Why Do Speakers Hiss?
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- čas přidán 16. 05. 2024
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Learn about some common reasons speakers make undesirable noise like hissing, humming, and buzzing, and what you can do about it!
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Thankfully you can buy $400 AudioQuest cables that do absolutely nothing to stop the hissing!
That's for when you want to get the noise out of your wallet
Thank goodness! 😅
I'm saving up for their $5000 HDMI cable
NGL I've heard the difference between generic cables and AQ stuff, don't spend more than like $150 bucks tho unless you have infinite money or 15,000 dollar amps
I bought the blacklab subwoofer cable, it was like $69 but using the grounding pin on the cable actually removes the hum, which a lot of cheaper sub cables don’t have. The hum was so bad at higher gain that it would basically cause an earthquake.
Idk man maybe it's a cat
One cat and snake per speaker provoking each other.
😼🙀😹
Mao
It’s Pumba
🤣🤣🤣🫶🏼
You forgot about gain stage. If you for example have an amplifier connected to your computers 3.5mm output and have the amplifier at max volume and the computer at low volume that amplifier is going to amplify the noise of your computer by a lot even if the music is playing at low volume. So if you instead lower the volume on your amplifier and turn up the computer you won't have the same amplified noise.
Used your technique as well, but then you end up running the speakers at -20db and the mixer board at -50db just to not have it blasting. Really wish I could turn off the amp on my laptop and just let it be preamp output
@@MatthewCrawford YES
How to stop the people hissing tho
Especially the lizardpeople
wear ear plug 🤓☝
Spray bottle full of water
HiiiSSSiiiSSSiiiSSS
Fun fact, you can also create ground loops even within the same wall circuit if you are connecting multiple computers audio outputs together in a mixer. This is especially a problem for computers that may not have a proper ground to start with, like laptops, smartphones, basically any audio source with a battery and doesn't have a proper ground via its charging cable. Ive noticed this especially with battery powered devices charged over USB-C, all of them give off static noise that is completely eliminated by putting an audio ground loop isolator in between the device and my audio mixer
As a ham, if his equipment is causing problems, he should probably be told, because it could also be hurting his equipment!
I haven't ever heard of anyone causing any problems if the radio/antenna has a reasonable SWR...
Although not computer "tech"--there's a LOT of really awesome tech in radios, LMG should take a look into them!
A great one to start is CHIME Fast Radio Burst experiments--there's one semi-local to BC :)
As a fellow ham I agree. LMG talks a lot about radios whether it's bluetooth, cellular, or wi-fi. They should do a series of video on ham radio and why it's important.
Calling yourself a ham is really funny. I know exactly what you mean by it but it's still kinda funny.
Oh man HAM SECTION: KM6ARC
Workstation 1: B.I.C. Venturi Formula 6 and a powered mixer (PMP4000) pushing the a pair of Dual 15 Inch JBL JRX225 on another workstation. Inside a mobile home.
oh no the audiophiles are here! run!
i'm happy with my logitech z333
there i said it
Okay… good for you. I hope you enjoy it
@@gamecubeplayerwhy dad why You choose that clean audio device over my education
hide your children
@@AAHAHHHHHchildren who like music and pets that like music
damn, many years watching this channel, and now 2 years into a audio engineering internship and still learning stuff from this channel.
🔥🔥🔥
Ground hum isn't caused by using different outlets. It's from using outlets grounded on different circuits. Outlets across the room from each other can be on the same circuit while outlets right next to each other can be on different circuits. Think in terms of which outlets share the same circuit breaker. It isn't just audio devices that cause the problem or experience hum. Hum can also be seen in televisions and projectors as a line slowly crawling from the bottom of the image to top. Hum is induced when devices connected to each other through audio and/or video cables are plugged into different circuits. When you're using multiple devices connected to each other through audio or video cables, you want to get them all grounding in one place.
If you can't get all your devices on the same circuit, there are devices that can be installed in the system to fix the problem. The most common method is called a ground lift, which is cheap adaptor placed on the end of a power cable or in an audio line. Install the ground lifter on one of the interconnected devices and it disconnects the ground wire from that device and prevents it from grounding through the circuit it's plugged into. This forces it to ground via the video or audio cables through the other device it's connected to which doesn't have its ground lifted. Ground lifts are quick fixes but can damage equipment in the event of power anomalies. Still, you will generally find them in the toolkits of professional technicians and used regularly. I've been doing it for twenty years and never had a problem. There are more expensive electronic devices like isolation transformers that condition the power without having to lift the ground. Some devices have it built in and offer a switch to activate it.
