and it's the tweeter.....(something along those lines)

thanks again for the help,
Matt

[davef]

Dave,
I did just as you said and i'm definitely thinking it's the woofer. I noticed it more in mens voice (lower tones) and didn't notice it higher (doorbell ring, etc)

I will run a couple more tests (frequency specific), maybe tomorrow and report back here. i'm about 95% sure it's the woofer though.

thanks for the 'how to' on testing it.

also. is there a frequency range that you suggest i use to test. 60-100hz and it's the woofer.....higher than 100hz and it's the tweeter.....(something along those lines)

thanks again for the help,
Matt

Sorry for the delay...

Try one more test... Very gently try pushing the woofer cone inward with your fingers. Position your fingers like you would be grabbing a wine glass from the top such that you will be pushing the woofer inward with equal pressure around the center of the woofer cone. Compare the suspect woofer to the woofer in the other speaker.

Do you feel anything rubbing in the suspect woofer or does the resistance feel different than the good woofer?

Let me know ... thanks!

[GirgleMirt]

also. is there a frequency range that you suggest i use to test. 60-100hz and it's the woofer.....higher than 100hz and it's the tweeter.....(something along those lines)

Btw, mids are more around 1000Hz than 100Hz, 100Hz is still well bass. Tweeter comes more into play >1500Hz or so depending on speakers... http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm If you want to hear only the tweeter or woofer, you have to play a frequency below or up the speaker's crossover point. I think the crossover point for Sierra is around 1.8 kHz. At 1.8kHz, both tweeter/woofer are playing the sound, and a same for a little up and down frequencies: It's not like a straight cut off, woofer doesn't STOP at 1.8kHz, it just plays less and less loud up you go, and for the tweeter, less and less loud as you go down in frequency.

So if you wanted to hear the woofer/tweeter independently, you'd want to use a frequency above or below the crossover point. Here's an example of woofer & tweeter independent responses (blue and green):

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/610PD2fig3.jpg

And their sum:

http://www.stereophile.com/images/archivesart/610PD2fig4.jpg

[dustwvl]

Interesting. I am having a very similar problem with a center channel of a 340 classic, especially the voice part sounding buzzy. I was listening to a baseball game the other day and the announcers voices sounded very buzzy/crackly.

[dustwvl]

I tried pushing in on the woofers on mine and got no scratching

[curtis]

Interesting. I am having a very similar problem with a center channel of a 340 classic, especially the voice part sounding buzzy. I was listening to a baseball game the other day and the announcers voices sounded very buzzy/crackly.


I tried pushing in on the woofers on mine and got no scratching
Check all connections to the speakers and receiver.

Have you tried swapping the center with another speaker (L/R) to see if the problem follows the speaker or stays in the location?