Got a rattle? Check this . . .

Rich said:

So I have had an annoying rattle in my system for awhile now that I couldn't pinpoint the cause. It only occurred during deep bass notes at high volume. I thought maybe it was the equipment rack, or this metal lamp I have near the speakers, or one of the diffuser panels. I couldn't figure it out. Finally, with the help of a teenage kid, I found the source of the rattle. The lock nut for one of the rear spikes on one of my Summits had come loose, and slowly unscrewed itself all the way down the spike, and was rattling against the spike during heavy bass passages. I screwed it back in tight, and no more rattle! So if you hear a rattle, check to make sure all your lock nuts are tight on your spikes. Just thought I would pass that knowledge along in case anyone else has a similar issue.

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twich54 said:

Guys that's a given ............. 'always check your nuts' !

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Rich said:

LOL. I hate it when I get a rattle in my nuts! Growing old is tough.

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Bernard said:

When I read "rattle" all I could think about was the car classic "marbles in the ashtray". I could just hear you say, "THAT'S where I lost my marbles!"

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Victor said:

I became accustomed to constantly checking my nuts for looseness until I found that lowering the bass output of the sub-woofer to minus values eliminated the tendency. ;^)Going from -2 to -4 solved the problem. The speakers are not by any means close to the front/side walls either but the bass integration is now near perfect. (This is a subject that Roberto always had strong opinions on i.e. "less is often more")

You'll also find that your nuts aren't the only things that rattle. Panel resonance is another annoying side effect at higher volumes. The upshot of this is that the panel mounting bolts should also be checked at the same time.
My fine tuning has proved so successful that I've not required to check my nuts for several years.

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