Need advice on computer speaker options

[Jerek Dain]

Interesting, I never would of considered that. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[slipperybidness]

OOps, Wayne is right. The original cable you've ordered is what you need. sorry for the confusion. I was looking at the back of my LSR2335p which does have rca input.

Sorry again

Yup, removing the RCA option is one of the cost-cutting measures on the new LSR line.

 

[Jerek Dain]

The speakers and the cord both arrived today. I was real excited, but that gave way to disappointment the second I plugged them in. I immediately noticed a constant oscillating background static that won't go away without turning the speakers down pretty low. I thought maybe it was a poor cable, since I was just plugging in to a 3.5mm jack, so I went out to buy a pair of male-to-male 1/4 inch cables to plug in to my mixer (I hadn't mentioned this earlier in my posts because I want to avoid using my mixer because it's set up exactly how I need it for recording a podcast). This helped a little, though maybe it's just because now I have an extra knob where I can easily turn it down and so it doesn't seem as noticeable. But when I play music at the volume I want it's still noticeable when I stop the music. But even worse, I just tested launching a game, and it really jumped in volume and pitch. Very strange. I uploaded a video of it here.

How can I go about isolating the issue here? Surely there's something I can do. It stops when I turn off the speakers, my mixer, or my computer, or when I unplug the speaker cables. When I was using the 3.5mm to dual 1/4 inch cable I thought maybe it was my (onboard) sound card, but now it's happening even through the mixer... or does that involve the sound card too?

 

[MrBoat]

That's strange. I have the most haphazard, pc/audio based system and everything I have plugged into it sounds fine. Even running through vintage amps from the 70's and 80's. I'm using a 3.5mm jack into RCA plugs. Have you tried hooking it up to a cell phone and nothing else?

What kind of computer? Does this happen with your other speakers?

 

[slipperybidness]

That's strange. I have the most haphazard, pc/audio based system and everything I have plugged into it sounds fine. Even running through vintage amps from the 70's and 80's. I'm using a 3.5mm jack into RCA plugs. Have you tried hooking it up to a cell phone and nothing else?

What kind of computer? Does this happen with your other speakers?

I told you before.....in general you likely got lucky.

Great audio via a PC is not guaranteed right out of the box. It isn't exactly difficult to achieve, but in general it also tends to not be trivial to achieve. Experience helps a lot.

 

[slipperybidness]

The speakers and the cord both arrived today. I was real excited, but that gave way to disappointment the second I plugged them in. I immediately noticed a constant oscillating background static that won't go away without turning the speakers down pretty low. I thought maybe it was a poor cable, since I was just plugging in to a 3.5mm jack, so I went out to buy a pair of male-to-male 1/4 inch cables to plug in to my mixer (I hadn't mentioned this earlier in my posts because I want to avoid using my mixer because it's set up exactly how I need it for recording a podcast). This helped a little, though maybe it's just because now I have an extra knob where I can easily turn it down and so it doesn't seem as noticeable. But when I play music at the volume I want it's still noticeable when I stop the music. But even worse, I just tested launching a game, and it really jumped in volume and pitch. Very strange. I uploaded a video of it here.

How can I go about isolating the issue here? Surely there's something I can do. It stops when I turn off the speakers, my mixer, or my computer, or when I unplug the speaker cables. When I was using the 3.5mm to dual 1/4 inch cable I thought maybe it was my (onboard) sound card, but now it's happening even through the mixer... or does that involve the sound card too?

OK. These are common problems and there is certainly a cause and a solution. I prefer to be methodical on the troubleshooting instead of the shotgun approach.

My very first question/suggestion: Are you using SHIELDED signal cables from the PC to the speakers? If not, that would be my first step (with the limited info that I have on the problem).

Now, does this sound like a "hum" (a 60Hz hum)? Or is it static/noise? Do the speakers have a 3-prong plug or a 2-prong plug? Is ALL of your gear plugged into the same outlet? Are you using a surge protector? What other appliances may share the same circuit on the panel (refridgerator or light dimmers are common problems). Do you have a cable box hooked up?

