Audioengine A5 Speakers: "snap, crackle and pop" fix

[Blake]

I know this is random but it may help someone in the future so I thought I'd post.

 

I bought some Audioengine A5 speakers around 5 years ago. They performed perfectly over the years and then I gave them to my son. Recently he started experiencing severe crackling, loud popping sounds and a sound similar to blowing in a microphone. I opened them up, checked the connections, etc. and couldn't see anything wrong. Stumped. I was about to donate them to Good Will.

 

I searched the web and found out this problem has been experienced by a fair number of other AE 5 owners.

 

Well, I discovered a fix today. Simply cycle the volume knob from full on to full off lots of times (I did this for about 100 cycles)

Problem solved! No more Kellogg's Rice Krispy sounds.

[tmtomh]

Thanks for this tip!

 

Is it possible that it's a dirty volume control/pot, and that spraying a little deoxit in there would be a more permanent fix?