Hey guys, I've been a happy empeg owner for a long time now but I just recently started hearing this crackling coming out of my left speaker in my car. The crackling isn't consistent (which is driving me nuts as I try to pinpoint the problem) so I'm doubting its the speaker, and my supsicions were leaning toward my amp. But then I plugged it in at home and I'm getting a very similar crackling out of the home stereo system, but less intense. (This could be related to the fact that my left speaker is situated about 3 inches from the sub though)

So I just wanted to ask you guys if the empeg can be ruled out, or if this is the unit's problem - in other words, is it even possible that this thing could start to lose its left side output? The right side is just fine, its just the left side that seems to have the issue.

I appreciate any help anyone can give me. My firmware (I think) is 2.0.

Yes, it is perfectly feasible that you could have a problem with just one channel in the audio output stage.

I personally have a wiring connector going from the amp to my car's right front speaker, that keeps going intermittent and causes crackles. But you say you have ruled this out by plugging the unit into your home stereo and you are sure you hear the same crackle.

In this case, yes, it's very likely to be an internal hardware problem wtih the player. It could be a failing component, or just a conductor on the motherboard that needs to be resoldered. I don't know how to trace this issue. But you could verify it and help narrow it down by checking the following things:

- Check to see if you get the same crackle whether you are using sled outputs or the RCA jacks on the back of the empeg itself. (I know you said you plugged it in at home, but you didn't say whether you had an indoor docking sled or not.)

- Check to see that if you swap the left and right RCA cables at the empeg (when plugged into the jacks on the back of the player itself), that the crackle moves to the other side.

- See if wiggling a connected RCA cable, or wiggling the docking connector on the back of the player, causes the crackle.

- Open the player (using cautions as described here) and make sure there aren't any loose screws rattling around, make sure the disk drive tray hasn't come undone, look at the audio/power/disk/display wiring and make sure it's not chafed in any spot.

Something else that could cause an occasional crackle would be clipping caused by adjusting the EQ oddly or overdriving the volume. See if you can make the crackle go away if you set the EQ to flat, or turn down the volume.

Another thing that could cause a crackle is disk trouble or corrupted MP3 files. But I doubt you would hear that out of only one speaker.

Beyond that, I think it's probably a trip to Stu or Rob.

Wow, alright, I will certainly have to try some of that out. At the moment I have it hooked in via RCAs. My technical know-how and mastery is somewhat limited so I am hesitant to open it up. Not because I couldn't do it, but because even if I did, I have my doubts that I would be able to successfully identify anything wrong in particular unless it was glaringly obvious.

When you say "probably a trip to Stu or Rob," who are we talking about here? Forgive me if that's an ignorant question, I really haven't stayed up on the major players in the empeg world.

Okay, I've taken some additional steps since posting this, including bringing it down to an independent car audio shop I know I can trust.

According to them, it's either the sled connector on the back of the unit, or the sleeve connector inside of the car causing the crackling. I don't have a way to verify which one it is, but according to them, when you press on the left side of the face plate while it's crackling, it stops doing so.

Anyway, are these pieces available as stand alone purchases from anywhere?

No need to replace anything there.. one just has to examine the connectors and wires up close, and recrimp the one that's failing.

-ml

The problem there is that I could end up having to pay to have the entire kit removed from the car in order to crimp the wire in the sleeve, and then re-install hoping that the bad connection wasn't on the unit itself. This is aside from my own lack of ability to perform this anyway. I'd just as soon buy the connectors if they are available and have a fresh install on both sides. But if they aren't available, I guess I'll have to see what I can do. Anyone know?

Information on what to do about the loose connector problem is here. Until you pull the sled out of the dash you have no way of knowing if this is the problem or not.