Popping sound from speakers

[Tony F]

Whenever playing a few CDs (not all, just some) I hear a very brief POP
sound coming from my front speakers. On some songs it will happen every few
seconds, other songs not at all. It sounds like I'm overpowering them, kind
of like a very short burst of pink noise almost. It also happens at all
volume levels, including when the volume's turned down almost all the way
(the volume of the pop also reduces with the setting of the volume). I've
played these CDs on other players and they do not pop on my home CD player,
computer, or other vehicles. Also, the pops seem to come always at the same
time on those particular CDs, such as on track 5 at 52 seconds, for example.

I've never had this happen before. I suspect it's my CD player. Anyone
know what the heck this is all about? I just wanted some second opinions.

This is happening with my Alpine IVA-D310 DVD player. It's hooked up to an
Alpine 5.1 digital theater amp via optical cable.

Oh...and I've never heard the pops when playing DVDs, only CDs.

Thanks,

Tony


--
2001 Nissan Maxima SE Anniversary Edition
Clarion DRZ9255 Head Unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475ti, ZX450 and Xenon X1200.1
Amplifiers, Dynaudio System 360 Tri-Amped In Front and Focal 130HCs For Rear
Fill, Image Dynamics IDMAX10 D4 v.3 Sub

2001 Chevy S10 ZR2
Pioneer DEH-P9600MP Head Unit, Phoenix Gold Ti500.4 Amp, Focal 165HC
Speakers & Image Dynamics ID8 D4 v.3 Sub

2006 Mustang GT Coupe
Alpine IVA-D310 DVD Head Unit, Alpine MRA-550 Digital 5.1 Amp, Boston
Acoustics Z-Series Speakers, Alpine SBS-05DC Center Channel Speaker,
Amplified MTX Thunderform Sub

[Captain Howdy]

To me it sounds like something gone wild in your optical pickup. Is there any
way that you can rip that cd or those problem tracks on to dvd and see what it
does then?


In article >, "Tony F"
> wrote:
>Whenever playing a few CDs (not all, just some) I hear a very brief POP
>sound coming from my front speakers. On some songs it will happen every few
>seconds, other songs not at all. It sounds like I'm overpowering them, kind
>of like a very short burst of pink noise almost. It also happens at all
>volume levels, including when the volume's turned down almost all the way
>(the volume of the pop also reduces with the setting of the volume). I've
>played these CDs on other players and they do not pop on my home CD player,
>computer, or other vehicles. Also, the pops seem to come always at the same
>time on those particular CDs, such as on track 5 at 52 seconds, for example.
>
>I've never had this happen before. I suspect it's my CD player. Anyone
>know what the heck this is all about? I just wanted some second opinions.
>
>This is happening with my Alpine IVA-D310 DVD player. It's hooked up to an
>Alpine 5.1 digital theater amp via optical cable.
>
>Oh...and I've never heard the pops when playing DVDs, only CDs.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Tony
>
>

[MOSFET]

Tony it definitely sounds like something wrong with your DVD player. This
may be a bit of a long shot, but I have had trouble with DVD players (and CD
players) in the past and I have had surprising luck using Radio Shack's
Compact Disc Laser Cleaner. It looks like a regular CD but it has two small
brushes on the CD surface. You just play the thing and it cleans your
CD/DVD player lens. I had one DVD player in particular that was REALLY
having problems (always getting stuck in some parts or distorting the
picture/sound) and sometimes it didn't even recognize that a disc had been
inserted. I used the cleaner and it worked fine after that.

Again, it may be a long shot, but it's cheap and it might be worth a try.

Nick

"Tony F" > wrote in message
...
> Whenever playing a few CDs (not all, just some) I hear a very brief POP
> sound coming from my front speakers. On some songs it will happen every
> few seconds, other songs not at all. It sounds like I'm overpowering
> them, kind of like a very short burst of pink noise almost. It also
> happens at all volume levels, including when the volume's turned down
> almost all the way (the volume of the pop also reduces with the setting of
> the volume). I've played these CDs on other players and they do not pop
> on my home CD player, computer, or other vehicles. Also, the pops seem to
> come always at the same time on those particular CDs, such as on track 5
> at 52 seconds, for example.
>
> I've never had this happen before. I suspect it's my CD player. Anyone
> know what the heck this is all about? I just wanted some second opinions.
>
> This is happening with my Alpine IVA-D310 DVD player. It's hooked up to
> an Alpine 5.1 digital theater amp via optical cable.
>
> Oh...and I've never heard the pops when playing DVDs, only CDs.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tony
>
>
> --
> 2001 Nissan Maxima SE Anniversary Edition
> Clarion DRZ9255 Head Unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475ti, ZX450 and Xenon X1200.1
> Amplifiers, Dynaudio System 360 Tri-Amped In Front and Focal 130HCs For
> Rear Fill, Image Dynamics IDMAX10 D4 v.3 Sub
>
> 2001 Chevy S10 ZR2
> Pioneer DEH-P9600MP Head Unit, Phoenix Gold Ti500.4 Amp, Focal 165HC
> Speakers & Image Dynamics ID8 D4 v.3 Sub
>
> 2006 Mustang GT Coupe
> Alpine IVA-D310 DVD Head Unit, Alpine MRA-550 Digital 5.1 Amp, Boston
> Acoustics Z-Series Speakers, Alpine SBS-05DC Center Channel Speaker,
> Amplified MTX Thunderform Sub
>

[Tony F]

Thanks guys. Cpt, I have no way to rip to a DVD...although the thought
entered my mind while I was trying to troubleshoot. Since I've never heard
this popping with any DVD, I suspect if I COULD put it on DVD, it wouldn't
happen.

