Loose wires can impede the sound quality of your system.
If you're experiencing poor quality, or no audio from your sound system, troubleshooting before attempting repairs is essential. The complexity of a repair job is partly determined by the location of the faulty part. Dismantling your system's individual components, such as speakers, amplifier or CD player, before you have isolated the faulty part could lead to wasted time. Start from the outside and investigate the simple solutions first. For example, check that the system is plugged in and correctly connected before inspecting the interior.
Instructions
1. Turn the power off. Listen out for any unusual sounds as the system powers down, such as crackling or hissing. This could be a sign of dirty or loosely connected potentiometers. The dials on the front of your sound system control panel are connected to potentiometers, which govern the flow of voltage through the system. Dirty potentiometers crackle.
2. Check that the speaker cables are firmly connected. Push each jack into the correct socket. Follow each individual wire to the other end and firmly push in the other jack. If the jack socket is loose, stick a piece of colored electrical tape next to it so you can identify the faulty one at a later stage. If the speaker cables are connected by a spring-operated binding post, push the lever down to release the wire, pull the wire out, reinsert it and release the lever. Test the system again. Turn it off before continuing.
3. Swap the speaker cables. Unplug one cable at a time and replace it with a brand new, exact replacement. One faulty cable can cause the entire system to malfunction. Swapping one at a time will identify the faulty cable and eliminate the need to replace the entire set.
4. Turn the power on and gradually increase the volume. If the system powers up without problem and the new speaker cables make no difference, it is likely that the problem is internal. If the system is not powering up, unplug it, unscrew the main plug and replace the fuse.
5. Insert a CD and press play. Listen to the balance of sound distribution. If one speaker is louder than the other, check the balance settings and if necessary, adjust them so that they are both level. The balance setting determines the output level sent to each speaker. If this makes no difference, one of the speakers may have an internal fault. If the sound levels are fine, but the CD skips, play a different CD to check that it isn't a scratched CD, then use a CD cleaner. Listen out for a "flapping" sound during playback. This can be a sign of a ripped speaker cone.
6. Insert a laser cleaner CD and press play. The cleaner disc will spin for a few minutes. When it finishes, test the same CD.
7. Check the rating of the fuse and use an exact replacement.
Unplug each component from the mains. Partially dismantle each powered component, such as CD players, tuners, mixers by unscrewing the back and top. Examine the wiring and circuit boards. If you spot a transistor or resistor that is a different color from the rest, for example brown or "sooty," it is likely that the component has shorted out or blown.
Tags: speaker cables, connected potentiometers, exact replacement, faulty cable, faulty part