Buzzing speakers/subwoofer when not selected as audio out

[AutonomousRedux]

Evenin', gents. I come here with a problem. I have just recently purchased a subwoofer and hooked them up to my speakers. I have also added an audio switch to select between my headphones and my sub/speakers. Here's the issue: when I switch over from the speakers/sub, or unplug the cable from the audio source, I have this buzzing noise. This happens whether the sub and speakers are paired together or separate, they'll both buzz.

 

If I unplug the audio cables from the equipment or select as audio out, the buzzing stops.

 

Equipment:

Monoprice #9723

GigaWorks T40 SII

Switch

 

 

Here's a diagram of the setup for reference

 

Trying to put a noise isolator inline kinda helped a little with the subwoofer.

 

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

34 minutes ago, AutonomousRedux said:

Evenin', gents. I come here with a problem. I have just recently purchased a subwoofer and hooked them up to my speakers. I have also added an audio switch to select between my headphones and my sub/speakers. Here's the issue: when I switch over from the speakers/sub, or unplug the cable from the audio source, I have this buzzing noise. This happens whether the sub and speakers are paired together or separate, they'll both buzz.

 

If I unplug the audio cables from the equipment or select as audio out, the buzzing stops.

 

Equipment:

Monoprice #9723

GigaWorks T40 SII

Switch

 

 

Here's a diagram of the setup for reference

 

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

Yea, it's pretty normal for powered speakers when it has no input. You'll notice that if you ground the audio jack, the buzzing will stop as well. 

[AutonomousRedux]

1 minute ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Yea, it's pretty normal for powered speakers when it has no input. You'll notice that if you ground the audio jack, the buzzing will stop as well. 

Is there any way to fix it? Or is there a switch with grounding in it?

[cmndr]

Ground loop and/or poor cable shielding (wire acts as an antenna for random noise). These are awful. 

Some things to try

1. Everything goes into the same electrical circuit

2. using a separate DAC
3. Better cables. Not even necessarily more expensive. I've seen $3 cables that looked like trash be fine while the $20 cable from Best Buy was awful. 

[AutonomousRedux]

4 minutes ago, cmndr said:

Ground loop and/or poor cable shielding (wire acts as an antenna for random noise). These are awful. 

Some things to try

1. Everything goes into the same electrical circuit

2. using a separate DAC
3. Better cables. Not even necessarily more expensive. I've seen $3 cables that looked like trash be fine while the $20 cable from Best Buy was awful. 

1. Everything is going in to the same outlet, so that's a no go. I'm thinking of getting a wall-tap with some power conditioning to see if that helps at all.

2. Anything you'd recommend?

3. Using syncwire and Smithok wires. A uGreen and some other aux cables give me the same result on the speakers.

[cmndr]

Some random tests - see if the buzz goes away if you unplug the cables going into the sub. 
See if there's one source that causes issues (e.g. PC)

Follow ALL of the things that are in some way plugged into each other. Even monitors. Don't ask me how I know. 

[AutonomousRedux]

9 minutes ago, cmndr said:

Some random tests - see if the buzz goes away if you unplug the cables going into the sub. 
See if there's one source that causes issues (e.g. PC)

Follow ALL of the things that are in some way plugged into each other. Even monitors. Don't ask me how I know. 

1. Buzz in the sub goes away if I put the inline isolator on. Speakers still throw a hissy fit (but less).
2. Speakers disconnected from sub but with aux attached will buzz if not plugged in to audio out. Buzz disappears if audio out or cable taken out from speaker. Inline isolator on aux going to speakers but not as audio out reduces buzz slightly.
3. Monitors are using DP directly in to the GPU. Switch is connected to output of my motherboard. There shouldn't be any crosstalk.

[cmndr]

Might not be related to your system but I have a budget monitor which when showing ~50% white, 50% dark results in speaker buzz. Going all dark = no buzz. 

The buzz was awful when going through aux out from the monitor, got better when switching to the PC and get much better after going PC -> DAC. 

I'm not an expert here, just a confused amateur. It's also not my main system so... I settled for 99% of buzz gone.  I was using 2x JBL p305 MKII speakers but no subwoofer. 

[AutonomousRedux]

8 hours ago, cmndr said:

Might not be related to your system but I have a budget monitor which when showing ~50% white, 50% dark results in speaker buzz. Going all dark = no buzz. 

The buzz was awful when going through aux out from the monitor, got better when switching to the PC and get much better after going PC -> DAC. 

I'm not an expert here, just a confused amateur. It's also not my main system so... I settled for 99% of buzz gone.  I was using 2x JBL p305 MKII speakers but no subwoofer. 

Yeh. Unfortunately, that doesn't fit my use case. 

 

Do you have a DAC you recommend? I was looking at Scarlets and Schiits and didn't see anything I like. Kinda want two outputs with a switching function between them. Or, alternatively, would a sound card actually be warranted here? 

