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Powered Speakers introducing interference

NotSoHonestAbe
By NotSoHonestAbe
in Audio
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I just got a new pair of powered speakers for my PC, Klipsch R15PM. These new speakers have introduced what sounds like electrical interference into my PC's sound. I am using the AUX input in the speakers, as well as normal speaker wire to connect the left speaker to the right speaker. The speaker does have a GND, would grounding it get rid of the interference? if not how do i fix this?

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If it has a ground why aren't you using it? Unless one of the speakers is already grounded, which is usually what causes that humm. You might want to try using the ground you know is there first though. Still not working right?

 

If that is the case, then it sounds (no pun intended) like a ground loop to me. First, are the speakers plugged into the back of your pc in the main audio input? Are they hooked up to a sound card or external device? Are they plugged in all the way? This may sound silly but I've not quite pushed the plug on one end or the other in all the way and had similar problems). Do they have bluetooth? If they do, even if you aren't using it, disable it. What other devices are running/plugged in near the speakers and their inputs (both to the pc and speakers themselves?

 

You kind of have to treat it like a home theater system and go through everything 1 by one until you find the source. You can look at http://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/ground-loops-eliminating-system-hum-and-buzz this article and see if it help.

 

Wish I could do more, but with limited info, well I really don't have much to go on. Apologies and good luck.

There is enough youth in this world, how about a fountain of smart?

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26 minutes ago, crzyces said:

If it has a ground why aren't you using it? Unless one of the speakers is already grounded, which is usually what causes that humm. You might want to try using the ground you know is there first though. Still not working right?

 

If that is the case, then it sounds (no pun intended) like a ground loop to me. First, are the speakers plugged into the back of your pc in the main audio input? Are they hooked up to a sound card or external device? Are they plugged in all the way? This may sound silly but I've not quite pushed the plug on one end or the other in all the way and had similar problems). Do they have bluetooth? If they do, even if you aren't using it, disable it. What other devices are running/plugged in near the speakers and their inputs (both to the pc and speakers themselves?

 

You kind of have to treat it like a home theater system and go through everything 1 by one until you find the source. You can look at http://www.audioholics.com/home-theater-connection/ground-loops-eliminating-system-hum-and-buzz this article and see if it help.

 

Wish I could do more, but with limited info, well I really don't have much to go on. Apologies and good luck.

They are plugged into the back of the sound card, an ASUS Xonar DGX. I have a little switch box I made that allows me to switch b/w the speakers and my Sennheisers with a switch from the same Audio source. I don't think there is a way to disable bluetooth unforunately. I think the source is simply the power, because the hum happens through the headphones when I have them switched on, and unplugging either end of the power cord from the speakers makes the hum stop.

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5 minutes ago, NotSoHonestAbe said:

I grounded the speakers to my PC case. this does not fix the problem.

In this sense, you need to make sure anything with a power cable and any extensions use a proper 3-pin plug correct for your region, and that all the sockets you use, if you aren't using an extension cable, actually have a ground pin and that they share the same ground.

 

While this will prevent ground loops, it won't eliminate interference. You'll need to use balanced connections to properly protect from this.

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Just now, anothertom said:

In this sense, you need to make sure anything with a power cable and any extensions use a proper 3-pin plug correct for your region, and that all the sockets you use, if you aren't using an extension cable, actually have a ground pin and that they share the same ground.

 

While this will prevent ground loops, it won't eliminate interference. You'll need to use balanced connections to properly protect from this.

I have everything I need to be powered plugged into the same power strip, although the speakers are plugged into a power strip that is plugged into another power strip. I will try plugging the speakers directly into the wall and see if that helps.

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7 minutes ago, NotSoHonestAbe said:

I have everything I need to be powered plugged into the same power strip, although the speakers are plugged into a power strip that is plugged into another power strip. I will try plugging the speakers directly into the wall and see if that helps.

With the speakers plugged directly into the wall, the hum does seem to mostly go away, but it is still audible when i am in game, and it gets louder whenever i am in a game.

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So this is sounding like the hum is being caused by high GPU activity. So it's either poor shielding on the sound card, where the power delivery on the GPU is causing interference or directly from the PSU, or the connection from sound-card to speakers is running next to the power cable for the computer.

 

Hopefully it's the second, so have a go at re-routing the audio cables away from any power cables. It wouldn't affect the speaker level signal so don't worry so much about the connection to the left speaker.

 

If it's the first option then there's not much you can do to fix it, unfortunately. Try using the on-board audio (either back panel or front) and see if the interference still occurs. If you're only using a stereo setup then on-board will suffice, but you can get an external DAC if you really want.

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1 hour ago, anothertom said:

So this is sounding like the hum is being caused by high GPU activity. So it's either poor shielding on the sound card, where the power delivery on the GPU is causing interference or directly from the PSU, or the connection from sound-card to speakers is running next to the power cable for the computer.

 

Hopefully it's the second, so have a go at re-routing the audio cables away from any power cables. It wouldn't affect the speaker level signal so don't worry so much about the connection to the left speaker.

 

If it's the first option then there's not much you can do to fix it, unfortunately. Try using the on-board audio (either back panel or front) and see if the interference still occurs. If you're only using a stereo setup then on-board will suffice, but you can get an external DAC if you really want.

(NotSoHonestAbe)

 

There is a switch to disable blu-tooth in the speakers, and I have a feeling the blu-tooth antennae is part of the issue with picking up background interference. There are a ton of reference guides at klipsch, but I could not bear to read them all to locate that one issue. I was referred here http://www.justanswer.com/sip/computer?r=ppc|ga|1|General - Rest of World - Search|Klipsch&JPKW=klipsch how to&JPDC=S&JPST=&JPAD=169579661931&JPMT=b&JPNW=s&JPAF=txt&JPCD=20161227&JPRC=1&JPOP=ETA_V2&mkwid=sUUYTegJa_dc&pcrid=169579661931&pkw=klipsch how to&pmt=b&plc=&gclid=CK7dm9mZmNMCFY6cfgodaTkOBQ

to talk to a Klipsch tech who specializes in pc issues. It's free, give it a go if your problem still is unsolved. Also, you may want to try the onboard sound as that often eliminates interference as well. Of course if you built or bought an external usb to plug it into (which is pretty common now a days for just this reason with internal sound cards). Still, it makes no sense it you plug the headphones into your speakers why you would get the feedback if you do not get it when they are unplugged from the speakers or directly into your sound card, unless the headphones are picking up ambient interference from something in or around the speakers.

 

This sucks, as those are top notch speakers, and with your card you should be getting quite the audio treat, not the proverbial trick.

There is enough youth in this world, how about a fountain of smart?

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