loud humming noise

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Member Since: Jan 23, 2014

hey, I have a question I have a MAc mini i7 quad core 8gb ram 1 tb hd. I have a pair of studiophile monitors sp-5b's
connected to my presonus audioboc 22vsl. My mac is connected to my 42 inch L E d flat screen tv to be used as a display via HDMI. Now whenever i plug the audiobox into my mac via usb i get this loud humming noise coming out of the monitor speakers, when i unplug the HDMI cable fom the mac it goes away. Also I am using studio one artist right now but i didnt have it loaded on my mac when i got the humming noise (feedback). Now i bought the studiophile sp-5b's in 2002. when i plug the audiobox into my laptop pc via usb no noise. whats up? hope you can help me.

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Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 19, 2014 06:09 pm

Have you tried hooking and unhooking various pieces to see if it's one in particular that causes the hum? Often times that can come from a bad cable, ungrounded cable or interference between a few of them...that would be the first thing to determine...

Member
Since: Jan 23, 2014


Feb 19, 2014 09:15 pm

yes..it only hums when the HDMI is hooked up..i am going to try to hook mac mini to tv via usb to see if that works.

Member
Since: Jan 23, 2014


Feb 19, 2014 09:16 pm

Could it be that the monitor speakers are old?

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 19, 2014 09:22 pm

Move the speakers further away from the monitor...some monitors are not shielded from interference...I thought that interference was only caused by the old school monitors, but it'd be worth a try...also, make sure any cables running along with or over each other are well shielded, and, not running perpendicular, as many parallel as possible...if you just have a big pile of cables lying behind the desk it could be causing all sorts of weird hums and crap.

Member
Since: Jan 23, 2014


Feb 21, 2014 12:34 am

First, I want to thank you for getting back to me really fast, I appreciate that and thank you for this site and your knowledge and experience. I think you may be right I do Have a bunch of wires behind my desk. lol. Sooo I am going to unplug everything and start over plugging things in again. Dang!!! I think I will use duct tape to keep everything parallel and neat.

I will get back to you as soon as I'm done to let you know if that was the problem, which I think it is.

Administrator
Since: Apr 03, 2002


Feb 21, 2014 09:22 am

LOL, duct tape solves everything!

If you need to coil up long cord, do it neatly, nice even circles, hang them in an orderly fashion, nice a neat, shortest cables where possible, when possible, make sure you have shielded cables on signal level cables and speaker cables on speakers...all common sense stuff that many folks ignore when putting things together.

Member
Since: Jan 23, 2014


Feb 23, 2014 09:54 pm

ok, now I am really frustrated I cleaned everything up and i still get the buzz sound. it stops when I unplug the HDMI cable from the mac mini to my tv. Do I need new monitor speakers? When its plugged into my toshiba laptop no noise, so its the HDMI cable.

Member
Since: Jan 23, 2014


Feb 23, 2014 09:56 pm

my speakers are 11 yrs old.(studiophile sp-5b by M-audio)

www.TheLondonProject.ca
Member
Since: Feb 07, 2005


Feb 24, 2014 03:50 pm

Do you have your HDMI cable running parallel to power? The sound you are hearing could be crosstalk from a poorly shielded cable. Try another HDMI and/or make sure it crosses power cables at 90 degrees.

EDIT: woops... i see that dB has eluded to this already but haven't seen a response about this specifically. You do not want to tape up power wires with your HDMI or other audio cables. Also, use velcro and not tape. Tape is going to make your wire all gummy

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