How much do your monitors hum?

J

jeffree

New member
Folks, I've been thinking that I should tear apart my bird's nest of wires in my studio to find out if I can eliminate the ever-present low-level hum from my monitors. The hum's low enough to disappear when listening even at lower volumes, but it's very apparent when working without any music to mask it. Hummmmmm.... ommmmm... meditation is good... hummmmm...

I think I'll take a couple of hours and re-wire things this week or next, but I started wondering how much monitoring background noise other folks here have noticed. Is this a common problem that others live with, or is this clear evidence that I have noisy AC current, a bad battery back-up unit, or some other minor wiring nuisance? I'd be glad to hear of your experience as I prepare to hack into my studio's tangled underbrush.

Thanks,

J.
 
Crappy Alesis actives ... no hum here. Apart from that nasty microwave tray that used to have a curry in it .... about 4 months ago. That hums. :eek:
 
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'm going underground this weekend and will see what I can find. Those spider webs are nasty, though.

By the way, can you see the words "monitor" and "back-up" highlighted in green (with a spam link) in my first post? If you can, do you know what's up with that? Suddenly, certain words in my posts are being held hostage.

J.
 
The website has partnered up with a company to highlight various words for links...its to help support the site, best I can tell.

6
 
Event 20/20bas... no hum. One thing to look at is if you can do a balanced line you your speakers. if you can, do it. Also, look out for flourescent lights and light dimmers. Those are horrible sources of RF. Maybe a circuit tester is in order too to make sure your outlets are grounded properly. Something like this:

Link

They are like $3 at the local hardware store. They handy tools for live gigging too so you can determine which off the outlets on stage that look like they have been beaten with a sledge hammer are the least of the evils.
 
no hum at all from either my sp5b's or asp8's. i'd definitely check your wiring and make sure you haven't crossed the streams--b/c as ghostbusters told us, that would be bad. :D


cheers,
wade
 
Zero hum in my system. Neither my JBL 4311's hum or my Dynaudio BM15's. Both are even on older amps. In fact, with the Dynaudio's I have to put my ear to them and crank up the control room output to hear if they are even on. None of the tweeter hiss like so many cheaper monitors exude. Of course part of that is the fact that it is all sourced from a very well designed D&R console, and my isolated ground at the studio for audio equipment.

When you are tracking this down, start with just your console and monitors, no other cables should be hooked up and than slowly start patching your system back together to see where the hum is introduced. It could be one single bad line, or even a peice of gear that needs attention. The fact that you say that the hum is that low of a level tells me it may be power. Does the hum get louder as you turn your monitors up and down? Or does it stay the same regardless of how the volume pots are placed? Next, see if the hum changes with variable console output settings. This is where I would start when troubleshooting:)
 
Great suggestions, all.

Bubba, I'm stopping by to pick up a circuit tester before the weekend--a good tip as a starting point.

Xstatic, the hum does not change with the input volume. It's there, just barely (my ear against the speaker), even when not connected to my console, and it's slightly louder when connected. The hum's low enough that I have a feeling that some folks might call it "no hum", but things are quiet in my studio very late at night, which is when I notice it (and everything else that can possibly distract me).

I'll send some follow-up if I figure things out this weekend. Thanks, again.

J.
 
The hum will have little to nothing to do with the brand of monitor you use. Only a malfunctioning speaker will hum. The hum is definitely related to the *other* gear in your studio, and quite possibly the wiring, or how the wiring is physically routed.

Bundle your cables, and keep audio cables away from power cables as much as possible. They should cross power cables at a 90 degree angle, not run right next to them. Also, keep audio cables away from wall warts and any kind of external power supply.

It's normal to hear a very slight soft hiss from monitors, but not a hum.
 
I had some hum and switched to balanced cables, took care of the problem. Then a solder connection broke in one and I put in a regular 1/4" and it sounded the same. So it was a bad cable in the first place :D

I have a little static, but that's because I don't have a hardware volume knob for monitors...I have the software volume control so I have my M-Audios cranked all the way up.
 
YSM1P (active), pure silence. Never really paid attention before.

EMU-dock setup with that Patchmix software cranked up.

Nothing fancy on the ac, right now actually the monitors are plugged into a standard multi-striip, and to a house wall, shared with everything.

reading these posts it seems there's a capacitor in the power supply that goes out on a few of the active monitors, can cause buzzing and hiss.

or cables. always amazed me how cables, in the studios, that rarely (if ever) get moved can go bad? :confused:
 
It may be a ground loop, something I experienced with my Rockit 8s. I used a Ebtech HumX device to eliminate it. Interestingly, KRK's tech support suggested lifting the ground by eliminating the ground altogether, but my research suggested that might result in electrocution :eek: , so I opted for what seems to be a safer solution.
 
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