Nick, I'm going to try to go back to the retailer where I bought it from.
This is a new shop I'd never done business with before and they seem
interested to help, but I've already had a few issues with their customer
service, so I give myself a 50/50 chance. My guess is that they'd want to
send the player and the brain back to Alpine for repair, which with my luck,
would take months. I'd hate to think that I'd have to use a lens cleaner on
a BRAND NEW deck!! Oh well, whatever works!

I'll let you know.

Tony

[Tony F]

Well, the issue may be "solved". I took it to my retailer and after we
fooled around with it we learned that the only time it makes the sound is
when the decoder is in "rear fill" mode. There's three modes for CD
playback: Pro Logic Music, Pro Logic Movie, and Rear Fill. I had the unit
on rear fill, which is where I liked it the best, and this is the only mode
that makes the popping. The intaller kept trying to tell me that I should
just leave it on one of the Pro Logic modes, but I believe if there's a
problem with the unit, it should be replaced or repaired, rather than try to
"avoid" the issue and possibly face further problems down the road. This
guy brought up everything in the book that had nothing to do with the
problem (reversed polarity in one or both of my front speakers, one of the
terminals grounding out behind the door panel, etc). Fortunately, I knew my
stuff and stuck to the facts, AND EVEN THEN he kept on bringing up all this
crap about what the problem might be even AFTER he agreed that it's a
product malfuntion!!! I can imagine how easy it would be for him to lie his
way out of having to pay for a repair to a customer that didn't know
anything about stereos. He was very careful to not specifically tell me
that my install might be the issue, although he hinted at it several times.
I explained to him that I wasn't perfect and was willing to accept
responsibility for the problem if he could honestly tell me that he really
thought it was an install issue vs. a product issue and he said it
wasn't...although he sure kept bringing it up enough (we both knew my
install wasn't to blame). Bottom line, he wants me to bring my car in so he
can spend "all day" looking through my install and playing around with my
settings before he'll recommend any warranty work. Well, I don't want him
touching my car!!! I'm way to possessive and quite frankly, I don't trust
ANYONE working on my car except me. Unfortunately, I almost feel like it's
too much trouble to have to argue with the retailer to have them replace or
repair the unit. So, for now anyway, I'll just make whatever adjustments I
have to in Pro Logic music mode to get the SQ I want without the popping
sound.

What's funny, is that I chose to go the retail route this time around (as
opposed to saving some money online) specifically to avoid having any
warranty issues. At this point, I would have been better off just sticking
with online purchases, because I'd be in the same boat as I am now (altough
he DID discover when the popping sounds were happening, and I was very
thankful for that and it saved me quite a bit of time).

Sorry so long!

Tony

[Captain Howdy]

Tony, like you said this does sound like a decoder issue and that it's only
happening in rear-fill mode says to me that it's not a hardware based problem,
but a software based problem. If enough people noticed this problem and
bitched about it then Alpine would have a firmware upgrade for it to address
the issue.

I would contact Alpine's tech support and talk to someone. If they are aware
of the problem they will have a service code for it and ask you to ship it to
their local repair center and you might not even need to deal with whom you
bought the unit from.



In article >, "Tony F"
> wrote:
>Well, the issue may be "solved". I took it to my retailer and after we
>fooled around with it we learned that the only time it makes the sound is
>when the decoder is in "rear fill" mode. There's three modes for CD
>playback: Pro Logic Music, Pro Logic Movie, and Rear Fill. I had the unit
>on rear fill, which is where I liked it the best, and this is the only mode
>that makes the popping. The intaller kept trying to tell me that I should
>just leave it on one of the Pro Logic modes, but I believe if there's a
>problem with the unit, it should be replaced or repaired, rather than try to
>"avoid" the issue and possibly face further problems down the road. This
>guy brought up everything in the book that had nothing to do with the
>problem (reversed polarity in one or both of my front speakers, one of the
>terminals grounding out behind the door panel, etc). Fortunately, I knew my
>stuff and stuck to the facts, AND EVEN THEN he kept on bringing up all this
>crap about what the problem might be even AFTER he agreed that it's a
>product malfuntion!!! I can imagine how easy it would be for him to lie his
>way out of having to pay for a repair to a customer that didn't know
>anything about stereos. He was very careful to not specifically tell me
>that my install might be the issue, although he hinted at it several times.
>I explained to him that I wasn't perfect and was willing to accept
>responsibility for the problem if he could honestly tell me that he really
>thought it was an install issue vs. a product issue and he said it
>wasn't...although he sure kept bringing it up enough (we both knew my
>install wasn't to blame). Bottom line, he wants me to bring my car in so he
>can spend "all day" looking through my install and playing around with my
>settings before he'll recommend any warranty work. Well, I don't want him
>touching my car!!! I'm way to possessive and quite frankly, I don't trust
>ANYONE working on my car except me. Unfortunately, I almost feel like it's
>too much trouble to have to argue with the retailer to have them replace or
>repair the unit. So, for now anyway, I'll just make whatever adjustments I
>have to in Pro Logic music mode to get the SQ I want without the popping
>sound.
>
>What's funny, is that I chose to go the retail route this time around (as
>opposed to saving some money online) specifically to avoid having any
>warranty issues. At this point, I would have been better off just sticking
>with online purchases, because I'd be in the same boat as I am now (altough
>he DID discover when the popping sounds were happening, and I was very
>thankful for that and it saved me quite a bit of time).
>
>Sorry so long!
>
>Tony
>
>
>
>
>