if my speakers crackle and pop when i adjust the volume, what does that mean?

[Billb2]

If you use Deoxit once, you become a believer.

 

[Howard]

Never had this problem since I built my own volume control with a conductive plastic pot.

 

[Jwyatt]

Logitech Z560's same issue. Thanks for the quick fix. Ive been putting up with this for years. LOL. i finally did a google search.

Thanks Anandtech guys.

 

[mindless1]

yea found this
http://sound.westhost.com/pots.htm
no guides online on how to...
probably not worth the effort.
cheapo ones at radio shack are probably carbon, they don't specify, the other types are kinda hard to buy online apparently.

Yes the Radio Shack pots are carbon. Radio Shack sells almost nothing that's high quality these days. You can get better pots at electronics supply houses like Digikey, Mouser, Newark, etc. BUT often you won't be able to find the right form factor to solder it onto the PCB as is the usual design so you are left with either mounting it remotely or nibbling away part of the PCB to make clearance, then air wiring it to the circuit board.

Really good quality pots like the following Alps Blue Velvet are significantly larger than what you'd find in consumer grade computer speakers.

http://www.partsconnexion.com/controls_pot_alps.html

 

[mindless1]

Sometimes even contact cleaner won't do the job. I've had some where the wipers lost tension and I had to pry the pot open from the back, bend tension back into them, then close them up.

On really old gear it can instead be that the grease hardened and you need a ton of contact cleaner and some time waiting for the grease to soften up in order to flush it out.

 

[alkemyst]

Save time and money, TV and VCR repair places are all over the place doing nothing.

 

[mindless1]

oops, DP (plz delete).

 

[Loophole64]

Turn the speakers off. Then turn the volume knob all the way up and down 20 times in a row really fast. Then try again.

(To get dust / dirt out of the volume controller)

Wow, I've been dealing with this problem with my logitech Z560 speakers for 9 years! I just assumed it was a hardware problem, set it to a point where it worked, and never touched the controller!

9 years later I come across this post, rolled those knobs back and forth a bunch of times, and the controller works like new again. Thank you so much!

 

[guachi]

Lol.

Wow, I've been dealing with this problem with my logitech Z560 speakers for 9 years! I just assumed it was a hardware problem, set it to a point where it worked, and never touched the controller! Turn off, adjust volume, turn back on again.

9 years later I come across this post, When I get home from work I will rolled those knobs back and forth a bunch of times, and hope the controller works like new again. Thank you so much!

 

[shawnmbrooks]

Wow, THANK YOU!

I've been dealing with this for months thinking my speakers we just shot... had no idea turning them off and turning the knob back and forth and blowing where the knob is would fix this.

 

[JEDIYoda]

No problem!! Glad I could help!!

 

[Instantwow]

This is an old thread, but using a cleaner like Deoxit will work to clean the potentiometer (volume control) if turning the control back and forth doesn’t clear up the issue.
In the 80s my dad had a high end Sony amp in our basement and based on the humidity in the air the volume control would always get dirty. That amp actually had an inlet for cleaner.

 

[paulb104]

Turn the speakers off. Then turn the volume knob all the way up and down 20 times in a row really fast. Then try again.

(To get dust / dirt out of the volume controller)

I've been having issues with my Logitech Z313's for months. After finally get fed up enough, I searched, found this, and it worked like a charm! Sometimes the simplest things *do* work!

 

[Oneto]

I'll try this on my z680s when I get back to Ohio. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Spartymook]

Turn the speakers off. Then turn the volume knob all the way up and down 20 times in a row really fast. Then try again.

(To get dust / dirt out of the volume controller)

Lol! As others have said it’s been 10 years since this was posted and this fixed my 1 year old Logitech z623 speakers perfectly! Thank you so much! Btw, I created an account here just to say thanks! 😂

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I'm not around here much but glad this tip is still helping!

 

[mindless1]

Another option with computer speakers, since the source can adjust the volume, is get rid of the pot and solder in two resistors in a voltage divider arrangement of the same value as the pot was near full volume.