Home stereo is generating a sound that is placing pressure on my ears

by Barry
(New York)

I have an older Yamaha Receiver, (4) Gallo Adiva speakers and a very basic subwoofer. I've been using the system successfully with my Panasonic plasma HDTV for a year or so.

I have digital audio running out of the Panasonic HDTV into the Yamaha Receiver. The system has been running great until a day or two ago. I turned it on and while the audio itself sounds like it always has, I feel a pressure on my eardrums that is quite annoying.

When I shut the stereo off, or pause the playback of the TV, the sound slowly goes away. The feeling is similar, but not exactly, like when you put noise-cancelling headsets on you head. I don't know what could be causing this issue all of a sudden or even where to look for the problem. I've gone back to using the built in speakers on the TV itself temporarily, and I don't feel the pressure I'm referring to when using them.

I have the system hooked up with (4) Gallo Adiva speakers, but in just Left and Right Stereo mode...two right in front of the TV, and two back by me on the couch not that far from my head to the left and right. As I said, I've never had this issue before and the actual "sound" of the stereo is pretty much as it has always been, ...perhaps a slight increase in low end but not significant.

Any suggestions on where to look for this new problem would be appreciated. I've never experienced anything quite like this before.

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Barry

Seems an odd problem - however sound can do some strange things sometimes.

Firstly, have you changed any of the wiring recently? If your speakers are out of phase with each other, then this can sometimes lead to weird effects. Make sure all the speakers are connected correctly to the AV receiver - with the + and - wires going to the correct + and - terminals on the receiver and speakers.

Secondly, the subwoofer has the biggest driver (usually) and moves the most air. So this is the one that is most likely to affect sound pressure in the room. Disconnect the subwoofer and play something. Is the problem still there with no sub?

Failing that, disconnect all the speakers and connect them one by one. When does the issue start? You may be able to pinpoint a particular speaker that is causing the problem.

Also, if your AV receiver has an automatic speaker setup (usually called YPAO Automatic System Calibration on Yamaha devices), try running this again and see if it fixes the problem.

Hope that helps.

Paul (Site Editor)

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