Studio Monitors and HISSING SOUND (help plz)

Posted on Aug 08, 2009 06:52 pm
soyezra
Member Since: Aug 08, 2009

I have a pair of KRK ST8 Monitors connected via 14 Gauge Speaker wire (banana to 1/4) to a Samsom Servo-170 85 watt Amplifier which is in turn connected to my Mbox via an RCA to 3.5mm connection.

The problem is that there is a noticeable hiss when I monitor my recordings. I was scared that either the speakers were damaged (would be hell to fix), and I have no other wires or amps to test them out with.

So I just decided to hook the amplifier to my Ipod instead of the computer and to my surprise, NO HISS. Now my question is:

Is my PC actually making some type of interference that causes the HISS in my speakers? and if so, how can I fix it?

Thanks for your time!

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whosyourdaddy00
Hold 'Em Czar
Member
Since: Dec 30, 2004

Aug 08, 2009 08:56 pm

ok there's a gain staging issue here....well probably.

so your mbox has a 3.5 mm output (is this a headphone jack?)...

also when using pc audio make sure your mixer is all the way up in wondows...alotta ppl like to use the volume buttons on your keyboard....this is not good cuz you end up sending a quiet signal to be amplified even more to get it to a good listening level...which brings up the noise floor aswell.

try normalizing your whole system turn all faders to 0 db or all the way up , and also turn down the power amp when you do, cuz it WILL get loud.

soyezra
Member
Since: Aug 08, 2009

Aug 08, 2009 09:24 pm

yes the 3.5mm output is the headphone jack, it's an mbox2.

and you kinda fixed my problem there easily, haha. Since I have a volume knob on my keyboard I tend to leave the amplifier at 75% volume and control the main PC mixer volume with my computer knob, which makes the monitors hiss (i was dumb and didn't notice this, so thank you :D)

but now, if you notice the front of an mbox2, how do I know around where is the 0db mark? thanks :)

whosyourdaddy00
Hold 'Em Czar
Member
Since: Dec 30, 2004

Aug 09, 2009 07:18 am

why are you plugging your monitors into a headphone jack?

plug them into "monitors" or "control room" or even "main" ANY of those outputs will be better than the headphone jack and an adaptor...

[edit] MON OUT would be the BEST output to plug your monitors into. do whatever you can to make it happen

and to answer your question...use the software mixers to get everything to zero...no need to do that on the knobs.

start with all knobs all the way down...

infact get in the habit of keeping all knobs all the way down when channels are not beeing used (especially preamps) and this can help minimize noise ALOT on bigger rigs ....lol