Mysterious Speaker...Mystery

[Mister Walrus]

Dear forum members,

I have a mystery for you (okay, I need help and I'm dressing it up a little...)!

I recently started hearing crackling noises from my Altec Lansing 5.1 USB speakers. Since they were USB, they didn't have to use onboard sound.

I replaced these USB speakers with a Klipsch 2.1 analog speaker set, and purchased a new sound card, Creative X-Fi Gamer, to go with it. I installed the sound card with drivers successfully, and promptly plugged in the Klipsch speakers.

Lo and behold, the Klipsch speakers started the snap, crackle, and pop and soon as they were turned on, with a low-volume hissing noise present at even mid-low volume levels. When I play a song on them, the sound quality has a horrid, blaring robotic tint (think: anything created by T-Pain), ruining a bit of the old 9th, by Ludwig van .

Since both the speakers and sound card are brand new -- a completely new configuration -- I am perplexed as to why the distortion occurs. Here are some remedies I tried to no avail:

1) Switching power plugs to a different circuit than the one the computer is on
2) Trying the Klipsch speakers with onboard sound
3) Reinstalling drivers, etc.

Here are some final pertinent thoughts that may lead to the solution (I'd test them now, but am away for a few hours):

1) The headphones never seem to have this noise! I've tried them with the soundcard, onboard sound, and headphone output on the USB speakers and they never have a crackling problem.
2) I recently switched rooms in my apartment, with my computer setup positioned against a new wall, and I believe the problems started shortly afterward (perhaps there is something in the wall causing the distortion? What are the physics of this phenomenon?)

If anyone has any thoughts on this, I would appreciate hearing them. Thank you for your time!

 

[elmer92413]

I'd put money on interference from something in the wall. I imagine the wire for your headphones takes a different path then your speaker wires. I'd try moving the speakers and wires to see if that is the problem.
If that does turn out to be the problem you could try a real cool hack I read about recently. You take the EMI shields from old USB cables and put them on your speaker wire. Although that was geared toward getting rid of "GSM buzz" it should help here.

 

[robisbell]

either the electrical circuit, or outside interference. you'll need to document when the issue starts and stops and any fluctuations between.

 

[Mister Walrus]

I will try moving the speakers, I suspected outside interference...

Thanks for your help!

Also, thank you elmer92413 for the link on ferrite beads, it was a very interesting read and if moving the speakers doesn't work, I will try that!

 

[Mister Walrus]

I moved the speakers out of my room...and around my entire house, and the problem persists! My neighbour is also having this problem with her speakers...I actually ordered some cheap ferrite beads so let's see if that fixes the problem.