[cmndr]

6 hours ago, AutonomousRedux said:

Yeh. Unfortunately, that doesn't fit my use case. 

 

Do you have a DAC you recommend? I was looking at Scarlets and Schiits and didn't see anything I like. Kinda want two outputs with a switching function between them. Or, alternatively, would a sound card actually be warranted here? 

I used a cheap Fiio DAC I had lying around. 
Test if using your phone or a laptop(not plugged into anything) as your source fixes it. If it doesn't then a DAC won't help much/any. 

 

Do you get issues if you remove your current audio switch?

[AutonomousRedux]

2 hours ago, cmndr said:

I used a cheap Fiio DAC I had lying around. 
Test if using your phone or a laptop(not plugged into anything) as your source fixes it. If it doesn't then a DAC won't help much/any. 

 

Do you get issues if you remove your current audio switch?

I don't have another switch to test it with, but so long as it's connected to the audio out it works with no problems.

 

What I've done so far: switched to the headphones and then turned the device volumes down until the buzz wasn't noticeable. I then upped the system volume to compensate.

 

What I've discovered is that my headphones aren't happy when they aren't connected to the source either. I thought they were so I didn't really test it. And the Sony L600s come with a DAC.

[cmndr]

I meant test whether the subwoofer/speakers buzz when there's no switch at all in the set up, at least as a temporary measure. 

[AutonomousRedux]

10 minutes ago, cmndr said:

I meant test whether the subwoofer/speakers buzz when there's no switch at all in the set up, at least as a temporary measure. 

Do you mean plugged directly in to the sound source? Or in to a splitter that goes to the sound source? Because if so, as long as they're getting sound input they're happy. Even with the switch, so long as it's plugged in to the side getting the audio signal, it's happy.

 

Speakers and sub are only unhappy when they have cables in them and are not connected to the sound source. Whether that means they're on the other side of a switch or aren't plugged in to anything else.

[cmndr]

I'm speculating but... the switch and/or cables might be the source. I don't have easy answers. 

 

Some stuff I have done for myself
1. Turn down the gain on EVERYTHING and then play louder from the computer. 

2. Good, short cables. Emphasis on short. 

3. Making sure audio cables aren't near power cables. If they are, avoid running parallel, just do a single cross at 90 degrees. 

[AutonomousRedux]

5 minutes ago, cmndr said:

I'm speculating but... the switch and/or cables might be the source. I don't have easy answers. 

 

Some stuff I have done for myself
1. Turn down the gain on EVERYTHING and then play louder from the computer. 

2. Good, short cables. Emphasis on short. 

3. Making sure audio cables aren't near power cables. If they are, avoid running parallel, just do a single cross at 90 degrees. 

1. Turning down the volume on the speakers, subwoofer, and headphones do get rid of the buzz. The only problem is the headphones want a different system volume than the speakers/sub. Might need to get a switch with a volume control and then normalize everything.

2. Unfortunately, even with short cables, they still wanna buzz if not connected to a source.

3. This I can try. Got a little bit of a nest going on at the back of my desk. Although I do have a Monster tap that's supposed to arrive today.

[cmndr]

If it makes you feel better I half gave up on my buzz.
I'm thinking in the future, I'll mostly stick to passive speakers, or go the balanced cable route. Not a priority. 

 

I'm making up stuff here but... THICK extension power cord (or power strip) and a splitter at the end to short cables going to the speakers/subwoofer. 

 

Don't obsess too much about buying the "right stuff" this is more of a "there's stuff lying around the house" thing. 

[AutonomousRedux]

On 2/23/2024 at 4:32 PM, cmndr said:

If it makes you feel better I half gave up on my buzz.
I'm thinking in the future, I'll mostly stick to passive speakers, or go the balanced cable route. Not a priority. 

 

I'm making up stuff here but... THICK extension power cord (or power strip) and a splitter at the end to short cables going to the speakers/subwoofer. 

 

Don't obsess too much about buying the "right stuff" this is more of a "there's stuff lying around the house" thing. 

Aight. I found the solution. I bought a minidsp 2x4 HD. That got rid of all the buzzing/humming. 

 

Not a perfect solution as switching is done in software instead of a button press, but I'll take it. 

[cmndr]

5 hours ago, AutonomousRedux said:

Aight. I found the solution. I bought a minidsp 2x4 HD. That got rid of all the buzzing/humming. 

 

Not a perfect solution as switching is done in software instead of a button press, but I'll take it. 

That'll work and those are "useful" as well. If you ever want to get a second subwoofer, you can do all sorts of tweaking. 

I have (a hopefully working) 8 way minidsp unit I managed to get for free. I expect to move in the next few weeks and I'll have plenty of tinkering ahead.