crackling sound out of right speaker

02-12-13: Maddog66blue
No I didn't swap IC's, just the speaker cables.

Does this mean that you interchanged L & R at one end of the speaker cables, so that what had been the right amplifier channel was then connected to the left speaker, and vice versa? Or does it mean that you literally swapped the speaker cables, changing their connections at both ends, so that what had been the right amplifier channel was still connected to the right speaker?

Regards,
-- Al

If the problem stayed in the right speaker when you did that, and given that you've tried a different set of speaker cables, and assuming that there has been no crackling from the left speaker at any time, there are only two possibilities that occur to me:

1)The speaker has a problem, as Brf and Lew suggested. Perhaps there is a short in the speaker, that is causing the amplifier to have problems that in turn result in it supplying a crackling "signal," even when no music is playing.

2)The cable going to the right speaker is in close proximity to some source of radiated interference (RFI/EMI), such as a power cord, and that interference is entering the feedback loop of the amplifier (assuming it has one), and causing the amplifier to output a signal which causes the speaker to crackle.

I don't see how the problem could be caused by a defect in the amp or the preamp or a source component, given the findings you've described.

Regards,
-- Al

I'm going to try moving some power cables that may be causing RFI/EMI and see what happens.

Also, try turning off any dimmer switches, fluorescent lights, or compact fluorescent lights that may be in the vicinity of the cable to the right speaker.

Lew -- thanks for mentioning about the medical meaning of "zebra." Hadn't known that previously.

Regards,
-- Al

The owner assured me it wasn't the speaker, he believes it's the input tubes in my amp, he loaned me a integrated amp and after hooking it up, the right speaker sounds fine.

That seems irreconcilable with the fact that switching the L & R connections at the amp outputs did not cause the problem to move to the left speaker. Did he offer any comments on that?

Regards,
-- Al