Speaker crackle caused by Marantz PM6004.

[Audioholic2013]

Hi, I recently bought the Marantz CD6004/PM6004 combo, paired with a set of brand new AE 301 bookshelf speakers. Upon initial listening I was extremely pleased with this system, however, out of curiosity, I decided to put my ear right up against both of the speakers, and I was shocked to hear a faint crackling sound, very prominant from the tweeters, it's akin to a vinyl record being played. Strangely, it is very apparent between songs and then stops when the next song plays, it doesn't change with the volume, the crackle remains consistent, even at very low volume where there is music that is barely audible

This crackle , albeit faint, isn't random, I know when this sound is going to happen whenever I listen. It happens on every CD. I swapped my speaker cables, interconnects and used a pair of MA BR2 speakers, the problem was still there. I then decided to swap the amp for an old Yamaha AV receiver, and the crackle was gone!! Naturally, I suspected a faulty amp, so I took it back to Richer Sounds where they kindly gave me a Marantz PM6004 loan unit, while they arrange to send me a brand new amp. So, I took the amp home and tried it and I was staggered to find that the crackle is still there!!

I'm utterly perplexed, this isn't normal is it? I shouldn't be hearing any sort of crackle from the speakers, no matter how faint. Could this be due to the fact that the Marantz amp is only 45 watts and thus causing some kind of clipping effect? If so, I don't want to damage my speakers! The yamaha AV reciever is 100 watts and is no problem with the speakers, The AE's nor the MA's.

Any help on this extremely fustrating problem will be appreciated.

Kind regards.

 

[BigH]

I think you listening too closely, can you hear it at your normal listening position?

 

[Audioholic2013]

Hi, no, not at my normal listening position, but I'm still very bothered by it, as I believe that this can't be normal. I'm also afraid of this damaging my speakers in some way.

 

[Covenanter]

I have the Marantz so I tried turning the volume up to near maximum and with my ear close to the speakers (KefQ500s) I could hear nothing. Now I'm a bit long in the tooth and my hearing isn't what it once was but as far as I can tell it is silent. Actually I expected some mains hum at that volume level but there was nothing.

I can only conclude that there is something else going on or you have run into a bad batch of amps.

Chris

 

[Audioholic2013]

Hello, Covenanter. I was actually thinking there could be a bad batch of amps that I have run into. Richer Sounds are ordering a brand new amp for me, I'll have to wait a few days to recieve it. If that amp crackles then I will have to look for another amp, probably the Rega Brio-R, which is a shame because I really liked the Marantz.

 

[Gravenhurst]

Hi,

I had exactly the same problem with my PM6004.

I swapped my amp with Richer sounds and the problem was solved.

The tweeters are now silent when music is not being played as they should be.

I know how annoying this can be so hopefully as someone else said it is just a bad batch of amps, get it changed and hopefully it will be all good like my system now is.

 

[Audioholic2013]

Hi, Gravenhurst. I'm relieved to know that it isn't just me that's experienced this very annoying problem! Fingers crossed that this new amp won't be afflicted with it.

 

[Timpd]

I have just listened to my PM 6004 and there is no crackle but a definite hum at high volumes, far higher than I would normally go. What was odd was hearing the tuner coming through faintly, again at very high volumes, when the amp was set on CD . Some leakage I assume but don't even begin to understand what is going on there. Any thoughts?

 

[hamid_hifi]

... out of curiosity, I decided to put my ear right up against both of the speakers, and I was shocked to hear a faint crackling sound, very prominant from the tweeters, it's akin to a vinyl record being played. Strangely, it is very apparent between songs and then stops when the next song plays, it doesn't change with the volume, the crackle remains consistent, even at very low volume where there is music that is barely audible

Hi,

And same here...

Is your problem solved with the third amp?

I bought them (CD6004 and PM6004) nearly 4 month ago, but didn't notice the fault till last week when i tried to hook up my headphones to the amp...

The nightmare began when I was trying to play the track "Delerium Silence ft. Sarah mclachlan fliter headz edit" when the music starts to fade out I noticed that frustrating noise...And its there till the music completely ends...

At first I thought something is wrong with the headphones so I swap them with other pair and it was there...Then I switched to speakers and it was still there but much more quite than headphones...

Unfortunately, I cant refund the amp and the most disapoing thing is mine doesnt have any warranty...

I also tried to connect the cd6004 to my father's old sansui ae-970 and there was nothing...the sound was great...I also connected my dvd player to the pm6004 using another interconnections and the problem was still there...

