Hey guys,

So I just got my first pair of studio monitors - KRK Rokit RP6G3 to be more precise. As I'm a bedroom producer and I'm currently not earning any money with making music, I'm using one computer for everything - Netflix, PC Games, browsing the web and making music. So that means that the Rokits are now my main loudspeakers.

I hooked them up to my Scarlett 2i2 using 1/4" cables that were, according to the guy who sold them to me, supposed to be balanced, but after a closer look it turns out they're TS (not TRS) cables.

As soon as the speakers get any input from my audio interface, they start making these kinda annoying humming & buzzing sounds. It's not super loud but it drives me insane when I sit right next to the speakers for several hours.

I've had a look at troubleshooting this and according to the interwebs the hum is likely induced by something called a ground loop. It also says buying a DI Box / Hum Destroyer like this one is going to solve the problem, whereas other people say the buzzing sound are an indicator for electromagnetical interference and I should therefore switch over to TRS cables (which are balanced).

So in conclusion, there are 2 possible solutions here. My question is... which one should I try out first? I just spent 400$ on speakers and I feel like I could do well without investing another 60$ for new cables _and_ a Hum Destroyer.

Thanks in advance

 

Try new cables, no need to spend 60$...

 

So you'd say that ground loop induced noise is likely to disappear when using a balanced connection?

 

Galvanic isolation will break any ground loop and if your humming comes from a ground loop balancing will eliminate it.

 

most likely a ground/earth loop, you need to "isolate" the audio signal from the ground/earth loop to stop the hum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_%28electricity%29

 

thats it Sirsilly!
If you dont want to remake all the electric network simply just hook every piece of gear at the same socket because it guarantees that all have the same electric standard. This generally are the causes of noises in the studio and mainly electricians do not care about doing things right

 

If you deal with audio on a regular basis, you should have a cable tester, (eliminates guessing, time saver) and a soldering gun. Will save a lot of time, money, and aggravation in the long run. Easiest, fastest, cheapest solution is try a different TRS balanced cable and see if it works. I can tell you from experience that KRK speaker quality control is not top grade, though I still like them for the money. A loose ground wire inside the speaker will do that also. Make sure none of your cables run right next to power supplies. You are either getting AC induction, or more likely, a ground wire is disconnected somewhere.

 

...done by balancing

 

An easy temp way to isolate the offending problem is to make or use a drop line.

 

happened to me once, ended up changing every component in my pc, all cables, leads, power supplies...turned out it was a dodgy amp in one of the KRK's

wasted a good 4 months of my life

 

Start with balanced cables. If that doesn't help, work your way backwards (signal-wise).

 

used balanced cables and a power conditioner box
I did it by plugging all my equipment my computer audio interface my powered monitors into a power conditioner to

 

the hum is just the freq of the electric supply, approx 50Hz, but being bit of a Ham radio geek, isolating the ground loop will give you a better audio signal a balance line will certainly help reduce the ground loop problem (phasing) rather than coax which is NOT balanced and hence using a transformer to electrically isolate the audio path from ground/earth of your equipment

 

As remix said, connect a battery-powered mp3 player or your mobile phone's headphone output to the KRK and see if the hum is gone, to make sure the KRKs are fine.
I have recently got me a Behringer HD400 for a similar problem, it's a cheap but effective box if you don't have the balanced option. If you do, all has been said already.

 

Thanks everyone for your replies, good to see you can always rely on fellow audiosexers! ;)

I tried hooking everything up to the same powerstrip, but that didn't help. Neither did plugging the Scarlett into a powered USB Hub.

Anyways, I just bought a pair of balanced TRS cables and much to my surprise, the noise is _completely_ gone! I really didn't think it would work that well

Thanks again to everyone who replied, have a nice day guys

 

Why didn't you return the original cables to the store and replace them with a balanced pair?
Even without a receipt you should be able to return them based on goo faith.

 

I got a pretty good deal on the monitors and additionally I got the cables for free, so I didn't want to look like a dick.

 

A friend had hum coming from his rokit5's and he was using balanced TRS leads and a Focurite 2i4 soundcard. He replaced the leads with balanced XLR to TRS and never had the problem again, hope this helps.