I work in convention audio visuals and this is an extremely common problem as we work in different venues every job, are at the mercy of whatever power is available at those venues, and generally divide our audio, video, and lighting systems up over different legs of power. A lot of audio visual technicians don't understand ground hum or know how to fix it and can be the hero of the day when they do.
@@Mdgr_zolomnext time you find an outlet on two different circuits, be sure let me know
Never replace mains ground with AV ground! Those AV cables are not designed to carry short circuit current in case of equipment failure, you either burn them (and probably equipment too) and/or they will increase fault loop impedance so much that circuit breaker won't trip, resulting in fire. If you use lifters connect all equipment to the same ground point externally.
Not to mention, disconnecting the ground may result in electric shock or electrocution!
the noise he is talking about is usually common mode noise. There are common mode filters for the ac line.
I fought ground loop hum, and wasted lots of money on filters that filtered the sound (yuck). I ended up beating the crap out of ground loop hum with Toslink Digital Optical cables connecting my TV and Amp. God bless baby Monoprice for bringing reasonably priced optical audio cables into the mainstream back in the day.
@@caffeinesippingman yes god bless toslink :)
i like these straightforward and meaty presentation. built-in ad is a welcome plug compared to youtube multi inserted ads at various times in the video. learned lots of infos, calm demeanor, clear voice of host is very much appreciated. ten thumbs up❤
This video couldn't have been more perfectly timed for me.
If you have identified EMI as the source of the noise, try switching to a balanced connection. Short circuit has covered it before, but the TLDW is it works by sending an inverted signal along with the regular one. When it gets to the other end, it is inverted again. Any differences can be filtered out by comparing it to the original signal. Anything professional like XLR, TRS, or Twist-lock cables can be set up for balanced signaling.
Agree, using balanced XLR cables fixed my issue
The same technique is used in a lot of high-frequency digital signals. It's called a differential pair in that context.
Speakers : I'm a snake a sneaky snake
*Speakers:
Sneaky, yes i like that word in more nature content
I found it sad that you portrayed the ham operator as an inconsiderate neighbour. Most hams will happily assist in solving any kind of RF problem be it from their transmitions or something else.
giving audio/tech tips to vinyl enthusiasts is like give audio/tech tips to amish.
But their the same person
Lots of people I know buy vinyl because it looks cool and they know next to nothing about audio tech.
A good quality 'Ground Loop Isolator' is the easiest way to eliminate ground loop noise. Any time I encounter a loop issue, that is my goto solution.
Years ago, I had a Sound Blaster 5.1 sound card with a bad amp on the subwoofer/center channel. I went through 4 sets of PC surround sound speakers before I realized the issue.
The RF filters shown at 3:36 are indeed RF filters - just for professional wireless microphone systems. They are UNSUITED to fix any home audio issues. I would strongly recommend to put a disclaimer at this part of the video. It creates the impression that you could buy these to fix your issues at home.
Additionally the most common problem is not part of the video: gain staging
You should go through each component of your setup individually and check, where the noise is coming from. Hissing powered speakers might be perfectly usable, if you turn them down a little bit and increase the volume in Windows or on your interface instead.
I came here looking for this comment. This is a huge oversight at best, and wildly misleading at worst. The filters shown are what's used to filter out certain parts of the UHF wireless spectrum while using wireless audio transmission systems, and are in no way useful for what's described in the video.
Balanced cables will help with noise (XLR for example. Thats one reason why its loved for professional applications).
And the filters that were mentioned in the video also help amazingly and you can get for like 20$ in your online shop of choice.
Can we have a video on Why do we Exissst?
That's a question for Jordan Maxwell and Jordan Peterson 🙂
You exist to consume. Please carry on. 💸
@@gus473 what about guitar, math, philosophy and Kung Fu?
42
You pass butter
2:19 A ground loop isolator has saved me many times, especially when connecting my N. Switch or Steam Deck to external speakers using the handheld's headphone jack.
I have a ground loop problem with our audio receiver being plugged into a subwoofer amp. The fix for us was using the Subwoofer Isolation from Blue Jeans Cable. They work pretty well but, they aren’t perfect!
Lastly, a nice trick was turning the bass output of the amp out as high as possible so that the subwoofers don’t need to be turned up as much.
I once swapped an HDMI cable in my setup, and got a hum in my active monitors (speakers). Swapped back to the old HDMI cable, and it remained. And that was actually the only change I did. It was all powered by the same wall outlet as well. Incredibly frustrating. Had to move the speakers to another outlet for some reason.
