Buzz and white noise with studio monitors

[ccriime]

i just got two KRK Rokit 5 studio monitors. i am running them through my PreSonus Inspire 1394 firewire interface to my MacBook 1.83GHz. i am not sure whether i changed some setting before my problem, but i hear a slight buzz all the time while listening. by slight i mean very slight.

i figure it must be either my Inspire 1394 or my firewire port, but i'm not great at this sort of thing. i'm running them low-volume, two feet away from each other on a desktop.

are there any things i can test on my mac to solve this, or is it definitely a hardware issue?

right now i am going to try to run them both on different outlets, but i doubt that is the problem.

update: there is also a semi-rhythmic pop accompanying the buzz. but it seems to go away for hours at a time, but here it is again as we speak. i'm not impressed.

 

[zimv20]

is it self-noise from the monitors? does it happen when they're on but nothing's plugged into them?

 

[ccriime]

yes, i just discovered it is self-noise. thank you very much. however, upon plugging it back into my interface, the pop returns. could it perhaps be the interface's clock?

 

[zimv20]

yes, pops can be caused by two pieces set up at different clock rates.

 

[ccriime]

i suppose Soundflower or similar software can solve my clock problem. i'll try that out soon. as far as the self-noise though, what can i do about that?

 

[zimv20]

as far as the self-noise though, what can i do about that?

that can be affected by interference. as an experiment, i'd try moving the speakers to different parts of your house/apt, trying different outlets, and maybe even trying a line conditioner for your electric, if you think it's suspect.

personally, i had some noise issues and other odd behavior with some Adam A7's, and ended up returning them. i loved them, but they just didn't work out for me.

 

[mikes70mustang]

+1 for the power conditioner

 

[ChrisA]

i suppose Soundflower or similar software can solve my clock problem. i'll try that out soon. as far as the self-noise though, what can i do about that?

Try turning off nearby equipment, one at a time. If they continue to makenoise evn when they are the only thing on withone 40 feet return the speakers. But if you find what equipment is causing the noise then you need to figure out how it is coupling, sometimes through the poser cable, a data or analog line or even through the air

 

[ccriime]

Try turning off nearby equipment, one at a time. If they continue to makenoise evn when they are the only thing on withone 40 feet return the speakers. But if you find what equipment is causing the noise then you need to figure out how it is coupling, sometimes through the poser cable, a data or analog line or even through the air

i live in high density housing so i can't really turn everything off within forty feet, unfortunately.

would it be safe to assume that that is the reason there is noise? should i try a power conditioner? would the cheapest of cheap conditioners do the trick if all i'm running on it are the monitors?

yes, pops can be caused by two pieces set up at different clock rates.

i attempted to use Soundflower to get rid of the pops. but no luck. could the pops also be related to the buzzing?

 

[zimv20]

could the pops also be related to the buzzing?

possibly, but i haven't heard them so it's hard to say.

 

[ccriime]

i got a line conditioner. the sound has cleared up a lot, but there's still a rhythmic ticking sort of crackle. i tried soundflower, but either it didn't effect the clock or i set it up wrong. any suggestions or advice for me?

 

[zimv20]

there's still a rhythmic ticking sort of crackle.

still could be a clocking issue.

 

[ccriime]

how would i fix a clocking issue?

 

[zimv20]

ensure that the software is running at the same clock rate as the presonus unit.

e.g. if the software is set to 44.1 kHz but the presonus is set to 48, you'll get a periodic tick in the audio.

 

[SFXsource]

I had the same problem last week when moving my monitors and set up to a new studio location

I switch the quarter inch cable connections to XLR which fixed the problem immediately, the XLR cables are "balanced" and halt the radio wave interference (RFs)

if you have XLR outs and ins then use 'em! should work