Can you temporarily hook the speakers to a different source and see if the problem goes away?

Do you have the digital volume at 100% on the PC, then control the volume through the speaker knobs only?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Sounds pretty much like ground loop issue. See suggestions above to resolve this issue.

 

[slipperybidness]

Sounds pretty much like ground loop issue. See suggestions above to resolve this issue.

Possibly, but not enough info yet to be certain.

You know as well as me, it could be interference, or something else on the same circuit.

Or, poor on board audio on the PC.

I've pretty much dealt with each of these problems at some point over the decades.

 

[Jerek Dain]

OK. These are common problems and there is certainly a cause and a solution. I prefer to be methodical on the troubleshooting instead of the shotgun approach.

My very first question/suggestion: Are you using SHIELDED signal cables from the PC to the speakers? If not, that would be my first step (with the limited info that I have on the problem).

Now, does this sound like a "hum" (a 60Hz hum)? Or is it static/noise? Do the speakers have a 3-prong plug or a 2-prong plug? Is ALL of your gear plugged into the same outlet? Are you using a surge protector? What other appliances may share the same circuit on the panel (refridgerator or light dimmers are common problems). Do you have a cable box hooked up?

Can you temporarily hook the speakers to a different source and see if the problem goes away?

Do you have the digital volume at 100% on the PC, then control the volume through the speaker knobs only?

Shielded: I don't think so. I got the cables from Micro Center on short notice because the other option wasn't working well, and their selection was limited. I think these are the ones. (Or maybe they were 6ft) What shielded cables would you guys recommend? Even if it doesn't solve the problem I'd feel better having shielded cables.

Hum vs noise: definitely more like static. The most unique part of it is that it changes noticeably based on what the video card is doing. I don't know if that makes the video card the cause so much as what's making the symptoms more noticeable. The details of the effect change from game to game. I showed WoW in my example, but also Heroes of the Storm does it, but is more consistent about it, and for some reason Overwatch hardly does it at all. It doesn't seem to be based on what is being shown to the monitor. To test this better I tried turning my monitor off when I'm in a game, and while it does change, it doesn't change until a moment after the monitor has been off, seeming to indicate that the video card is changing how it's doing things (which is also confirmed by Windows having resized all my windows when I tab back out - a common downside of using a 4K monitor with Windows). So, whatever the reason this is happening, it seems like the activity of the video card is directly tied to the result I hear, but almost certainly the monitor and its cable is not. The kicker to show that it's really not the monitor is that having World of Warcraft in the forgound causes it, but if I have WoW in the background (I use "Windowed Fullscreen" mode) and shrink whatever's in front of it to almost nothing the issue doesn't happen. So what's being shown on the monitor is definitely not the issue.

The speaker cables are not "pronged" at all, they're male-to-male 1/4 inch cables.

When plugged directly in to my motherboard's onboard sound card I was using variable sound levels in Windows as the primary means of controlling the volume. When I switched to using my mixer I discovered soon after my last post here that the problem was made worse by having my PC sound to the pixer permanently at 10% and controlling the sound at the mixer. I now keep Windows' volume at 100% and keep my mixer volumes low, and this has helped a fair amount, though it's still very noticeable when doing many things.

Here's a rundown on all the steps of my setup:

• Plugged in to the outlet is a fairly basic large surge protector. (I used to have an uninterruptible power supply here, but it died and I've just been dealing with a plain surge protector since power outages have been very rare here in recent years anyway)
  • Also plugged in to the same outlet is a 3DS charge cable leading to a 3DS which spends most its days untouched and charging.
• Things plugged in to the surge protector:
  • Computer (the actual cable going to my custom PC's power supply)
  • 4K Samsung Monitor
  • My mixer: Alesis MultiMix 8 USB FX
  • External hard drive
  • A semi-old Toshiba flat screen TV which I only use rarely (never when testing these things).
  • Both speakers
  • An official Apple USB charging port that has a lightning cable attached to it. Used on occasion, but not while testing this.
• From my computer I'm using my mixer via USB.
• From the mixer my speakers are connected to the MONITOR jacks L and R.