The easiest way to eliminate a ground loop problem is to use a ground loop isolator in the audio connection. They cost a bit but are generally a good solution.
Except their inductive coupling can and probably will alter the audio signal to a certain extend.
No, the easiest way is to plug everything into the same strip
I was just going to do some research on this 😮
Ground Loops also can be removed by placing a device called "Directon Box" ("DI-box" for short), which has a feature called "Ground Lift". Cost around 200$+, so not a first thing home users will buy, but regurarly used by event and music profesionals.
"Lifting the ground" is simply disconnecting it -- can't have a ground loop if there's no connection to ground! Professionals don't _ever_ do this because it can get people killed. There's a damned good reason for ground connections.
I knew about ground loops but never knew why they happened and how to solve it. Such a simple solution.
My favourite mystery noise was that one time my computer's audio would make noise when I moved my mouse or scrolled a window.
ah yes, mine did that too. I could also get my GPU's coil whine through it as well. A USB DAC or simply not using Dell's horribly cheap OEM mobo solved the issue.
Wrapping wires in a ferrite bead, or put on a ferrite clip can reduce significant noise at times
Oh damn, I seem to have a ground loop on my speakers. Will try to connect them to the same outlet.
Though not sure if it matters, but my building's wiring isn't grounded. Still, hope it helps to alleviate the annoying droning.
Talking about speakers... I'd love for some of these videos to be in 5.1 surround sound. My AVR does a decent job up-mixing the audio but it would be even better if the video already had the voices and music were properly separated in 5.1. I'm always watching all LTT videos in my little home theater system.
I don't know why but I love cassettes. I am 17 and now own a walkman, boombox, and a cassette recorder like you would see in old cop movies when they record conversations
Damn I didn't know this ground loop ...was a thing! I need to look into it. Time to plug everything into one power strip. Couldn't figure this out for the longest time.
i just realised the ecc squad part at the end lmao do all audio vids have that, i recognise a few names like joelmerrifield , goldensound and mad_economist
I actually like the imperfections a vinyl record has. I find that noise kind of soothing.
as a person who plays guitar, using distortion or overdrive, this problem multiplies (literally) and can be a great source of frustration but if you know what you are doing, a lot of interference can be mitigated. the only part you are stuck with is the internal components picking up natural background static (they grey snow on a TV with no cable) and amplifying that. (we don't live in faraday cages.)
You bring up a good point, I agree we should live in faraday cages.
The hissing is caused by a bad Signal-to-Noise Ratio, typically in amps or DACs (Noise floor) and not interference. Also ground loops can be caused inside a device too, you dont need a seperate wall socket to get that. Often caused by bad power supplies and/or flipped phase on one device. The correct solution is a star-type ground point combined with ground lift on the affected devices - almost always power amplifiers. Most even have a switch on the back for this exact purpose.
Thank you for this video, it will save me a lot of time to provide the link and not having to explain it myself.
Ground loop forms because the connected equipment are grounded at different potentials - even though they are technically "grounded", if they are grounded at two different points and these two points are at different potentials, you've got yourself a voltage. It only needs to be 50 mV and you will hear it if it's amplified by your amplifier. It's why the hum is 50 Hz or 60 Hz, the same frequency as your mains. That's why they tend to go away if you ground both equipment at the same physical point, because that minimises the potential difference. I haven't ever heard of an explanation for ground loop that includes magnetic interference.
refering to 2:05
for me in the eu i had this problem on to solve it i just had to plug the usb power in the computer it self and it fixed it
So are balanced audio cables to professional for techquickie? They eliminate everything electrical noise wise(including ground loops) before the amplyfier thus lowering your nosie floor.
Can also happen with electronics not connected to the loop indirect inductance from a lamp cord can cause issues even if it's in the loop or out of the loop if you have the cord near your speak wire
Whats weird is shielded network cable and shielded RCA cables have the shild terminated at both ends. That inherently makes a ground loop. In every other cable, you ground that shield at a single end to prevent this. Cisco switches actually had a problem with this and they could be destroyed by it. Since then, network gear started useing isolation capacitors so there would be no path to ground for DC ground loops. But there would be a path for AC. Noise is almost purely AC.
However the capacitors add impedance to that path to ground so they sacrifice slightly higher noise for not destroying itself with standard shielded network cable.. all because they terminate the ground at both ends.
Your local Ham Radio enthusiasts isn't likely to be a source of interference. But they'll know how to track it down, or as least get you some ferrite cores to help cut down on RF induced interference... You should get a ham radio license.
I wish you covered the technical, electrical reason behind hissing. Like what does it look like in an oscilloscope / what component cause it, etc.
