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Thanks for the advice. I did isolate the problem. One thing I know is
the fault of my receiver, though, has puzzled me for years. When I
first turn the stereo on, both channels crackle. The crackling quickly
subsides. But when I change the volume, I get more crackling, no
matter how long the stereo's been on. It's not constant, but flipping
the volume knob back and forth makes both speakers crackle. Any idea
what's up with that?

Arny Krueger wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com

Knowing the standards of folks who frequent this
newsgroup, I have some trepidation about even poking my
head in here, but I could use some advice. I have a
piece o' crap 20-year old Fisher receiver that pumps out
a simpering 20 watts per channel to 20-year old two-way
Altec Lansing speakers with 10" woofers. One of the
speakers appears to be finally on its last legs, as low
bass makes it emit odd crackling/buzzing noises. I'm
fairly certain it's not the stands it's on, the noise
seems to be coming from the speaker itself. So I may
finally be in the market for new speakers.

Four classic words about speakers to contemplate:

Pardigm, PSB, Boston Acoustics, NHT

But the catch is I don't have the money to buy a new
receiver as well, though next year I probably could.

Consider the Sherwood RX-4105.

At the moment I have $200 - $250 to spend. Right now Amazon
has a sale on Sony SS-MF750H speakers, with free
shipping. Dual 8" woofers, 3 way speakers with a 35 -
50Mhz range. Consumer Reports has always liked them a
lot, for what that counts. Considering the quality I'm
used to, is there any better way to fill a 13' x 12' room
with sound? I know there are bookshelf speakers of
supposedly higher quality I could go for in that price
range. I play music obviously, but the main duty is
actually to be hooked up to my TV set for movie viewing.

Never heard them, but there are a lot of favorable online reviews, including
mention of top ratings by CU. One of the guys who tests consumer electronics
for CU was my lab partner in engineering school. I've toured their labs and
talked to their top tech people. I wouldn't dismiss their ratings quickly.

So, given a small room, small budget, poor receiver, are
there any better options?

Find a dealer with good return policies in case they don't work well with
your room.

Also, try reversing the connections to your speakers from left to right to
be sure that your receiver is still fairly blameless.