same old story... humming... blah blah

[richielfc]

ok guys... i've had my m-audio bx5a's for a few months now, which i am very happy with, except for one problem - i get a really annoying hum from them. the hum occurs even when then signal cables are unplugged. I live in a really shitty apartment and i know the electrical and wiring is probably crap, but i have tried plugging the monitors into an outlet in the house next to me and still got the same problem. I have them plugged into a belkin surge protector, which also has my pc, lcd monitor, phone, fx pedal, photo printer, pc speakers, router and modem connected to it.
Anyone know any solutions or could they just be bad monitors? i dont think theyre bad... at least i hope not!

thanks guys.

 

[CoolCat]

i'm always interested in this stuff...
there's never one definite answer which keeps it interesting.

partitioning the house ac is easy, especially with the BX5's..take 'em somewhere else and try a different ac source. that'll tell you if its your house.

if it is your house there are things you can do....if its your speakers, that would be more of a concern as you probably don't want to have to fix new speakers.

 

[mixsit]

Hum with no input cables attached?
Wayne

 

[richielfc]

yup... these suckers will hum even when there is no input cable attached. its kinda funny cos my fx pdeal (boss gt8) will do the very same thing whether theres an amp connected or whether i'm just listening thru my headphones!

 

[CoolCat]

you have voltage and amplification, electronics, transformer...yeah you can get hum.

maybe go to a store and "try out" a mid range power strip with filters and extras. See if it works, if not take it back.

if you have had spikes and power outages, your stuff could be damaged permanently.

spikes and surges can damage transformers, and weaken their insulation etc.

I just had a transformer overnight shipped due to a power surge Tuesday, it was on a $600,000 tool...and somehow the only thing that went was this small $84 transformer (bringing down the whole tool with it).
sad part the spike/surge probably hit every fhkng device in the system...every cap coulkd now be slightly damaged, every wire had the surge most likely.

but who in HR wants to spend a few grand having clean/safe AC?
not me either