Measurements and instrumentations courses in college have taught me designing amplifiers with low noise is a nightmare with subpar parts 😆
I used to hear frequencies on my Logitech PC speakers, where people ate having conversations, like some sort of foreign language. It specifically at nights when volume is either on min or max.
That is the long cable acting like a radio antenna and picking up radio station sound waves from far away. The length of the cable determines what stations you pick up.
Maybe it's possessed 😱
@@xryancat it was 5:1 surround system with a sub, and indeed i had long cables. Now it makes more sense to me. Thanks! 👍🏻
A ground loop can also form between your house's electrical system and your cable television provider. If the ground potential differs between these two and you connect them, say, in a home entertainment cabinet with a television and amplifier, you will get nothing but buzz. This can be solved by using an inexpensive ground loop isolator on your cable coax.
Switched to USB speakers, couldn't be happier. Never want jack back!
Get an optical external dac such as smsl su-9
I'm using SPDIF from the PC, but the biggest thing I've found helps is to turn up the volume on the PC and then turn down the gain on the amp. I still have a problem with his when I restart the PC as the spdif box puts out noise when there is no signal going into it.
I never heard of Ground Loop. Can I plug the speaker and PC to the same UPS to avoid it?
my external amp (two midwoofers) when the preamp (2.2 music system) is connected to PC does it, the external amp is crossovered at 15-100Hz, the hum changes tone depending on the fps being displayed via framelimiter (3~120fps). Lifting ground helped, but same outlet or entirely different pc didn't help, iirc geraldundone had a case that was the cause but I also ran my system on cardboard but it didn't help me.
2:25 lets say, my pc is in one room with its own (good) speakersystem, my old tv is in directly nearby via hdmi in the bedroom, my vr setup ist in the living room along with my new tv and bose soundsystem, i dont know how to plug everything into one outlet which would be big enougth for this whole setup.... but at least i ever bougth good quality 🙃
I've had a samé problém with my USB speakers, the small ground loop via USB and 3,5 audio connector. The solution was powering these speakers via external non-grounded phone adaptor.
O your god .... The episode of your staff under 25 using record players or 8 tracks would be boss
Another common problem, at least in Argentina, is that many houses do not have an electrical installation with a ground connection, which exacerbates the amount of interference.
Also a ground loop is why when you connect a bluetooth module to the same source as the amp you hear the high frequency noise of the bluetooth mcu
what high frequency noise? how many khz?
@@gamecubeplayer idk but you hear a background constant beeeeeeeep when you wire the 5v of a bt module to the 5v in of an amplifier i have had experienced when making my diy bt speaker
@@309electronics5if it's 15khz or higher then i can't hear it
I would highly recommend a DAC, or even better just get a USB mixer like the Behringer Xenyx 302USB. With the added benefit of buying an auxiliary extension lead, you will never have to worry about damaging your headphone connection.
great video. say, have you seen any good movies lately?
Dude, I install home theaters and always ask for a dedicated circuit for the rack and a separate one for the subwoofers. I had ground loop once. Maybe that’s why.
Doesn't ground loop happen from outlets on different circuits, not just because they are different outlets?
omg ive been trying to fix this issue with my speakers for the longest time
Balanced cables are an easy solution to ground loops, but it seems like some noise floor is just a fact of life with powered speakers. Neither my Yamaha HS8 or Presonus Eris E5 XT are silent.
It sure drove me crazy one time, and best of all, we didn't know where it came from.
I had a Samsung A71 that would hum when not out putting a song, the second it would start the song it would stop the hum and then start that song, no other phone of equipment did it, and it was and still is considered a mid-end set up from the late '80s early '90s.
Are they experimenting with the end cards at earlier times? Is it a mistake? Or am I dumb and they've been doing it that early far longer than I realized? I've only noticed over the last few days..
I just use optical audio cables. Never had an issue with hissing while using them.
I have this issue but it becomes very apparent to my 5.1 surround when I turn off my PC. I think it has to do with my shitty receiver. There's just isn't any good and moedrately affortable 5.1 system for PCs. I was searching for the RF filters you mentioned and led me to Ferrite Beads. Are those a cheaper solution than adapters?
I’ve always wondered what people mean when they say that vinyl has a “warmer” sound. Is it just a mouthful or does it actually mean something specific?
