Ableton Forum

All of a sudden, I heard some crackling noises through my powered monitors.
I admit I was abusing the Analog Preset named Analog Bass while mixing.
Since then here and there the crackling noise comes back and the volume of the right speaker
fluctuates and/or disappears. Recording is not affected.
Now I'm trying to determine what went wrong and what eventually got broken in the process.

My Audio signal flow is as follows:

FW Audio card (2 In 2 Out) --> Into Mixer Channel --> Mixer Output to Powered Speakers.
The reason behind that is that FW Audio card has only Line In&Out. So when I have to record
Mics or Guitars I do it through the mixer. This also provides zero latency with every card.


Tests I've done so far:

1.Got a new cable for the right speaker.
Tried to invert cables as well. The problem appears on the left channel as well.
2.Play at low volume test
Everything works fine, even when I pump the bass
3.Play at high volume Test
Some crackling occurs, random fluctuations on volume.
4.Connected the Powered speakers directly to the audio interface
Clean at low and high volumes
5. The mixer (Xenyx 802) has two speaker outputs, Main Mix Out and CRTL Room Out.
Speakers are connected through CTRL Room Out for convenience when I record
The problem is there wherever I connect the speakers being Main Mix or CTRL Room.
6.In all tests the 4 inches cones of the speakers moved fine and pump air.
7. Mixer phone output (under control of the CRTL Room knob) is fine at all volumes
(I cannot say the same about my ears.. )
What bugs me is that I can't decide it this is a blown speakers problem or a blown
mixer pre-amp blown problem for its random nature.
If it were the speaker cone it wouldn't pump air. If it were the speaker pre-amp
it wouldn't work at high volumes.
Test 4 suggested me that it could be the Mixer pre amps that failed. But why not the
phones output too?
What if this problem is triggered by some weird frequency?
It never occured to me that a mixer pre amp could fail...

I'm no engineer to tell. Seek advice from you experts (although on a Sunday Morning..)

- Best
- Pasha

Yeah sounds like your mixer. Do you have a spare mixer or one you can borrow to swap over?

Pasha wrote: Tests I've done so far:

1.Got a new cable for the right speaker.
Tried to invert cables as well. The problem appears on the left channel as well.

I'm not sure what you are saying here. Do you mean

the right speaker had problems but after you swapped the cables (L<->R) the left speaker had problems
?

Angstrom wrote:

Pasha wrote: Tests I've done so far:

1.Got a new cable for the right speaker.
Tried to invert cables as well. The problem appears on the left channel as well.

I'm not sure what you are saying here. Do you mean

the right speaker had problems but after you swapped the cables (L<->R) the left speaker had problems
?

Yes. But sometimes they both have problems...

wrongun wrote:Yeah sounds like your mixer. Do you have a spare mixer or one you can borrow to swap over?

Not until tomorrow but in the meantime all works fine again... sounds like an electrical intermittent problem of some kind (hot component that goes crazy or 'stress' of some kind). Yesterday night before going to bed I sprayed the mixer outs sockets both ctrl room and main outs with anti oxidation spray for electric contacts... we'll see.
Thanks for reply!

Was gonna say probably a dodgy connection, solder somewhere. Hope you get it sorted soon