Audio Systems: static from speakers, boston acustic speakers, volume pot

Question
I have a 10+ year old receiver and 8 year old Boston acustic speakers.  I have 8 year old cables connecting them (it's the kind where you strip the ends of the wires and screw it in -- I am not fond of this).  Sometimes both sound great, but one or both speakers are often staticy and often not working at all. What should I do?  Is there something obvious I could replace?  I'm glad to replace it all, but I hate to throw away perfectly good stereo equipment, if that's what I have.

Thank you very much for your help.

Best wishes,
Andrew

Answer
Dear Andrew,

I'm responding on the basis that both speakers experience static at the same time and blink out at the same time. My guess is that it's the volume control on your receiver, but it's best to start with the cheapest things and move on from there.

First, lop off the bare wire at the ends of your cables, restrip them and hook 'em up.

If you still have static, switch another pair of speakers (borrow a pair from a buddy) in. If they work and without static, then you've got issues with your speakers. If you still get static, then you probably have an issue with the volume control on your receiver.

Older receivers, especially ones where you actually turn the volume knob (called a "volume potentiometer" or "volume pot") manually all the time, can get simply disengaged or dirty. If it's the receiver, take the casing off and see if there's dust and muck around the volume pot. If so, clean it off gently (a hand held vacuum is sufficient) and see what happens. If you still have the problem, you may need to have it adjusted and calibrated by a repair technician.

Good luck. And thanks for choosing allexperts.com!

Kindest regards,

Kevin