The music I mentioned will bold the problem but you can hear the noise with almost anything mostly and sadly classic ones too...

Again I have to mention this is barley audible via speakers from the listening position...but with heaphones connected its frustrating

Could it be because of the main power?

I would be so appreciated if someone here play the mentiond track using both headphones and speakers and tell me if they have the same issue?

Your kind help would be so much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Audioholic2013]

... out of curiosity, I decided to put my ear right up against both of the speakers, and I was shocked to hear a faint crackling sound, very prominant from the tweeters, it's akin to a vinyl record being played. Strangely, it is very apparent between songs and then stops when the next song plays, it doesn't change with the volume, the crackle remains consistent, even at very low volume where there is music that is barely audible

Hi,

And same here...

Is your problem solved with the third amp?

I bought them (CD6004 and PM6004) nearly 4 month ago, but didn't notice the fault till last week when i tried to hook up my headphones to the amp...

The nightmare began when I was trying to play the track "Delerium Silence ft. Sarah mclachlan fliter headz edit" when the music starts to fade out I noticed that frustrating noise...And its there till the music completely ends...

At first I thought something is wrong with the headphones so I swap them with other pair and it was there...Then I switched to speakers and it was still there but much more quite than headphones...

Unfortunately, I cant refund the amp and the most disapoing thing is mine doesnt have any warranty...

I also tried to connect the cd6004 to my father's old sansui ae-970 and there was nothing...the sound was great...I also connected my dvd player to the pm6004 using another interconnections and the problem was still there...

The music I mentioned will bold the problem but you can hear the noise with almost anything mostly and sadly classic ones too...

Again I have to mention this is barley audible via speakers from the listening position...but with heaphones connected its frustrating

Could it be because of the main power?

I would be so appreciated if someone here play the mentiond track using both headphones and speakers and tell me if they have the same issue?

Your kind help would be so much appreciated.

Thanks

Hi, The problem wasn't remedied with the third amp, unfortunately. Richer Sounds were very understanding about it and offered a full refund with no hassle whatsoever. I'm very sorry that you are experiencing the same problem! The noise was driving me absolutely mad because I couldn't understand why it was affecting all the Marantz PM6004 amps I had. To answer your question about the mains, I don't believe that's the problem, personally, I tested the amp plugged into the Tacima CS929 mains filter and it made no difference.

I now have a Rega Brio-R amp, and I couldn't be happier with it, It was an enormous relief to hear it for the first time with no crackle whatsoever. There was no crackle on the Cambridge Audio amp I had on loan from Richer, either. I do hope you can find some kind of a soution to this incredibly annoying problem. Anyone else on the forum with any good suggestions?

 

[hamid_hifi]

Hi,

I hope you finally got the right amp...

I eventually found what caused the problem...The good news is thers a cure...The bad news is virtually all the pm6004s have it. Because its a design failure.

I have posted the root cause of the noise and the modifications required to solve the issue here:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/243048-marantz-pm6004-odd-crackle-noise-how-solve.html#post3649336

Some one please check if the newcomer pm6005 is same like this or not.

 

[mikeparker59]

Anyone tried the cure? I can;t hear any crackle on mine but should it occur once my amp is out of warranty I'd be up for trying the 2nd method of cutting two jumpers to isolate the auto standby function of the amp.

 

[letsavit2]

I have an hum when turned up loud , pretty normal. Not a crackle and not enough to hear above even quiet sections of music.

 

[hamid_hifi]

Anyone tried the cure? I can;t hear any crackle on mine but should it occur once my amp is out of warranty I'd be up for trying the 2nd method of cutting two jumpers to isolate the auto standby function of the amp.

Try to play the track " silence - delerium feat. sarah mclachlan - (filterheadz remix)" at the end of the track( 7th minute) as the music starts fades out turn up the volume ...It should be noticed sounds like "click...click...click..." till it completely ends...dont go dial more than 12 oclock half way of the volume is enough...be careful turn it down before next track starts as it could damage your speakers and your hearing...

I recommend burn the track onto a CD-R/RW as a one track disk. you can go faster to the mentioned time...

If you dont mind about this kind of issue do not worry it wont get worse over time as everything work as theyre intended it just a bad circuit design.

If you're worried about your warranty just dont touch it...

And yes the second method is alot easier and safer...

I have an hum when turned up loud , pretty normal. Not a crackle and not enough to hear above even quiet sections of music.

I dont get Hum BTW... unless I turn up the knob to its end without music and ear right close to the woofer

 

[Chokyh]

Hi there, I am a "passive" user of this awesome forum for a while now, and although I usually do not take part of the discussions, I always learn a lot in here.

