Hi guys,

I'm still new at all of this stuff, so please forgive my ignorance if i missed something or did something wrong. The issue i'm having is that i hear what i would consider electrical interference if i turn my brand new yamaha HS8 monitors on and turn up the volume.

I have the HS8's hooked up to a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 audio interface, to which currently not much else is connected to. ** edit** The HS8's are connected to TRS output ports 3&4 on the interface, and the HS8 has the option to go either out TRS or XLR, however my audio interface only has TRS outs, so if i'd entertain the XLR option, i'd have to get a dongle converter.

For other outs, one of the two headphone jacks goes to a pair of Sennheiser HD6 Mix headphones, and the other jack goes out to a small 2.1 computer set of speakers. Lastly, i have another set of 2.1 speakers on my other pair of 2 TRS outputs (1&2).

Prior to getting the monitors and only using computer speakers, when turning up the volume of the computer speakers, i hear standard white noise out of the 2.1's and not the higher pitched electrical warbly stuff that is coming out of the monitors.

I also know that the electrical circuit in my office where all of this is hooked up is not the greatest, and if my wife will run the garbage disposal half the house away, it'll cause massive electrical interference sounds to even come out of my little 2.1 speakers, so i know it's issue. I just didn't think it was *that bad* of an issue.

Finally, i do have a UPS hooked up on my audio workstation, which claims to support electrical noise suppression. It's a tripp-lite smart1000lcd or something, and i do notice a slight decrease in electrical noise when plugged into that versus something directly off the wall, but it's not fixed, so the noise suppression in it is probably garbage.

I'm open to suggestions.. Has anyone run into this problem where they have electrical noise coming out of their monitors and maybe have not the greatest electrical wiring in their house, and what have you done to fix it?

Thank you!

 

I also wanted to share my mixcontrol screenshot as well.

Prior to getting the HS8's, i had always run the Scarlett's main volume at 100% and used the knob on the front of the unit to control the volume. However, it seems as though the HS8 ignore that and uses its own volume control knob at the top of the speaker, which doesn't take changes from the physical front knob on my Scarlett, but will adjust to volume adjustments of the unit via the computer controlled volume, which shows up as the big knob in the program, and in the screenshot above looks to be at 10:00.

 

Ive had this same problem on my yamaha monitors as well. I've just learned to live with it, not much else I can say except that I hope somebody out there knows a solution. There are so many factors that could be causing it I dont even know where to start troubleshooting...

 

Yeah. It's not bad when the music is on, because it drowns it out, but i'm pretty sure it's the electrical circuit that i'm connected to, and i'm sure that having my computer workstation and all of the accessories and other things hooked up to it aren't making things better either.

I just wish there was an easy solution, because i don't want to drop hundreds of dollars on devices to clean up my electrical signals if i won't know they'll fix the problem, you know?

I'm also maxed out on poles in my electrical box (i have a big home-lab in the basement with a server and several storage systems), so i won't be able to ask an electrician to get me a dedicated run unless i want to sacrifice a run from my servers. This would probably be the easiest i suppose, but it too would probably be a bit of cash as well.

 

Found this on the net by someone who had the same trouble.Hope this helps

PROBLEM FIXED: I was pretty concerned because I bought the HS8's a month ago. I was ready to send them back. I found a guy who knew a little something about something and he guaranteed me that if I went out and got a set of balanced cables (10.99ea) the problem would go away. So I ran over to my favorite music store and go some balanced cables coming out of my Focusrite, going into the XLR of the HS8's. The speakers are completely silent now. If you are using cables with a single sleeve, you will definitely have this problem. Answer: Get the proper cables and the problem goes away.

 

I was kind of thinking this too after reading the instruction manual last night, since i am using unbalanced TRS cables that probably aren't the greatest.

I'll put in an order for some XLR cables and converters to get them into my TRS outputs on the Scarlett Focusrite and give it a go.

Thank you so much for the information!!

 

I experienced a similar problem many years back and in my case the source of the problem was the wiring inside my PC that connected the headphone and microphone inputs on the FRONT of the computer to the internal sound card. Opening the case and taping the wire to the side of one of the HD slots so it wasn't making contact with anything else fixed the problem. I had an external audio interface so, alternatively, disabling the front head phone and microphone audio devices through the control panel should work too as long you have an alternate/external sound card and have no need for the front jacks.

