Well this is weird. And a total pain.

I have all my audio set up for my 7.1 system and getting ready to pull the trigger on a projector, but I'm having a strange problem with my front speakers. I was listening to some nice 2 channel tunes when I noticed the left speaker was silent. I put my ear against it and could only hear a faint clicking noise.

The first thing I did was to move the left speaker to the right and reconnected both (those Studio 100s weight about 100 lbs. each!), and I confirmed it wasn't the speaker.

I figured somewhere in the mess, the speaker wiring had come loose or something. I have them bi-wired so it was a bit of a pain, but I took every connection apart and reconnected, even behind the amp, with the same result. WTF is going on?

Next I turned my rack sideways so I could see everything and decided to switch the interconnects for the two fronts, and voila, the left speaker worked and not the right! Must be a bad interconnect, so I took one off a rear speaker connection and both worked beautifully as I played 'American Water' by the Silver Jews.

Next day I popped in another cd and...WTF!!!...the left wasn't working again! I can hear the faint clicking sound that I heard before, but nothing else. Surely another interconnect didn't go bad overnight? What the heck could this be?

I dread removing everything on the back of the processor and the amps (I have a 7.1 setup), but perhaps that should be my next move? Anyone have any ideas?

Swish the Bewildered

If I was to hazard a guess. Maybe a bad solder connection (or the jack itself) on the RCA jack on the amp and by swapping the cables you wiggled it enuf to temporarily make a contact.

Iffen your handy with a soldering iron you could probably resolder yourself.

Hey Swish
You could swap the interconnects at the amp. Left to Right and Right to Left and see if the problem moves to the right speaker. It may not show up right away like LDB said, if it's a loose solder joint. Hope it's something simple.

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Originally Posted by Luvin Da Blues

If I was to hazard a guess. Maybe a bad solder connection (or the jack itself) on the RCA jack on the amp and by swapping the cables you wiggled it enuf to temporarily make a contact.

Iffen your handy with a soldering iron you could probably resolder yourself.

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Thanks for the input.

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Originally Posted by Jack in Wilmington

Hey Swish
You could swap the interconnects at the amp. Left to Right and Right to Left and see if the problem moves to the right speaker. It may not show up right away like LDB said, if it's a loose solder joint. Hope it's something simple.

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Maybe you're guilty of the same thing I am on so many occasions; reading the gist of a post and skipping over some details.

Yeah, I figured it was a bad interconnect since the left one worked and the right one didn't when I reversed the two.

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Originally Posted by Swish

Maybe you're guilty of the same thing I am on so many occasions; reading the gist of a post and skipping over some details.

Yeah, I figured it was a bad interconnect since the left one worked and the right one didn't when I reversed the two.

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You're right Swish, that's exactly what I did. I read that you swapped speaker connections and I started thinking and not reading. Just last week I was in my home theater room and I realized that my front speakers weren't working. Since the center channel was carrying most of the load, I didn't notice it right away. I started checking the wires and I finally saw that in closing the door on the cabinet, I had let the door hit the on/off button on the front of the amp. That amp drives the front speakers only.

I guess nothing feels loose to the touch? I would say try some Deoxit if you have any. That has worked for me in the past with an intermittent connection problem. Good luck. That kind of $hit can drive you crazy and it's a short trip for me.

Hmmm, is it doing the same thing with a digital connection? Or do you have everything wired up using analog outputs?

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Originally Posted by Woochifer

Hmmm, is it doing the same thing with a digital connection? Or do you have everything wired up using analog outputs?

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Yes, it is doing the same thing with digital connection. I haven't worked on it since I made the original post, and my sorry butt is tired after a weekend in New Hope. I hope to get on it later this week and will keep you guys posted.

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Originally Posted by Swish

Yes, it is doing the same thing with digital connection. I haven't worked on it since I made the original post, and my sorry butt is tired after a weekend in New Hope. I hope to get on it later this week and will keep you guys posted.

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Hey Swish,
Are they still keeping the motorcycles out of New Hope. I know the police were giving tickets to loud bikes and it was keeping the noise polution down. We'll have to take a trip up there when the weather breaks.

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Originally Posted by Jack in Wilmington

Hey Swish,
Are they still keeping the motorcycles out of New Hope. I know the police were giving tickets to loud bikes and it was keeping the noise polution down. We'll have to take a trip up there when the weather breaks.

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I saw a few bikes, but not nearly as many as in the past. We were there Friday night for the fireworks. I golfed on Saturday at Jericho National, then we stayed on the Lambertville side of the river for dinner and fun on Saturday night. I'll have to ask my sister about the bikes.

I have had this problem a time or two, and every time it has been a faulty circuit. I suggest looking where the RCA connect is attaching to the circuit board leads. Often there is some oxidation there or there is a break in the connection. I think it is the latter because the problem is intermittent. If you use a snug fitting interconnect and have to twist to get it on or off, over time these twists break connections over time...little by little.

Perhaps you could post some photos of the back of the amp and the back of one speaker?
I cannot quite understand what an interconnect is? Does this problem only happen with the Cd player or does it persist with other input sources like TV or tuner or with the same CD player but with other input selected?
With the info provided we can safely conclude that it is NOT the speaker. Just for the hell of it try another interconnect before going to more painful diagnostics.....

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Originally Posted by Nasir

Perhaps you could post some photos of the back of the amp and the back of one speaker?
I cannot quite understand what an interconnect is? Does this problem only happen with the Cd player or does it persist with other input sources like TV or tuner or with the same CD player but with other input selected?
With the info provided we can safely conclude that it is NOT the speaker. Just for the hell of it try another interconnect before going to more painful diagnostics.....

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...and an interconnect is what connects the separate amplifier to the separate processor. You are likely using a receiver so you don't need them as all the circuitry is contained within the unit.

I paid a bundle for my MIT interconnects, which many would find to be a total waste of money, but it is what it is. I'm glad the problem was a minor one on that particular channel of the amp (loose connection to the circuit board) and not the cable or the processor.