Use XLR or LAN cables that are balanced and well shielded, if you have the right connectors available on your equipment. It makes a world of difference and really should just be the standard.
what do lan cables have to do with this? they're digital
What he doesn’t tell you is GSM can also interfere with the speakers. There’s a cool little trick here on some GSM networks if you have an external speakers that connect to a computer just before you receive a ring on your smart phone the speakers will start humming it appears that speakers can pick up the signal seconds before your phone rings and on GSM and CDMA networks if you have a digital antenna can interfere as well because in some instances the network and the digital antenna station are running on the same frequency this is important as to why you should buy a digital TV antenna that has 4glte RSD shielding or as it’s usually filtering. The box will say something like 4glte filtering or shielding
I was waiting for the “ You are hearing the after effects of the big bang through your speakers” 😭
Back when I was living in a dorm room for the longest time I had no idea why the heck I was getting insane buzzing when using Bluetooth headsets. Felt really dumb I didn't realize the microwave right next to my PC Build might have been the problem... Switched to a wired headset and fixed the problem.
I have a really old Onkyo amplifier hooked up to my PC and that thing produces basically no hissing. There is a little bit (barely noticeable) at a very specific volume but that's so far up i can't play at that volume without getting evicted. So it's practically nonexistent.
Any ideas for why I'm getting "ground hum" on my laptop when another wire is plugged in like a USB C hub or charger, but on other devices there is no hum whatsoever? It's clearly my laptop. I've used 2 separate sets of speakers and they're dead silent for another device but loud with the laptop even when running everything through a power strip. It's driving me crazy
Ground loops are the bane of my life.
JDS labs atom amp is probably the only amp the majority will ever need and changes output to speakers when nothing is plugged into headphone jack. No more fighting windows defaults 😊
my apartment is a house turned into three units i have lived in all three units the top and middle floor gave me real bad hissing buzzing. now that im on the main floor my 5.2 home theater and 70 inch tv are finally comfortably usable lol
The low quality aux cable i used was amplifying the coil whine of my gpu which drove me absolutely bonkers, i just changed that cable and its all good now
This is happening to me :/
I have already spent $30 on cables since I bought the wrong ones first….
@@manaylodha my fix was an older cable which i made from an old RCA jack video cable, and soldered a the 3.5mm jack on the other end, i guess old stuff was built different afterall 😅
You most likely have ground loop@@manaylodha
@@HyviaVideoitaMansenlale maybe, but it’s connected to the same power strip, I’ll have to check it out. It’s JBL305p
CRC contact cleaner, my friends.
Is this the reason why back in the days speakers could predict phone calls
That's paranormal activity..... 🕴️🕳️
YOU didn't talk ONCE about the importance of correct Gain structure of the equipment in the setup.
Yeah noticed that to, gain structure is maybe even more important that all those other tips.
Ham radio: Power line adapters (Ethernet over mains wiring) causes more problems to us than we do to everybody else. Also, they mess up shortwave radio receivers.
Had a really cheap set of USB speakers that would go nuts when my old GSM/2G phone received a call
that usually happened on most audio devices, regardless of if it were usb or not. I remember mobile signal interruptions noise from the 90s/2000s... it acted like a pre-warning that you're about to get a message or call when you're in the car.
Ferrite cores are good
I can't stand the hissing noise. Mine was caused from a ground loop capturing audio from one PC to another and yes they were plugged into the surge protector. A ground loop isolator fixed my issue.
I have this pair of cheap USB speakers to quickly replace my old one and its making that hissing sound. I kinda 'eliminated' the noise by plugging it on a power bank.
Screw ground loops. TOSLINK for the win.
Integrated(chip) amp!
The other noise most people have forgotten about is the 2G interference noise,
Ground Loop?
I'm surprised they didn't mention the usefulness of ground loop noise isolators.
If you want good quality active speakers just buy studio monitors, they are tuned to be relatively flat and they prioritise audio quality over rgb and all that crap.
Tme for an audio review channel James. Remember "WhatHifi" magazine back when it was good?
I absolutely haaaaaaate the low level muting that's integrated into some Bluetooth speakers. I have a set of bluetooth bookshelf speakers in the $50-$75 range paired to the FireTv Stick on the TV in my bedroom and background music and quieter dialogue is completely cut out unless I crank the volume to about double what I want it at.
Nice to know, though I've been all but certain now that the best solution to reducing analoge problems is going digital. Those old audio cables are nothing but trouble, USB/Optical all the way.
I clicked on this video, and my headset decided to turn off 8 seconds into the video
I have popping sound on Nest audio speaker
Ground loops are due to improperly wired electrical systems (i.e. the electrician screwed up). If you have one, you'll get that awful humming even from a single device connected to a single socket.
My RGB keyboard threw out a ton of noise that would get picked up by my guitar when I played. Took me a while to figure that one out