White noise on one speaker

March 13, 2012 2:06 PM

One of the rear surround outputs on my receiver causes any speaker that's plugged into it to constantly produce a quiet but noticeable sound of static or white noise. What could be causing this?

I've tried switching the speakers and wiring that are plugged in, but the problem always happens with whatever speaker is plugged in to that output. Adjusting the volume or muting the receiver does not affect the volume of the white noise at all, but plugging headphones into the receiver so it goes on bypass causes it to go away entirely.

The automatic adjustment program on the receiver also thinks that that speaker is further away than it actually is - not sure if that's because the white noise is drowning out the signal or if the signal it's producing is also quieter than it should be.

The receiver's still under warranty, so I could always see about getting a warranty repair. Before I do that, though, is there anything obvious I'm missing to troubleshoot or fix this?

posted by strangely stunted trees to technology (6 answers total)

You have a grounding issue on that circuit.
posted by goblinbox at 2:36 PM on March 13, 2012

You already did your troubleshooting and found that the problem follows the output, not the speaker. You have a bad port, so get it fixed under warranty.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:51 PM on March 13, 2012 [1 favorite]

What Johnny Wallflower said. The receiver isn't working as expected. Any further attempts at repair are likely to void that warranty.
posted by b1tr0t at 3:25 PM on March 13, 2012

I'm actually in agreement with goblin box. That sound like a ground issue. Have you tried a different circuit?
posted by bitdamaged at 7:22 PM on March 13, 2012

If it were a grounding issue the noise would appear on all outputs, not just one.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:13 PM on March 13, 2012

It sounds like a bad solder connection somewhere on the line of that single output. If it's still under warranty then have them take a look. Since it's just the one channel it's a problem with the receiver. To triple confirm this if you really want to, unplug all inputs and have the receiver generate a test tone which should still have a problem on that same output.
posted by tinamonster at 9:55 PM on March 13, 2012