Question WHY ARE MY PC SPEAKERS MAKING A LOUD NOISE?

[ricleo2]

My pc speakers make a loud noise. I have to unplug the one green cable from the back of my case from the MB and then plug it back in to make the noise stop. But, eventually it comes back. Y'all have any permanent solutions? Thank you.

 

[EXCellR8]

Sounds like a possible contact issue with the jack... no pun intended.

There is also the possibility of another device causing unwanted feedback from the speakers. What sort of noise is it? A hiss, crackle, or high pitched ring can all be indicative of different issues.

Lastly, test the speakers on some other device or vice-versa in order to eliminate possible hardware defects.

 

[ricleo2]

Sounds like a possible contact issue with the jack... no pun intended.

There is also the possibility of another device causing unwanted feedback from the speakers. What sort of noise is it? A hiss, crackle, or high pitched ring can all be indicative of different issues.

Lastly, test the speakers on some other device or vice-versa in order to eliminate possible hardware defects.

Thanks for your response. It puts outs a loud hum. And when I reinstall the cable it makes a very short crackling noise.

 

[Muadib]

What speakers do you have?

 

[ricleo2]

What speakers do you have?

The cheapest Logitech with a subwoofer that I could find.

 

[Muadib]

The cheapest Logitech with a subwoofer that I could find.

Logitech has made many speakers. What model did you buy?

 

[mindless1]

Yes it's likely just a bad jack. Back in the day I took a sound card, drilled a couple holes in th slot bracket and put in panel mount RCA jacks with jumper wires soldered to the socket pins so I wouldn't have that issue. Of course you then need an inline or cable adapter if using a speaker setup with a 1/8" stereo plug. I was using a standard amp with RCA inputs.

 

[DigDog]

what sound is it?

is it a thin, hollow whistling that eventually increases and suddenly becomes super super loud, high pitched screeching?

 

[mindless1]

If all that needs done to stop it is unplug then replug the cable, it's near certain to be the jack.

If someone wanted to try a few things, you could spray the jack with contact cleaner and use a thin tool like a dental probe or sewing needle to bend some spring tension back into the wiper that's going intermittent. I'd definitely try that before going to the trouble of using hot air station to desolder the jack and put a new one on.

Before I did that, I'd also investigate whether the board has a front panel audio pin header and look through my box of assorted case parts to see if I had a front panel dongle in there.

 

[Steltek]

A hum like that sounds like an electrical ground loop to me. Are the speakers by any chance plugged in to a different electrical outlet or power strip than the computer?

 

[ricleo2]

Thanks for all the responses. The speakers are plugged in a different outlet. But, when I changed that there was no change. One thing I failed to mention, you can rub your your finger over the terminal and there is a another strange noise. My guess the speaker system is bad?

 

[Muadib]

How old are your speakers?

 

[mindless1]

lol, NO! There is not yet any reason to suspect anything (including the speaker system being bad) besides it merely being a bad socket.

This was pretty much proven by it working again by unplugging and replugging it, unless there are more details not yet presented.

Doing that will not fix anything but that mechanical connection again, would not change a grounding issue, would not heal a bad speaker system.

If you really want to ignore common sense and decades of this issue popping up on millions of devices (it has been happening as long as there have been these fragile 1/8" sockets) then plug the speaker system into another source like your phone to test it.

Then again, the socket on your phone is the same 1/8" fragile problem potential if it has had some stress from headphone use already. This problem first became widespread back in the Sony Walkman era when people were moving around to stress the socket more.

This is why only cheap, portable, or high density gear uses that 1/8" socket. Anything without those limitations (like a home stereo) uses a more robust connection method. Even when a decent home stereo has/had a headphone socket it was more commonly 1/4" to improve socket lifespan.

 

[serpretetsky]

Does the frequency of the noise sound like it's 60hz?

 

[mindless1]

^ If it does that is just the result of a low audio signal level from a bad jack-socket connection, so a terrible SNR.

Any IC amp chip from the past few decades has great PSRR to reject well beyond 60Hz frequency. In fact before the EU regulations that caused a shift to using SMPS, most power supplies for these low end consumer amp'd speakers had no form of filtering at all to remove 60Hz ripple beyond a filter cap after the bridge rectifier and linear/unregulated transformer.

 

[nerp]

If it turns out to be the jack, my advice is to invest in a decent external DAC. Consider something like the Schiit Fulla 2, for example. It's $100 which sounds like a lot to spend to resolve an annoying problem, but it will pay dividends in the long run. The audio quality will be drastically superior. You get a handy volume knob. You can connect multiple devices in or out. And it will work with every computer you ever own. And if you ever invest in high quality speakers or headphones, you'll have a proper DAC to deliver pristine sound to them. I have a pair of high end studio headphones and the difference between my Schiit and onboard is staggering. Onboard audio sounds like a highly compressed MP3 compared to the DAC.

Good luck. Audio interference issues like this are infuriating. You can probably figure out why I eventually resorted to an external DAC.

 

[mindless1]

^ Seems like overkill, somewhat a waste of money for that setup, to spend that on a DAC with the idea that someday it might be worthwhile to have, instead of just spending it on the speakers first.

Point is you can get a $1 USB *sound card* (DAC) on ebay if the solution is going to be going external. It'll do fine for low end amp'd computer speakers, is not the same situation as trying to drive headphones (or any load) from motherboard integrated audio.

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[nerp]

Well, might be overkill, but for $100 it's on the low cost end of high end audio gear. I guess I just am not one of those people who look for the lowest cost option. A $1 DAC might work, but I suppose I tend to think longer-term and find things that cost a little more but I know will carry over several builds and give me more options than I think I might need. That comes from a lifetime of buying cheap stuff only to be forced to replace it with something better when my needs and desires expand. In the end, I've learned to just spend more in the beginning and it usually pays dividends over time. That's why I think people should consider buying more monitor than they think they need, or a better keyboard than they might be willing to spend for. Sure, don't go into debt to buy a Topre Realforce 87u 55g. But if you're a professional writer, it's worth $300 for a keyboard that will bring your joy and durability for a decade or more as opposed to enduring cheap disposable junk that needs to be replaced every 10 months at $15 a pop. But in this case, yes, a cheap DAC would eliminate interference issues with his Logitech speakers just fine. But I can't help the part of me that visualizes him deciding to get better speakers some day only to realize he could do better in terms of what will drive those future speakers. But yeah, a Schiit DAC might be overkill. At least I didn't recommend some of their tube amplified DACs. I TRIED to keep it reasonable!