Noises using studio monitors

P

Pestbeule

New member
Hi everyone,

I use Windows7, a TASCAM US 122-MK2 Audio Interface and nEAR 08 ESI studio monitors - and the speakers are making disturbing irregular scratches/noises all the time, like if you connect a guitar to an amplifier using a very old or broken cable. (the cable i am using is alright though) I already tried connecting a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 instead - unlike my TASCAM device it has symmetrical output, so i was hoping it could solve the problem, but it was the same. So perhaps somebody could tell me if it is a common issue when using studio monitors, and what might be the solution.
Every help would be appreciated.

Best regards.
 
Do these noises occur only when you're playing back music, or do they also occur when your system is at idle?
 
It's definitely not a normal thing to have constant noise coming from your monitors. My first guess would be that it's a grounding issue in your room. As a diagnostic step, I'd try to use a couple of different power outlets around the house and see if the problem persists. Grab a power strip and plug your computer, interface power, and monitor power into it just to make sure they're all using the same AC circuit and therefore share the same common ground.

Also try to swap out cables one by one, to see if you have a faulty cable somewhere in your chain.
 
Someone experienced a similar problem and posted a sample of the sound he was hearing.

That sample told me the problem was the monitors picking up computer noise, and is common with laptops and some PCs. It's associated with power supplies. For example, if you run a laptop on battery instead of mains, the noise disappears.

Sometimes its grounding problems. See Tadpui's suggestions above.

I fixed the problem I had with my PC by connecting monitors with balanced cables.
 
I had similar a long time ago with unbalanced monitor cables. Kind of like a faint high end of the old fax machine noises.

Balance cables fixed that.
 
Check your USB cable, as well - make sure you have one that has the ferrite built into one (or both) ends.
 
thanks a lot for all the suggestions. i now updated to TASCAM US-322 which has a balanced output (whatever that means) and now the noises are gone. I was suspecting the unbalanced output to cause the problem, that is why i tried the focusrite scarlett which has balanced output as well, however i was not realizing that the cables also can be balanced or unbalanced so i was using the wrong ones. Appreciate the help!
 
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