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How to Fix Crackling Speakers that Make Popping Sounds

How to Fix Crackling Speakers that Make Popping Sounds

Hearing popping or crackling sounds from your speakers can be extremely scary and annoying, especially if the volume is high – the jump scares are more real than those caused by the best horror movies!

Really, there is nothing more annoying that crackling speakers, but we are here today to help you fix them so that you can enjoy interference-free music, movies and games.

Unfortunately, popping or crackling sounds coming from speakers can become a reality more often than we’d like them to and you have to fix them as soon as possible, or else you risk going crazy.

So if you’re having similar problems, read on to find out how to fix speakers that make popping or crackling sounds – it’s easier that you think, fortunately!

Most likely, the problems are caused by your subwoofer. I know that this might sound strange, but in my case it was the subwoofer that started to act strange and cause the popping sounds in my speakers.

You have two things that might cause the said subwoofer problems:

  1. Your speakers are too close to the subwoofer. If this is the case, simply moving them at least a feet away will fix the problems. Easiest fix to try.
  2. Your subwoofer is too close to your WiFi router, in which case you should move it away at least one foot. Easy peasy as well!

It took me ages to realize that the popping sounds were synchronized with the lights on my router, but I did it eventually and this fixed my problem. Who would’ve guessed?

I sure never thought it possible, but there it was, driving me crazy. Probably you are in the same boat, since you are here.

So if you have crackling sounds coming from your speakers without an apparent reason, try the fixes recommended above first – sometimes the easiest, most obvious solution is what you need.

But if they don’t fix your speakers’ crackling sounds, the cause might be different. Here are other things you might want to try doing in order to fix them or at least find out what’s causing the problems in the first place:

– If you only get the annoying sounds in one of your speakers, change the speakers between them and see if the problem persists: will you hear the popping sounds on the same speaker or on the same channel?

In other words, if your right speaker was causing problems and after switching the speakers the popping still comes from the speaker that’s now on the right, it’s the channel that has a problem.

IF it’s the channel, most likely you can’t do a lot since it’s a problem with the amp circuitry. What you can do is to try and clean the potentiometer (volume controls, bass control etc) with sprays made specifically for this.

Also, try to rotate them up and down with your speakers on but no sound playing and see if you get the noise as well.

If this doesn’t seem to be the problem, send the speakers or system to a specialist for repairs. Unfortunately, there’s not much else you can do here…

– Sometimes, simply switching the speakers between them, left with right, solves the problem. It’s worth trying at least since it will probably only take a second to do it.

– If the crackling stays with the speaker after plugging it into a different port, use a special spray to clean the contacts in order to remove any potential dust particles and make sure that the jack enters all the way in your subwoofer. In this case, it’s clear that the speaker itself (or maybe the cord or the jack) is the problem.

These are all potential solutions you should try before calling in a technician or sending the speakers to the manufacturers for repairs.

I hope that you can easily solve your problem without any need of extra waiting or spending extra money to make them work and hopefully it’s one of the first two easy to solve causes listed above. But sometimes things just break and there aren’t any easy ways to fix them…

If you manage to find a different solution to fix your crackling or popping speakers, don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comment section below.