Hissing speaker

[paw1]

My speaker pair has recently become useless due to a nasty hiss from the left speaker. It's a high frequency noise which is quite loud. I can even hear it while playing music through them. The hiss intensity (volume) isn't affected when adjusting the volume of the interface. However, speaker volume affects the hiss intensity.

It's a pair of Mackie MR5's.

I think my fault may have been hooking them up to the computer's 1/8" (green) speaker output before I got my interface. I used a 1/8" cable splitting into two 1/4" cables. The speakers would create subtle hissing sounds, so I unplugged them until I got the interface. The strange thing is that the right speaker is completely fine. I've been planning to upgrade speakers sooner or later anyway, but it's a bit annoying since I don't have a back up pair.

I realize that the left speaker is shot and will not be worth fixing, considering its cost. What I'm interested in is finding out what I've done wrong and what could have happened to the speaker (technically).

View attachment 73652

I recorded the speaker with maxed out gain at 65db from a distance of about one foot. Added a compressor, and kicked up the input by 5db to make it more audible.

You can hear me switching the speaker on and off at the start and end of the clip. The compression is 2:1, and kicks in quite late, so the dynamics are only slightly degenerated.


All help appreciated!

-paw1

 

[mjbphotos]

You have to post your soundclip someplace like Soundclick for us to listen to it. My guess is that something fried in that one speaker's amp, but it's unlikely it happened by hooking it up to the speaker ourput (unpowered) of your computer.

 

[gecko zzed]

Hooking up your speakers to the computer's speaker output should do no harm at all.

Have you tried swapping the speaker leads around? Plug the left lead into the right speaker and vice versa. Does the same speaker hiss, or does the other one now hiss?

If the hiss comes from the same speaker, then its the speaker. If it goes to the other speaker, the problem lies elsewhere.

Have you checked the settings on the back of the speaker? Sometimes these can be bumped.

 

[paw1]

You have to post your soundclip someplace like Soundclick for us to listen to it. My guess is that something fried in that one speaker's amp, but it's unlikely it happened by hooking it up to the speaker ourput (unpowered) of your computer.

Okay, thanks!

Hooking up your speakers to the computer's speaker output should do no harm at all.

Have you tried swapping the speaker leads around? Plug the left lead into the right speaker and vice versa. Does the same speaker hiss, or does the other one now hiss?

If the hiss comes from the same speaker, then its the speaker. If it goes to the other speaker, the problem lies elsewhere.

Have you checked the settings on the back of the speaker? Sometimes these can be bumped.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that I switched the speakers around, and both times the same speaker hissed. The strange thing is that just a few days ago the speaker would sound fine for a while and start hissing after a while. Now it hisses from the second it has been turned on.

I'm not sure how settings on the back of the speakers could cause hiss like this. I'll try to create a soundcloud profile today or tomorrow, so you can hear it for yourselves.

Thanks!

 

[moresound]

The End.