Surround Sound Speaker Issue
 

I have a surround sound system. The front right and left speakers are sounding fuzzy - but only on some shows and some tones. It doesn't happen during DVDs.

The cats that I used to have chewed up the cords but this is a fairly new issue.

The back speakers, subwoofer and center speaker don't have this issue. I checked the connections and the speaker wire is in tightly.

Any thoughts as to what could be causing this?

To narrow down the source of the issue, I would

1. Swap the cables for the left and right front speakers (unplugging from both the amp and the speaker). If the problem switches to the left front speaker, the problem is in the cable; replace it.
2. Is #1 doesn't narrow it down, unplug the speaker cable from the back of both the left and right speakers (but not from the amp/receiver) and swap them. If the problem moves from right to left, the problem is in the amp/receiver (don't panic - we might be able to do some further work to troubleshoot).
3. If the issue remains with the right speaker after #2, it sounds like the issue is in the speaker. They can be repaired (I would highly recommend Orange County Speaker - I have used them many times) or if appropriate, replaced.

Let me know how the troubleshooting goes and we can work from there.

If it doesn't happen with DVDs and only on some shows then I'd suspect the source material and not the hardware.

Not all television shows are broadcast in surround sound. And even if the banner that pops up at the bottom of the screen says it is, it doesn't mean your local affiliate is actually rebroadcasting the surround sound signal. You might just be getting regular old stereo and your receiver is processing it as surround sound and making it sound bad.

It happened on Heroes last night and NCIS last Tuesday. It's happened on other shows but it just started driving me crazy. I presume Heroes is in surround sound.

I'd think it was my TiVO causing it but since it's not happening on all shows I'm running through the TIVO (and I'm really not savvy enough to disconnect the connections beyond what Kevy suggested and get it back up and running. This IT girl pays people to set up her entertainment electronics).

I'll try those suggestions tonight.

I have wireless surround sound speakers and every once in a while the wireless speakers go crackly.

But it is such a pain in the ass to move furniture so that I can futz with it all I just sit and wait for it to go away on its own.