crackling noise

[salparadise]

Hello,
I have the following

vt-12 speakers
STF-1 sub
Onkyo TX-SR603XS receiver

Looking for some troubleshooting tips. Noob here, so forgive me for butchering the terminology. Whenever I am playing music,watching a dvd, playing any kind of tv program (Surround, stereo, or anything) and I select the surround or stereo options, the most horrible crackling noise starts coming from the speakers. It did not always happen and from what I can tell sometimes it does not occur, but it occurs often enough to be extremely annoying. The Direct audio option does not cause this to happen, but I sacrifice any surround or stereo features of the audio source on a 1000 dollar investment.
I set up the system myself and followed all the instructions accordingly (Cable gauge,length,etc). Will this be a problem with the receiver,speakers,cabling or anything else?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks.

[lradden]

How long have you had the receiver? If the direct mode sounds fine, but any mode thats digital like surround or stereo that not direct then it sounds like there's a problem with the receiver. Is the bad sound only from one speaker or all of them?

[salparadise]

thanks for the reply.
I had the receiver for about a year and some change.
I believe is coming from all the speakers but I am not 100% and sometimes it can be hard to reproduce, but I will pay attention.
hmm, ok so the receiver gives me some direction I will get in touch with Onkyo.
thanks again.

[lradden]

If it's not from all the speakers try switching speakers with the one that makes the noise. If it stops it's could be a bad speaker, but if it continues it sounds like you have a bad channel in the receiver. It may not make the noise in direct mode because direct is more than likeyl only two speakers and the bad speaker or channel is only being used in a digital mode like surround that may use more speakers.

[gvg45]

Some very good advice from Iradden. My father-in-law was complaining about the same thing the other week with his set up. A crackling noise sometimes and he could not tell where it was coming from. We finally nailed it down to his surround right speaker. We then swapped the surrounds and found that the noise stayed with that channel. He swapped out his Denon for a Harmon Kardon and no more noise.

[salparadise]

This is looking more like the receiver. All the speakers produce the crackling to the point where it completely shuts off. Good thing Onkyo warranty is two years.
I think I am going to have it replaced or serviced.
Thanks for the help.