I just moved and the new house is right by a cell tower, it's causing interference with my monitors (Yamaha HS7) so I'm looking for advice on monitors with magnetic shielding. I've plugged the HS7s into different outlets in different rooms and all with no input cable, everywhere sounds like this with varying degrees of loudness. (Studio room is naturally the worst one...) Don't really feel like opening them up and adding copper shielding or whatever other answers I've read about online. We won't be in this house forever, maybe 3-5 years. I have tried my hand at mixing and it hasn't clicked for me so future music I will end up hiring someone to mix/master anyway. So they don't have to be perfect, just sound pretty nice, not cost a fortune (likely to grab used on reverb or ebay), etc. Anyone have recommendations?

With that said I do have an old pair of Behringer MS16s which are supposed to be magnetically shielded and I plugged them in and they still have some of that noise as well so maybe it's hopeless. Or maybe those are just garbage.

 

Yamaha MSP series have magnetic shielding, they are very reasonably priced second hand and there's chance you end up keeping them instead of HS series on the long run.

https://gearspace.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/1096164-yamaha-msp7-vs-hs7-brief-review.html

https://gearspace.com/board/so-much...2517-yamaha-msp-series-still-competitive.html

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2025 at 9:13 AM

Why is standard magnetic shielding often insufficient?

Shielding usually only protects against stray speaker fields (important for old CRT monitors). External interference such as cell phone towers usually causes high-frequency interference, including in the electronics and the speaker's casing; the only solution here is a sealed, metal casing with good grounding and, if possible, special RF shielding (practical, but only available in medical and industrial monitors).

A pragmatic approach for your situation: Look for affordable models with explicitly mentioned shielding (e.g., JBL 305P MkII). Place the monitors as far away as possible from power outlets, the mast, and along the interior walls of the house, "away from the source of interference." If necessary, isolate the power supply with a shielded line filter (this can reduce beneficial interference, but not mobile phone interference).

JBL 305P MKII - 2x139 EUR - Magnetic shielding --> www.thomann.de/de/jbl_lsr_305p_mkii.htm

 

Maybe you could look for another place to live further from that probable 5G antenna. If it's proximity is strong enough to modulate noise through your speakers then it's doing the same to all the cells of your body whenever you are home and especially in your studio room which you have mentioned. Of course we are all now exposed to modulating microwave radiation, though living close enough that it is messing with your audio is possibly a call to action for the health of you and your loved ones to perhaps do something about it.

Money, LOTS and LOTS of money is tied to the microwave transmission industry and information concerning the negative impacts is is not favored by the industry and global interests and so is of course suppressed, though doing a modicum of research will show that there is a relationship of chromosomal damage and proximity to towers. Here's just one...https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147651324005621

Sorry for the news.

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2025 at 11:26 AM

There are also measuring devices or organizations that can measure EMF. However, it costs money. With these measurements, you can precisely determine what exposure is occurring in your home and whether it's actually coming from the cell phone tower or whether there's other interference. So, measure first, then act. As my previous speaker, Lois Lane, already said, it can cause serious health damage.

ERICKHILL EMF Meter ER-02, EF/MF/RF Test, Rechargeable Magnetic Field Meter, Digital/Graphics Dual Interface Radiation Detector, Digital LCD Screen, for Home, Office, Outdoor
https://www.amazon.de/ERICKHILL-RF-...l&sr=1-6&ts_id=6589090031&th=1&language=en_GB

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2025 at 10:41 AM

The interference may not be coming from that phone mast and may be coming through the power cables rather than through the air. Temporarily turn off your fridge and freezer and anything else electrically noisy (air con?), route the cables differently. Try a different plug socket. If you have a UPS or inverter or even a genny try powering the speakers from those to see if it makes a difference. If you get on with your neighbours try the same at their house.

And, magnetically-shielded speakers will have very little effect on RF frequencies. They were mostly to stop the speakers interfering with the CRT monitors of the day - a completely different form of radiation.

 

If you can't find the source of the interfearance you could always go with the extreme option of get a faraday cage installed in the walls of the room.

If your in the UK I know of a few contractors who've seemed decent when installing them for MRI machines during my day job.

Read too many comments online and you may want one installed in your bed room as well.
or just sleep in the studio.

 

There are EMF shielding wallpapers:
https://en.sferics.shop/materials/shielding-wallpaper/
Maybe you have to look for a local dealer...
If you use these you cannot connect via WIFI to the network, so you have to use cables.
Would this be an option for you?

 

They are hard to find, but really great speakers for the money. Always wanted to get these as second pair or even a substitute for BM12A when they break.

