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Interferences/weird noises through powered monitors

Discussion in 'Recording Studio' started by pott, Jul 13, 2019.

  1. pott

    pott SS.org Regular

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    I just moved from a 2-year-old built house, to one from 2004. The same exact setup I have is now creating noise I didn't have before.

    Setup is: PC -> Matrix Quattro II DAC -> XLR balanced out -> Mackie 402VLZ4 mixer -> Adam AX3 powered monitors.
    All connections are balanced even though cables are TINY (about 2ft each, for all involved). I just had them handy, so why not. I've not tried with RCA cables yet.

    What could be causing this? I have had that before in the past, but typically it went away after a few days (which in itself is weird... I was using a different DAC back then).
    I hope it's not bad grounding... The house is from 2004 so it's not all THAT old.

    The noise is NOT impacted by either PC, DAC, mixer, or monitor volume. It stays at the same level no matter what.

    Thanks for any tips!

    EDIT: I have all my plugs into a protected power strip, a large Anker unit.
    I also tried plugging JUST the monitors into my Furman SS6B, which is plugged straight to the wall, and with nothing else to it. But this made it worse! The noise got louder and more frequent.
     
    Last edited: Jul 13, 2019
    pott, Jul 13, 2019
    #1
  2. newamerikangospel

    newamerikangospel Tonight.......you

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    Do you have a home security system with cellular connectivity?
     
    newamerikangospel, Jul 14, 2019
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  3. pott

    pott SS.org Regular

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    Yes, and three very large dogs with big teeth!

    Actually I don't know for sure :) It's hard-wired into the house, so I would think no cellular connectivity... But who knows.
     
    pott, Jul 15, 2019
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  4. ATRguitar91

    ATRguitar91 SS.org Regular

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    Curious about this myself. I just set up my monitors in my new house and I'm getting a constant low popping/clicking noise coming through.

    I tried it with my crappy Focusrite Saffire interface and it didn't do any good. In fact, it was even worse than when I had the monitors hooked up to my headphone amp.

    I have one of those ground loop isolators between the headphone amp and monitors which helps a lot, but the clicking is still there even when I switch outlets and surge protectors.
     
    ATRguitar91, Jul 16, 2019
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  5. Ed Fry

    Ed Fry Member

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    Hi,

    This sounds like you are using unbalanced cabling, I’d recommend using balanced cables and this should stop the noise from occurring. The way to verify this is, do you get the sound from the headphone output? Do you get the sound if you connect your headphones to the monitor outputs on the Mixer/Interface?

    I'd recommend taking a look at this article:

    https://support.focusrite.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115005178585-Balanced-vs-Unbalanced-Cables

    Thanks, Ed F // Focusrite Technical Support
     
    Ed Fry, Jul 17, 2019
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