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I have a pair of speakers connected to a subwoofer. The second speaker is barely audible, until I touch (but without necessarily turning) the volume control knob on the first speaker. As long as I am touching the knob, it emits sound. This is the exact oppoiste of my experience with speakers and amps, when touching the wiring usually silences background hum.

I'm not looking for a fix, I'll repair it like I do most electronics, by tinkering until it works, I'm just wondering what would cause grounding to end up making the speaker louder?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ loose wiper tension on ganged pot? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 4, 2017 at 2:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ As tony suggest it sounds like a mechanical issue with the pot \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 4, 2017 at 3:56
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    \$\begingroup\$ (1) From the description in your question you are not having trouble with a speaker but you are having trouble with an amplifier. It happens to be built into a speaker. (Misleading title.) (2) If the knob is plastic then it is insulated from the circuitry so the problem is mechanical and not earthing. As implied by sstobbe, the wiper has probably lost contact with the resistance track. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 4, 2017 at 6:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ Ok, that certainly clears up my confusion. If one of you posts that as an answer I'll accept it. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 6, 2017 at 0:40

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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As said in the comments, it was a mechanical problem in the potentiometer. Melting the solder on the pins and squeezing the pot into the circuitboard as the solder resolidfied fixed the problem.

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