However, I though this is a great chance for a first-timer to issue its post and say... IT WORKS!!!! :dance: :bounce:

I had (yes, I HAD ) the same problem and I was desperately about to give up until I read the post from hamid_hifi and I saw the light...

After one night of shall-I-shall-I-not I decided to "take the risk" and... voila! The bl... distorsion is gone!! For the records, I tried directly option 2.

Many thanks to hamid_hifi for the solution. I can only imagine how hard was to find the source and solution without some hints. Post like his always makes life a little bit easier and the world a bit better :cheers:

 

[VyNull]

Hello, Long time lurker here, but now I finally have something worth writing about since the PM6004s are discontinued and rock-bottom prices can be had! I wound up here searching if anyone else noticed hissing from the headphone jack even with the volume turned all the way down (and I'd still be interested to hear feedback on that, but I can start a new thread if need be).

I haven't noticed the issue on topic, but now I think I'll see if I can reproduce it. I was wondering if anyone tried just disabling the auto-standby feature first to see that fixed the issue. It says in the manual you can hold the "Source Direct" button for 5 seconds to turn it off. If no one has tried that, I'll try to reproduce the clicking, and then see if that fixes it.

Thanks~

 

[Covenanter]

Hello, Long time lurker here, but now I finally have something worth writing about since the PM6004s are discontinued and rock-bottom prices can be had! I wound up here searching if anyone else noticed hissing from the headphone jack even with the volume turned all the way down (and I'd still be interested to hear feedback on that, but I can start a new thread if need be).

I haven't noticed the issue on topic, but now I think I'll see if I can reproduce it. I was wondering if anyone tried just disabling the auto-standby feature first to see that fixed the issue. It says in the manual you can hold the "Source Direct" button for 5 seconds to turn it off. If no one has tried that, I'll try to reproduce the clicking, and then see if that fixes it.

Thanks~

My headphone socket is as silent as the grave. I always have mine on "Source Direct" so don't know if that is a factor. I didn't know there was an auto-standby feature. It certainly isn't switched on with mine. I'll have to get the manual out, not that I need auto-standby as the remote has an "off" button.

Chris

 

[Covenanter]

Having looked at the manual it's easy to turn it off so give that a go.

Chris

 

[mikeparker59]

Me too at full volume with nothing playing. Tried it with headphones but like you say nothing unusual about that

 

[mikeparker59]

Hello, Long time lurker here, but now I finally have something worth writing about since the PM6004s are discontinued and rock-bottom prices can be had! I wound up here searching if anyone else noticed hissing from the headphone jack even with the volume turned all the way down (and I'd still be interested to hear feedback on that, but I can start a new thread if need be).

I haven't noticed the issue on topic, but now I think I'll see if I can reproduce it. I was wondering if anyone tried just disabling the auto-standby feature first to see that fixed the issue. It says in the manual you can hold the "Source Direct" button for 5 seconds to turn it off. If no one has tried that, I'll try to reproduce the clicking, and then see if that fixes it.

Thanks~

My headphone socket is as silent as the grave. I always have mine on "Source Direct" so don't know if that is a factor. I didn't know there was an auto-standby feature. It certainly isn't switched on with mine. I'll have to get the manual out, not that I need auto-standby as the remote has an "off" button.

Chris

Hold source direct button in for 5 secs until the standby/clipping led just by power on off switch flashes. It flashes once for auto standby off three times for auto standby on Page 12 of manual.

 

[hamid_hifi]

Hi there, I am a "passive" user of this awesome forum for a while now, and although I usually do not take part of the discussions, I always learn a lot in here.

However, I though this is a great chance for a first-timer to issue its post and say... IT WORKS!!!! :dance: :bounce:

I had (yes, I HAD ) the same problem and I was desperately about to give up until I read the post from hamid_hifi and I saw the light...

After one night of shall-I-shall-I-not I decided to "take the risk" and... voila! The bl... distorsion is gone!! For the records, I tried directly option 2.

Many thanks to hamid_hifi for the solution. I can only imagine how hard was to find the source and solution without some hints. Post like his always makes life a little bit easier and the world a bit better :cheers:

You are welcome Chokyh. Enjoy the pure music of this wonderful sounding amplifier

Hello, Long time lurker here, but now I finally have something worth writing about since the PM6004s are discontinued and rock-bottom prices can be had! I wound up here searching if anyone else noticed hissing from the headphone jack even with the volume turned all the way down (and I'd still be interested to hear feedback on that, but I can start a new thread if need be).

