Broken out of the box

[korpo]

I got a new set of speakers at Christmas from a buddy of mine. He got me a great deal on last year's models (or whatever) and I couldn't pass it up. The fronts are RT800i and the surrounds are FX500i (or similar, I'm not going to climb behind them to look). They're much better than my old Lifestyle system ;).

In any case, I only had a stereo reciever up until just a week or two ago. When I got the reciever, I unboxed the FX500is and mounted them and fired things up. I get a crackle out of the driver in the right surround channel. Damn.

I checked the wires, they're fine, no tears or anything. I checked the plugs, also fine. I reconnected everything. I swapped channels, LS for RS and the crackle stayed in the right surround. The only other thing I can think of is that the driver has something wrong with it right out of the box.

Anyone have any suggestions, or do I call Polk customer support in the morning?

[dorokusai]

Call Polk or email them they will get you squared away. Don't worry.

Nice speakers :)

You said unboxed? Like straight from the shipper? You may want to start a claim if you wish, but still contact Customer Service.

[korpo]

Well, I bought them at Good Guys (kind of like CC, but with better stuff), and the boxes looked to be fine when I got them. I didn't even open the boxes on the FX500is until I got the new reciever. In fact, the reason I talked myself into buying the new reciever was to be able to use the speakers ;).

There's no apparent damage to the drivers, the cones aren't torn or rotted or anything like that. I could probably take the speaker apart and check if there are loose wires or something like that, but I'd be worried about doing something that would void the warranty.

[dorokusai]

You can certainly try that, perhaps it is a loose connection. Polk has given the same type of advice before, so you are most likely not going to void your warranty. At least you know it is only the one speaker.

Just drop them a line prior and let them know of the problem.

[pjdami]

Should be able to remove drivers without voiding warranty. My brother had a problem with one of his RT35i's bass driver; magnetic shielding was vibrating / come loose. He UPS shipped the driver to Polk and Polk shipped him a new driver all under warranty. From this, I would say its a safe bet to remove driver and troubleshoot.

P.

[pjdami]

Here's the email Ken S. sent me back when:

Hello Paul,
Thanks for contacting us. The best thing to do is to send the driver to Polk Audio, 2550 Britannia Blvd., Suite D, San Diego, CA. 92154. Please include a short note giving us your name and address and a copy of your sales receipt. The service folks will, very quickly, send a replacement driver, at no charge.
Regards, Ken, Polk

I'd email Ken and make sure the address hasn't changed or anything just to make sure.