Magnetic shielding could be done externally, couldn't it? You don't have to tear the speakers apart. Read about "Faraday Cage", it's a pretty popular topic on the net. Many people are not enjoying being surrounded by wi-fi RF.

 

Before your post gets deleted and you get called a cOnSpiRaCy tHeOriST, I want to agree with you and this easily verifiable fact.

I lived directly beneath one of these newer towers, and I could feel my skin crawl like I was in a microwave. My health is still recovering.

 

I live in close neighbourhood of a cell-tower, sitting innocently at the top of a small building nearby. I can look at it, it's like 20-30m away from my place. The residents of that building and we who live in adjacent buildings, wrote a petition to remove it because various reasons (it also interferes with our wi-fi signals among others), but there are flats and people living *right underneath it*. Horrible.

Of course, nobody can go against the will of a big mobile phone and internet company like A1... They just went with it.

 

Last edited: Aug 13, 2025 at 11:54 AM

Writing a petition alone isn't enough; you have to form or join a citizens' initiative and have experts measure the radiation and prepare a report. Then you have to find a competent lawyer or several lawyers, have them represent you, and file a lawsuit against the manufacturer/operator.

In the meantime, you should equip your own living space or sleeping area with a canopy to protect against electrosmog, or buy shielding wallpaper, shielding curtains, etc. Please measure beforehand with the appropriate measuring devices to see if you are actually affected; sometimes it is only your DECT telephone, etc.

 

It sucks that your health has been so negatively impacted from living in close proximity to one of the new towers. It's naught impossible to get away from them anymore. I have a friend with Multiple Sclerosis that suffers greatly from microwave transmission and she feels exponentially worse when she comes close to a tower. She doesn't need to see it but can rather feel it as it causes her pain.

 

Fixed. ;)

I totally agree with you in principle @PulseWave BUT it will be quicker and cheaper to move. And if one doesnt have the funds to do so, they cannot afford the lawsuit either, which will be an extremely long and convoluted civil litigation involving experts, counter-experts and meta-experts. The richest/more powerful will win 99.9% of times. Plus we're living an era of "rules, laws, public health and environmental regulations are slowing the God Given Progress and are sins against the Holy National Growth that we need to afford paying the Banks".

 

In the country where I live, a lot of people are suing against these things and are sometimes successful. Sometimes, if a farmer's animals are affected, the operator has to shut down during the day, for example, and sometimes a power plant is shut down, which rarely happens. We have a severe housing shortage, and it's very difficult even to find a new affordable apartment. And by the time they find one, the next transmission tower will already be there!

Therefore, it's advisable to defend yourself against mobile phone EMF and protect yourself with shielding materials. A successful lawsuit could also mean that the operator has to cover the costs of their own EMF protection. I agree with you that some operators, and the city, want progress at the expense of their fellow citizens' health.

 

Please don't... I don't want to have to google the studies of the real scientists that show that magnetic fields don't do harm.

@OP: Sometimes plugging stuff to an decoupling transformer helps. I have a Peak Teck p2240, decent, not breaking the bank.
Or you could try going passive with one of those old power amps in metal casings. The jbl 305 and 308 come in passive variants as far as I remember... I have a pair of active 305 and really like them. But sure, passive design has ist limitations.

//edit// lost in translation: I meant isolation transformer, not decoupling...

 

Last edited: Aug 13, 2025 at 8:22 PM

Yeah, they seem to always pop up from time to time, last time I was between them (MSP5's) or getting Fluids for the same buck (300 euros), but decided for Fluids (they were 1 and half year in warranty still), probably mistake, one died and I decided to just let them go, waiting for another pair of MSP's to pop up, MSP7's will the best, but those are rare to find in this area

 

First be sure it is the "cell tower" by powering down EVERYTHING in your room (even light).
You could be surprised ;D

As an example, the worst offender in my room is ... screen
So when i record guitar, i need to go away from my screen.

Lucky : my monitors don't catch it ...

 

It's microwave, not magnetic, but please be thorough and dig deeply.

 

Microwaves are electromagnetic radiations, the same kind as light. Their wavelength is low enough to be non-ionizing, meaning that its effects on the body is just heat. And it has to be in high quantity, much much higher than any cell tower, for it to create any meaningful harm. It will still be in the form of heat by the way. In a nutshell, you'd need to be inside a microwave oven.

Higher in frequency than microwaves is infrared light. So should humans be concerned about light, other than ultra-violet which makes the transition between non-ionizing and ionizing electromagnetic radiations ? Are tungsten light bulbs, radiators and any heating element in the kitchen dangerous for us ?

Please update yourself with the scientific literature, and may I say, basic fucking physics.