The sound on one side of our Dell W3706 TV started to crackle and has now stopped altogether. Its not the speaker because we switched the connections on both speakers and now the opposite side has no sound. Any suggestions if this can be fixed without taking it to a TV repair shop or if its even worth it.

Either your main pcb has a defective auido circuit or speakers are bad. Doubt it is the speakers or it would do it all the time.

Hi There,
Crackling sound is often an indication of bad connections to the speakers. Are you listening with the built-in speakers or through an external amplifier?
If you are listening through an external amplifier or speakers, check all of the connections to make sure the cables are properly inserted, and wiggle the cables from each end and the middle to see if that reproduces the symptoms. Sometimes a cable can become damaged from being squashed or bent, and it may be as simple as replacing the faulty cable with a new one.
If you are listening with the built-in speakers the situation might be harder to identify and correct. Sometimes it is as simple as nearby wireless devices or radio towers causing interference with the speaker. You can try repositioning wireless devices such as computer routers, cordless landline phones or radios to see if that helps.
However, over time the solder used to connect the internal components can wear and sometimes break the connection. For this type of situation repair is usually the only option. If the warranty of your TV has expired you may have to take it to a local TV service center. Typically a loose solder joint is easy to identify and fix, so the repair bill should not be high.
Please post back with your results.

Does the crackling and popping sound comes only from the sub, or from the other speakers too? Try switching of to check. I think that it is problem on volume control potentiometer. In that case all the speakers must sound crackling and popping. If the problem is only in the sub you have to check its connections.


Stelios.

no it doenst matter what kind of sound card is using u need to make sure that u turn off the integrated audio and then make sure the drivers for the sound is installed properly

If the sound FLUCTUATES up & down, try turning off the AutoVolume in the sound menu. You didn't say if it's one or all speakers crackling. Crackling is either a speaker or circuitry issue. Adjust the balance away from the speaker that crackles, if it stops, that speaker is probably "fried". If it still crackles, I'd turn off the speakers and run the sound thru a stereo for the quick, cheap fix. My Samsung (10+ years old to be fair) crackles due to a circuit issue but if I SMACK the left side speaker (behind which is the sound board and side panel connectors) it stops for a while. Maddening. I think I broke it squeezing it into the furniture it's in, pressing on the protruding RCA plugs. Dumb design.

may be the head phone jack just plug in some headphones into the TV, and try if sound come out. Check Sound and Audio Devices Properties in Audio tab,and make some change their

you will need to check you AUDIO SETTINGS on the TV and set it for HDMI

I have another solution to this problem
get any wall radio/cd ( walmart have some cheap one )player with aux inputs and connect the speaker to it and the cable to the audio out in the tv
then on the Audio menu change to fixed so you can use the regular control to balance volume
the radio/cd player will do the job of the amplifier

It sounds to me as if possibly ya Main IC Amp Chip & OR the Output Capacitors are failing... Sometimes it is a sign of a power supply on it's way out... Either way it's time for a repair shop quote. Either that or it may be the speakers crossovers... to check this, if you can, try another set of speaker... see if problem is still there. If it IS, then it IS most probably as I said above.. If NOT then it may be one or both of the "Crossover Network" in each speaker...

Hi, I have exactly the same prob and I belive that it is in the amp module?! I am going to take mine in for repair as my other sony HT amp has just give up the ghost, (STR-DE435), it has a protector prob and is probably not worth repairing, although it is a great amp. If anyone knows the solution to this prob it would be great to hear it!!!