Another suggestion would be to disconnect all wireless devices and reconnect them one at a time to troubleshoot any potential interference caused by those.

Good luck.

 

What kind of converter? Balanced TRS to XLR cables are so common

 

yes indeed
all you need are the right cables
about the interferences ... it s more complicated
keep power and audio lines separated but... keep in mind that power cables emit interferences around, for like 80 cm, so... it s not that. To prevent that there are (I've used them in my studio) special soft channels, to be put inside electrical regular channels. They cost like 250 € 100 mt.
They keep electromagnetic interference INSIDE the channel.
A good power conditioner like Furmann starts from 500€ more or less, it does something good, but it doesn t solve drastic issues like yours. Anyway all your gear must be connected to it, PC, keyboards, amps, speakers etc.
The power from the conditioner will be 230v (in EU) while unconditioned power runs from say 215 in the daytime to 240 in the night.
If your PC and converters are connected to the power conditioner, while the preamp that goes to the converter is connected to a house, unconditioned outlet... you would encounter big risks, even deadly risks.

The first thing to keep in mind, and you don t even talk about it is:
THE GROUND, number 1
then house and studio electric lines should be separated (different switches in the swicth board)

Check this thread, EU system, but the principles are just the same:

https://audiosex.pro/threads/studio-electric-system-europe.22946/

 

Last edited: Jun 23, 2016

Hey man i used to get that too, try a ground lift on your power sources OR you can go ghetto and put a noise gate on your monitor output. Mine was coming from my lighting and also my ac .

 

TRS stands for Tip Ring Sleeve. They are balanced. Just like the XLR's. I you use a guitar cable in those jacks you will hear a lot of noise.
If you use an adapter you will get noise as well, because XLR is +4 professional level while TRS usually is the -10 consumer level. Not a match.
Stick with the TRS to TRS cables unless you have XLR on your interface then use XLR to XLR.
Or in my case the XLR and TRS on my monitors are both +4 pro level and can use the balanced cable with XLR to TRS.
Ground lift is always a last resort. You become the ground, ouch.

 

One thing I have found on my system is to move my cell phone away from the desktop. Especially like if I set it on the external disk drive. Move the cell phone off and away an this type of noise dissapears for me. Just a thought.

 

You're welcome.I've Had so much help from Audioz and the community.Glad to pass on the info.Hope it helps.

 

I did not know this!

I've just ordered two 5ft balanced XLR to TRS cables that'll be coming Monday night, so i'll give it a go then. I've been out of town the last few days on a trip for work and haven't had a chance to look at or do anything fun, so i'm looking forward to getting those cables and some monitor stands to help raise them up to be ear level.

If the cables won't do it, then i'll run the dedicated electrical cabling that i had hooked up for my servers in the basement up to my office and give that a go.

Thanks again, everyone!

 

So, i thought i replied, but maybe not!

I have the cabling in place and step one of the guestroom/office conversion underway. Also btw @beatroot hit the nail on the head. Changing cabling to balanced is 100% on the money now.

Here are some photos of how things look now:




So, we're going to get some shelves to help elevate the screens and add more lighting. I'm thinking i *may* want to test out that left speaker maybe to the right of the right monitor to see if having those with their backs to a similar wall may tighten up my bass a little more, cause i'm struggling a bit with the low-end on these Yamaha HS8's.

I've supplemented the sub-bass with a terrible logitech 2.1 system that i've eq'd off as much high as i could and maximumized the sub, and surprisingly does quite well under the conditions you put it through. While i'd love a Yamaha HS series sub, it's just not going to be in the budget for a long time, so i have to live with what i have and figure out how to make it work. :p

Now my life's dreams/goals would be to find a forum of people talking about drum and bass and production. I'm so far off clueless in making DnB, but i love liquid and i have been jamming out to it back when it was jungle + acid jazz, before the liquid days even came to be, and now liquid has turned into this solid force that, in my opinion, taken over dnb by storm.

 

Wow.Nice setup.Looks great.Very clean.Would love to work in this environment.Keep up the good work and lets hear great music from you in the future.The JD 88 looks awesome.Amazing Keyboard .A friend of mine had one.I see you have an Akai advanced series controller too?Try to get a chair with a straight back or else you will get a lot of back problems in the future.Elevate your monitors to eye level to avoid fatigue.