HT-S3400 crackling noise on left channels only

I've only had this setup for a very short time. The surround speakers are relatively close to my listening position, and I began to notice a 'static', or crackling noise in the left. I tried switching out speakers, cable, and output, and it seems to be the output. While switching things around, I noticed the same problem in the left front speaker. Normally this sound is below the threshold of other sounds being produced by the speakers, but occasionally a louder crackle comes through and is very annoying. This sound can even be heard when muting is on. All other speakers are relatively silent. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Hi DeepThought,

Please PM me with the following information:

Contact information, such as name and contact number or email address.
Serial number from the back of the unit.
Where and when it was purchased.

OnkyoUSA wrote:Hi DeepThought,

Please PM me with the following information:

Contact information, such as name and contact number or email address.
Serial number from the back of the unit.
Where and when it was purchased.

It appears I cannot send a PM for 7 days. Should I just wait, or is there something that can be done to change that restriction? Or can I email this information to you?

Hi DeepThought,
Please either email us at product support or give us a call. We would like to correct this issue for you ASAP.
For Product Support Team Only:
1-800-229-1687
Hours:
M-F 9am-8pm | Sat-Sun 10am-8pm ET
to email: http://www.onkyousa.com/feedback_form.cfm
Thank you.

It sounds like I have the exact same problem as DeepThought. And I’ve had it twice now.

I purchased my HTS3400 about three weeks ago. Once I set it up it sounded fantastic. Then about a week into it, I began to hear crackling, almost like interference. The speakers that crackled were right rear, right front and left front (left rear and center were fine). I played around with the inputs, rearranged the setup, switched out the wires, did anything I could think of but still the crackling was there. I even unplugged everything except the receiver and hooked up just one speaker to make sure interference wasn’t the issue. It still crackled. When I switched the speaker input from, say, the left front (problem) to the center (clean), the crackling went away, which was evidence that it was not a speaker or wire problem but instead a problem with the receiver. I called Onkyo, they told me they hadn’t heard of a problem like this before and that it must be a defective receiver. No problem, I figured I just got a bad apple. I returned it to Best Buy.

Then I immediately bought another HTS3400, this time from Amazon. Again, it sounded terrific… for the first week. The exact same crackling showed up in my speakers two days ago. But this time, it was in both rear speakers and the left front (right front and center are fine). Again, I tried to troubleshoot everything I could imagine. It was complete déjà vu. I called Onkyo, they told me that it must be the receiver and gave me ticket number.

Could I really have bought two defective receivers in a row? I think the odds of that would be insane. What could it possibly be though? I really want to avoid having to return another unit and going somewhere like Yamaha or Denon but at this point what choice do I have? This is ridiculous.

Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

Hi ecco811,
Please follow the same steps we gave DeepThought. Thank you for contacting Product Support via our forum.

I am having the same problem but with the right channel.
I just received the Onkyo 370 yesterday and set it up today. I did eliminate that it is not the speaker problem.
Please let me know what steps I need to take?

Appreciate your help.

Shabbir

Hi Shabbir,
We responded to your PM and it did not sound as if you were having this issue. However, if you believe it is this issue and you just bought the receiver please exchange for a new one and let the dealer know about the issue. Thank you for choosing Onkyo.

By any chance when you have the crackling are you using a coaxial digital feed. I had this problem with my TX-NR709. I am a Hamradio operator keeping stone aged radio gear going so DX'ing a problem is old hat. I had the coaxial digital feed coming in from my PC crackling was evident. I switched over to an analog feed and the crackling was gone. I replaced the coaxial digital cable with a spare and the crackling disappeared. I was rather surprised by the digital cable problem, crackling is not something I would expect from a bad coaxial cable, analog yes, digital they tend to work or not.

I was using all hdmi connections.

Hi shabbirnm,

"We apologize that your receiver isn’t working correctly. The symptoms you have described resemble a posting on our website. Please follow this link for more information.

http://www.onkyousa.com/press_releases.cfm?id=253

If your serial number qualifies, you will be sent a box and prepaid label to send your receiver in for service. If your serial number does not qualify for service, please contact our Product Support Department at 1-800-229-1687 option #3.