Hi,

I have a relatively new paradigm home theatre, with 5 speakers and a sub. The Sub has started to make a bzzzft sound, in kind of a ticking pattern. Sometimes the front right speaker sounds fuzzy too. I thouroughly checked and tightened all connections, and switched the fuse in the sub. My husband thinks it's a connection problem, something wrong with the cables, but I don't think so. They are expensive and durable, and I often check everything over for good connection because we use this set up for our cd player as well, and I'm a music junkie. I wonder if it might have something to do with static? When I take the cables out and rub them, they work fine for a short while. Some possible contributing factors... We recently purchased a big screen plasma TV, perhaps the static from the plasma tubes is interfering? Our house is really dry since the furnace has been coming on, around 25% humidity, and the components are near the heat vent? I don't know much about these things, but I always seem to be able to fix electronics, and I don't let my husband hook anything up, that's my job :) The surround has always worked like a charm, until now. Any ideas on what is causing the sub sounds? I can't go without music for much longer, and we don't want to have to replace our sub. Are there any things we should avoid/do or tips on keeping things running their best? Thanks for the help.

I would check to see if this ocurs with no input to the sub and power on. Then I would check with the cables connected to the sub, but disconnect the other end at your receiver. Make sure every other device (tv, dvd, sat box, etc. is on as normal) and see if your buzzing is present then. If it is present with power to the sub and cables disconnected, you know it is the sub itself.


Good Luck

You also need to rule out some sort of interference, possibly a groung loop, RF, or electromagnetic. Have you plugged in any new grounded equipment lately? I put in a new satellite box recently and got 60 cycle noise on my plasma TVs in other rooms. You can try isolating the groung on the sub by using a 2 prong adapter (thats what I did). You could also try turning off the breakers in the fuse box, selectively, to see if the noise disappears.