Speaker Questions

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DarkMere
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Speaker Questions

Postby DarkMere » Mon Oct 30, 2017 12:29 pm

Having just bought a new hotas to replace my faulty one, my speakers are now coming out in sympathy. Not totally true as I was starting to have problems with the speakers before the hotas problem.

The speakers at random times will start buzzing, sometimes within minutes of turning them on, sometimes a few hours. They can emit a low level buzz that will not obliterate the wanted sound and this can sometimes go on its own, or the buzz can grow to a loud level and then the wanted sound seems to drop out leaving only the buzz. Turn the speaker off for a few minutes might fix it. Sometimes it needs 30 plus minutes. I have plugged headphones into the speaker outlet and same problem, but plugging the headphones directly into the computer and the sound is fine.

There is no pattern to this. I have made sure the wires are not too close to anything that might affect them. I have unplugged and replugged the jack-plug a few times. However my logic says (and please tell me if my logic is defective) that if the problem was something outside that is affecting them, it would affect them all the time, as nothing in my house turns on and off except for the heating and the fridge and I have checked both for being the culprit. So I have come to the conclusion that it is a developing fault with the speakers.

Its not a good time for me to replace them, but needs must as the devil drives. So first question. Do you think it probably is a fault with the speakers or might I be missing something?

Second set of questions. I do not have the space for surround sound (or the money). I can't afford top quality but don't want bottom end either as I do listen to music and watch movie's with the system a lot, and of course none virtual reality games. So I am thinking of a price range from £40 to £60.

Does having a sub woofer make a telling difference in this price range? I can build a little shelf under my desk if needs be.
I am looking at this one at the moment, and comments says the quality of the bass is good even without a sub woofer.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... 1OLE&psc=1

I have not looked at any models with sub woofers yet as I thought I would ask advice first.
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Re: Speaker Questions

Postby TorTorden » Mon Oct 30, 2017 1:03 pm

Sounds most like a poor connection within the pre-amp stage in the amplifier since you hear this in headphones if you connect them through the headphone output on the speakers/amplifier.

It could be as simple as a loose wire. Or a circuit board with a fracture in it.
As the unit expands and contracts from heat creep it can trigger the error, fix itself almost seemingly at random.

Now it could be a lot of other things as well.
Even as you say other electronics.
But in my experience these days that is mostly a red herring unless you have some truly archaic wiring in your house.
Or one of your neighbours has taken up arc welding as a hobby and not isolated his circuit properly.

As for subs I'm the wrong guy to ask.
I myself have two 12" 300w subwoofers and consider "very small" and would like another two at 15"least 1200w worth...
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Re: Speaker Questions

Postby Roger Wilco Jr » Mon Oct 30, 2017 2:31 pm

Almost any speaker problem I have ever had has come down to a poor connection or wire failure. Either pushing the plug into the jack firmly, as it may not be fully set, or maybe even pull it out a bit to see if it makes a better connection. Or gently move the wire around where it meets the plug strain relief (it usually fails there), or maybe rotate the plug around so the wires pull in a different relative direction. It could also be a loose jack on the PCB - you might be able to spot that, look for a line or fracture in the solder, though that will be harder with SMT parts, but maybe it will wiggle or something.

I'm with Tor and I doubt the problem is caused by some appliance, and normally that would be a static sound, not a buzz.

I have a very old cheap Cambridge Soundworks 2.1 (fake) speaker set and that little sub makes a huge difference. Not sure it would work for a TV where you are sitting far away, but under the desk, it really rumbles. I'm sure any dedicated sub would sound better (again, maybe not for a whole room).
It's time to give this another go.

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Re: Speaker Questions

Postby de Carabas » Mon Oct 30, 2017 2:54 pm

DarkMere wrote:Does having a sub woofer make a telling difference in this price range? I can build a little shelf under my desk if needs be.
I am looking at this one at the moment, and comments says the quality of the bass is good even without a sub woofer.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... 1OLE&psc=1
.

I'm not an expert at this stuff but the speakers you linked to are the ones I have. I moved to these from a 2.1 setup as the speaker set I had was giving me some buzzing (sound familiar?).

They work perfectly for me and give good enough sound (for me). I don't have the sound up very loud though, if I want to go loud I put on headphones.
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Re: Speaker Questions

Postby Walter » Mon Oct 30, 2017 4:22 pm

I had a similar problem and the solution was to remove the air filter on the computer case to improve the airflow. Something within the case was overheating - the computer was built to run quietly but ED pushed the graphics card temperature beyond the design envelope.
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Un-intentional Grounding? (sorry, an American football reference)

Postby thebs » Sat Nov 04, 2017 1:30 am

Sounds like a pin or something on your mainboard is grounded. Either that or it could be your speaker plug is getting grounded against your case, when you plug it in.

Did you re-align your mainboard? Bump the case? Anything else you can think of that would introduce some contact between the metal case and any trace or wire?
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DarkMere
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Re: Speaker Questions

Postby DarkMere » Sat Nov 04, 2017 5:38 am

Thanks for all the help and pointers commanders. Having tried almost everything to fix the fault, I ended up buying the speakers I indicated above and all is now well :)
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