• Also plugged in to the mixer: A condenser microphone via XLR cable
• A 1/4 inch to 3.5mm adapter is plugged in to the headphone jack so I can have my headphones plugged in.
• I've uploaded a screenshot of my mixer setup here.

Also, to everyone who's posted here so far or in the future: Thanks for all the help! It's been great to have the feedback of people more involved in this stuff, and I really appreciate it.

 

[shadyJ]

That is a strange problem. Sounds like the video card might be causing some kind of electromagnetic interference. Normally that effects audio interfaces when they are built in the motherboard, but I have never heard of that happening to an outboard audio interface. Maybe some EMF is leaking into the signal cables? One thing you might try is to take the speakers and the cables, and get them away from all other cables, especially power cables or power sources. Isolate the speakers and and speaker line level cables as much as you can, and then play some stuff to see if the interference still happens.

One thing you might try, if the speakers support it, is using shielded XLR cables instead of unbalanced RCA cables.

 

[sterling shoote]

That is a strange problem. Sounds like the video card might be causing some kind of electromagnetic interference. Normally that effects audio interfaces when they are built in the motherboard, but I have never heard of that happening to an outboard audio interface. Maybe some EMF is leaking into the signal cables? One thing you might try is to take the speakers and the cables, and get them away from all other cables, especially power cables or power sources. Isolate the speakers and and speaker line level cables as much as you can, and then play some stuff to see if the interference still happens.

One thing you might try, if the speakers support it, is using shielded XLR cables instead of unbalanced RCA cables.

OP's problem definitely can be outboard audio interface and it's a common problem with powered speakers like the JBL's when the interface is POS.

OP,
Get a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface. It is the right interface for the JBL's and only cost about $150. This gets you a nice volume control and conversion up to 24/192.

 

[Jerek Dain]

So the M-Audio BX Subwoofer Powered 10-Inch Studio Sub arrived. It sounded amazingly bassy, pretty cool, and I was going to tinker with the settings later to find the right balance, but during a Skype call (using headphones, the inputs to the subwoofer were actually unplugged from the mixer at the time) I suddenly heard some loud weird noises from my speakers, which settled in to this odd digital static hum (video of the sound, and me demonstrating the issue). Sound will only come through if I completely crank the volume to levels that probably would of blown my speakers if they were working, and then it's badly distorted, still no bass from the subwoofer, and the digital static continues.

So do I just have a dead subwoofer now? This thing is super heavy, not looking forward to shipping it back. :/

 

[MR.MAGOO]

my dilemma is trying to add a subwoofer to my computer. I can connect the computer to an AudioEngine D1 DAC, the DAC to an amp, and speakers to the amp. But the amp has no subwoofer out, so I was hoping to find a more compact amp with subwoofer out. Or should I just forget this idea and go with the Harman/Kardon sound sticks?

 

[MrBoat]

my dilemma is trying to add a subwoofer to my computer. I can connect the computer to an AudioEngine D1 DAC, the DAC to an amp, and speakers to the amp. But the amp has no subwoofer out, so I was hoping to find a more compact amp with subwoofer out. Or should I just forget this idea and go with the Harman/Kardon sound sticks?

Read the reviews for the Soundsticks. I used mine for a long time and everything sounded good through them. I don't know if they are up to the audiophile standards but for a near field setup they impressed me. They also have a bass control on the subwoofer and I liked the touch volume control on the base of the right speaker. The one thing that may annoy some people beyond the rather phallic looks of the things, is the blue light in the subwoofer. But that ended up being my night light when I came home after dark every night because I left them powered on continuously. I should add that my desktop is small so I didn't have room for much bigger speakers.