Craig - I remember smile.

What was interesting was your v6 is using SMPS while mine is LPS yet issues exhibited are kinda similar (crackling on speakers). Do you get crackling on stereo signal input as well? My v8 shutdown twice- indicating something related PS issue anyways.

I keep my unit on standby after use- so no issue of 'cold start' and I use power conditioner- have had zero issues over 4+ years.

When I had done a search on 'crackling' on this forum- it was either poorly loaded config /FW update or PS.

I did not bother opening up unit since mine was recent update to v8 and knew M would look into it.

I will update what issue was with my unit once I hear back.

Regards,
Kishore