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An unusual problem that merits an unusual solution

Hello all,

I recently aquired a Marantz AV-550 preamp and 5 MA-500 monoblocks, and now I'm running into an odd problem. Any time the preamp gains and loses signal, there's a loud, "POP!" in the right surround channel. This means that any time you do *anything* to the DVD player - pause, cue, review, chapter next, menu - the right surround pops loudly.

Because I'm not sure this is a repairable problem, I'd like to just cut down the volume of said "POP". My idea was this:

The volume of the preamp does not affect the volume of the pop. Therefore, if I could wire an in-line resistor of some sort between the preamp and the amp, it would cut down the volume of the channel, and I could just turn up the volume of that surround channel in the preamp to compensate.

My question: does anyone make an RCA coupler which has a resistor or potentiometer built into it, or will I need to build something?

If I have to build something, what would be an appropriate level of resistance to use, or should I use a pot?

Thanks in advance for lending your expertise,

Scott
hudsonhawk

Showing 1 response by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
I know that this is just a long shot, but have you ever verified that your AC outlets and your gear were properly polarized? Something else to think about is static electricity build up. This time of the year, the dry air and static can cause all kinds of erratic behaviour. We've had reports here of people blowing out digital circuitry just from touching their gear after walking across the carpet i.e. static discharge arcing from the person into the components. Sean
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