Hi,

I've been trying to eliminate a pop or snap in the right front channel for quite a while now. I recently had to send my 975 in for service. I found out my Oppo DBP103 could stand in as my preamp while the 975 was being fixed. This worked great and the speaker pop and channel drop out or return (pop, off, pop, back on) didn't happen with the system running, but every now and then if I shut everything down except the amp. As I didn't have auto on/off, I'd forget it.

Before the 975 was repaired, I'd swapped left and right front speakers. Pop stayed in right. I replaced the right front speaker cable. Pop stayed. I've swapped the preamp/amp interconnects around and pop is always front right.

I finally got the 975 hooked back up late yesterday and my pop is back with a vengeance. I've tried to make sure no audio runs parallel to power. I've checked all the connections.

So, it's 975 pre, 7125 amp, Viera VT60 monitor, Oppo 103, Roku 3, old LaserDisc (yes, still around) and an htpc (have 2, doesn't seem to matter which one). The htpc feeds the 975 OTA live and recorded media. I have older Klipsch speakers and a Klispch powered sub. All are connected to a Furman PST-8D power center. Everything is connected via hdmi except the LaserDisc. I've heard the pop mostly with the htpc, but sometimes with roku and bluray player. But then we use the htpc most, then the roku, then the bluray player.

So far, the main variable seems to be the 975. Should I seperate what's plugged into together? I'm kind of out of ideas and hope to find some sort or solution of a local tech service that can help in the Atlanta metro area.

Thanks!

Is the popping occurring all the time or just during shutdown?

Based on your first paragraph I assume the pop went away completely when the 975 was out of the system. I would start by disconnecting all of the sources and turn the amp on and off multiple times to see if the 7125 is the issue. You may have a bad right channel. If so, and you are not using all 7 channels swap to another channel and prep to send the 7125 home for repair. If the pop cannot be duplicated with just the amp, connect the 975 only and go through the start/stop routine a few times to see if the pop returns. Use the tuner on the 975 as an audio source. White noise would work fine and I would play it long enough to let the amp warm up some. That way the amp is doing something when you shut it down. Continue this process for all your sources until you can duplicate it reliably.

"I've swapped the preamp/amp interconnects around and pop is always front right."

This change would have me thinking it's the 7125. If you've swapped the input cable at the back of the 7125, and the problem is still on the right side, it should be the amp, since you already swapped speakers and wires.

Take the output cable of the right channel of the 975 and put it to the left channel of the 7125. take the left channel output of the 975 and put it to the right channel of the 7125. If the pop swaps channels it is a source problem if it doesn't its an amp problem. Good luck.

Thank you! I will try those tests and see what happens.

To clarify:

With 975 as the preamp, right pop happens intermittently during playback. Often, pop, right channel appears or pop, it disappears. The surround mode on the 975 display never changes and it's not a scene change or video to commercial. Sometimes it just pops and doesn't impact the right front sound as in stopping or starting. It's nothing I can replicate changing surround mode, input, or anything else.

With the Oppo as the preamp, I never had the pop using the system. I only rarely heard a soft pop if I'd left the amp on and shut everything else down. I'd forget the amp didn't auto shut off without the 975.

You could swap the left and right interconnect cables between the 7125 and 975, leave them that way until the "pop" happens again. If the pop switches to the left, it should be the 975 at fault. If it stays on the right, the 7125 would be at fault.