I haven't noticed the issue on topic, but now I think I'll see if I can reproduce it. I was wondering if anyone tried just disabling the auto-standby feature first to see that fixed the issue. It says in the manual you can hold the "Source Direct" button for 5 seconds to turn it off. If no one has tried that, I'll try to reproduce the clicking, and then see if that fixes it.

Thanks~

Hi,

The hiss is pretty normal...specially if you have very sensetive headphones...And thats because the headphone jack connected almost directly to the main power amp's output but with a pair of 330 ohms resistor in series between L and R channels to make wattage reduction and make it suitable to drive headphones...

The main amp circuit is designated to drive speakers than headphones and it has diffrent characteristics than headphones amps...

Most manufactureres do this simple yet effective trick to reduce costs(You can even find this design on the pm8004/ki pearl lite and many other brands and models)...

I think hereinafter marantz are going to build up fully dedicated headphone circuits in their newcomer amps like the pm6005..

Anyways, a simple solution would be to increase the value of the resistors to something like 470 ohms 3 watt resistors. But it doesn't worth take the risk by mainboard removal to reduce some headphones hiss...As I believe its very thin and with use of less sensetive/ higher impedance ones it will become almost dead silent.

I myself prefer to use the source's headphones jack(if exists) than any amp ones...

And, disabling the auto standby function as described in the manual wont solve the noise issue...because by disabling it by that way, you actually disable the function on the micro-processor than the noisy detector-amp circuit..The damn circuit is always on and making that noise...And I did it before figured it out how the circuit works.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask...I'll be here to help you as much as I can

Cheers,

Hamid

 

[VyNull]

Thanks Hamid! You answered all of my questions, even the ones I hadn't asked yet You saved me a bunch of unecessary time and expense to exchange the the amp just in case it was something abnormal, so thank you again.

Indeed I have only efficient cans (Sennheiser HD598 and HD280), and running the tape loop out to my headphone amps made for dead silent backgrounds at volume matched levels, so my next question was going to be if a 300+ Ohm set would help, and it sounds like it would. Even though there is the mild hiss, the PM6004's headphone out actually sounds better than the Fiio E17 and E09k to my ears-- with the added bonus of easy bass & treble control, so I won't worry about it and will just enjoy.... while hunting for another set of cans. The more the merrier!

That's bad news that disabling the auto-standby won't help. I was hoping that maybe it would cut the voltage to the offending circuit and make for an easy fix. I figured anyone who knew enough to modify the internals would know enough to try that first, but as a programmer, my customers have taught me that sometimes the easiest fix gets looked over by those with the most knowledge, so I thought I'd throw it out there Personally, I basically only use the amp for vinyl playback, so I doubt I'll notice it above the noise floor of the record... and maybe even the very same noise floor will prevent the circuit from going haywire anyway.

 

[hamid_hifi]

Hello VyNull., You are welcome

The hiss is kept even below on par with some of the best amplifires out there...Its so quite I could hardly notice it in late at the night or dead quite environment. And comparing to the portables the like of ipods etc... which hissing three times louder than this at zero volume I still believe its pretty much decent.

With 300+ ohms you would be fine. But its better to get some loans if possible or fully refundable deals. You might also consider warmer sound ones cause the output of this amp is a bit bright for headphones. Cans with warmer sound would also help to reduce that quiescent hiss.

Your thought is cleverly correct... sure its a good idea if it could be solved by disabling the auto stndby but sadly its not...

If you use it as a vinyl only stereo, I think you are fine...Cause the noise exactly sounds like the records pops and cracks!

Take care :cheers:

Hamid

 

[Covenanter]

Nope sorry most of this is BS. Put the volume to 3 o'clock where. if I played music I would be in A&E having my eardrums fixed, and through my AKG K702 headphones (which are pretty good kit) all I got was total silence. Well not quite, I could hear my pulse but no hiss, no crackle and no hum.

So if you are getting hiss, crackle or hum then there is something wrong with your setup.

Chris

 

[hamid_hifi]

Noting wrong with the setup except the amp itself...

Crackle is there, hiss is there...We are not sick spending lots of time digging up a cure and post BS here...

Try to figure that crackle out the way I explained on the previous page

The thread starter had 3 brand new amps faulty...Me and the other guy who tried the mod and found it helpful...So 5 faulty amps aren't enough evidence?

Like I said the crackle is so so quite and I believe it yet doesnt go beyond the spec's sheet S/N ratio...Same for the hiss! But these are adequate to irritate some...

:wave: