I hooked up my computer to my stereo in the living room with a "head phone" (computer end) to RCA (reciever end) through my wall. It's not always consistan but pretty close, but when there's bass the speakers make a popping sound. This only happens with this connection, not the cable, video games, dvd's/cd's. Any ideas?
Speaker popping
- Thread starter mkillio
- Start date
I never have a problem when I use it on the stereo in my room, which is what I usually have my computer hooked up to. I just planned on hooking my computer to the stereo in my living room when I have parties.
Is possible that it has to do with interference from the wall? Could it be from dust/dirt on the connections?
Is possible that it has to do with interference from the wall? Could it be from dust/dirt on the connections?
Try turning off any type of equalization, it might help <-- did for me.
Atleast you do not have some random type of interference going on...
Somebody around me has some type of crazy machine that makes my TV and computer speakers go very staticy. I know it's not them, because they do it at the same time. Almost how old tv's and vacuum machines hated each other. It gets annoying though when you are doing something quiet and your speakers go CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE and scare the bejesus out of you.
Atleast you do not have some random type of interference going on...
Somebody around me has some type of crazy machine that makes my TV and computer speakers go very staticy. I know it's not them, because they do it at the same time. Almost how old tv's and vacuum machines hated each other. It gets annoying though when you are doing something quiet and your speakers go CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE and scare the bejesus out of you.
A very sharp pop-pop noise on bass, particularly bass drum hits, is usually the voice coil of the bass driver hitting the end stops. This is bad.mkillio said:
What I can't explain is why it's happening at any level. Perhaps it is clipping in the bass region, so a check of any equalisation being applied, particularly inside the PC - there may be several places in which it happens, and it's even possible that the distortion could be in the source material, although you can eliminate that by testing with headphones.
To go through the end-stop idea in more detail:
Most speakers consist of a permanent magnet surrounding a wire coil attached to the back of a paper, fabric or plastic cone which is only loosely fixed at its widest point to the rim of the speaker. This wire coil moves forwards and backwards as a voltage is applied. The wire coil cannot move more than a certain distance without distorting - usually on one end it has a stop, and on the other end it doesn't, so if you overdrive it a bit you will hear the tap-tap of the coil hitting the stop, and if you overdrive it too much the coil will jump out of the housing. Usually by that point the fabric/paper tears or the voice coil melts though.
The reason you would only see this on this 3.5mm-RCA connection would likely be one of
a) the 3.5mm connection is designed for headphones rather than line-out, and so exceeds the standard levels (usually -10dBV for home-audio equipment)
b) poor quality control or incorrect settings cause the line-out to generate levels above standard
c) the sound card is using Pro Audio output levels (+4dBv) and the TV is on home-audio levels.
Worst case of this I ever generated was when setting up a 4kW PA rig. I'd set it up carefully, but hadn't allowed enough limiting to cope with signals that were mostly bass-dominated. Sticking "Viva Las Vegas" by ZZ Top on for a test had me wondering what that extra bang-bang-bang on the bass was. Nearly blew £2000 worth of speakers with that one
. Whoops.Could be a bad cable or an earth loop. If the former, then the buzzing would probably be different between the left and right speaker, and waggling the cable will probably make the buzzing come and go.
If there's no indications like that, then an earth loop may be the cause. Earth loops happen when the ground circuit is a continuous loop (usually through the mains wiring, but could also be multiple ground connections between one piece of equipment and another). Is the PC plugged into a different wall socket to the amp?
If it's faint, it may well just be the sound card or motherboard's natural distortion - a lot of PC sound circuits have poor audio fidelity.
If there's no indications like that, then an earth loop may be the cause. Earth loops happen when the ground circuit is a continuous loop (usually through the mains wiring, but could also be multiple ground connections between one piece of equipment and another). Is the PC plugged into a different wall socket to the amp?
If it's faint, it may well just be the sound card or motherboard's natural distortion - a lot of PC sound circuits have poor audio fidelity.
Probably a ground loop like Dio said. Disconnect all antenna leads that are connected to your receiver (do this for all devices that are connected to your received as well, such as your TV, VCR and tuner). If this fixes the problem, you can get a galvanic separator between your antenna leads and their wall sockets to break the loop that is caused by different mains and antenna ground potentials.mkillio said:
Well I noticed that when I mess witht he cable, i.e. jiggle it around the buzzing becomes greater or lesser. The cable is justsome cheap one that I found, do you think if I get a HQ one that it will help? Monster has one http://monstercables.com/productPage.asp?pin=432
That sounds like the cable.
I'm not part of the hi-fi brigade who insist that speaker cable must be solid-cored silver at £50/metre, but if the cable is very lightweight and tatty, or has badly moulded plastic plugs, then you'll often see grounding problems.
As long as the connectors are well made and the cable is properly screened you should get a decent sound.
$25 for minijack-to-phono is far too expensive. That's probably more expensive than every sound-related component on the motherboard!
I'm not part of the hi-fi brigade who insist that speaker cable must be solid-cored silver at £50/metre, but if the cable is very lightweight and tatty, or has badly moulded plastic plugs, then you'll often see grounding problems.
As long as the connectors are well made and the cable is properly screened you should get a decent sound.
$25 for minijack-to-phono is far too expensive. That's probably more expensive than every sound-related component on the motherboard!