# Speaker pops when appliances turn on.



## LAN_deRf_HA (Jun 22, 2010)

For awhile now I've noticed a number of house related functions will cause a speaker pop, when the ac or heater kicks on at night, or when someone flips a light switch on or off when the stove is on. It's on a surge protector so I'm thinking it must be brown outs... if that sort of thing would explain it, should I invest in a nice UPS? Another concern is twice now, once on this i7 build and once on my old 775 I've waken up to find the pc off and me needing to flip the psu on and off to turn it on. Wondering if that's also related to brown outs.


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## MohawkAngel (Jun 22, 2010)

Peak and surge in house current. They sell modulator for it  think or a good powerbar is supposed to do the job.

UPS could be a good idea but if it was me ill do put a small car battery plugged in the computer with some wires and a transistor to trigger the load. As long as the current is still on theres no usage of the battery but as soon as the current goes down the battery is going in. Of course its very tricky but if you are tricky then its perfect for you


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## hat (Jun 22, 2010)

It sounds like you might be asking too much of your electrical system... a UPS should solve the problem as it would supply stable current and handle these micro brown-outs of yours with ease, but that's really just a quick fix to the problem you're having right now... you should really look into beefing up your electrical system, or find a way to reduce the load.


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## razaron (Jun 22, 2010)

certain (older) batches of z5500's and all x530's have this problem and it can not be fixed. it's got something to do with a design fault with the electric shielding of the wires or something like that (sorry can't remember the exact problem). check with logitech if your z5500's are from the dodgy batch they should replace them for free-ish. 
i've got x530's but some reason im not allowed replacements (evil logitech). i can hear the radio from them. yes they pick up radio signals including alot of classical music.


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## robn (Jun 22, 2010)

I've got a different take on this; the pops I am certain are caused by small arcs between switch contacts as high power gear turns on and off. An electrical arc looks like just a spark of light, but actually chucks out all types of EM radiation, and in this case that is being heard as interference on the signal to your speakers' amp. The remedy for this is re-greasing the switch gear in the offending appliances, or getting a better shielded signal cable to the amp.

The i7 thing just sounds like OC protection to me ...brief power outs just restart or turn off all the systems I've ever seen, without that BIOS power lock you describe. You'd see lights dim if there were brown outs happening, and a good PC power supply will hold power through 1-2 sec of brown out use.


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## hat (Jun 22, 2010)

razaron said:


> certain (older) batches of z5500's and all x530's have this problem and it can not be fixed. it's got something to do with a design fault with the electric shielding of the wires or something like that (sorry can't remember the exact problem). check with logitech if your z5500's are from the dodgy batch they should replace them for free-ish.
> i've got x530's but some reason im not allowed replacements (evil logitech). i can hear the radio from them. yes they pick up radio signals including alot of classical music.



Haha, my dad had this 2.1 set of Labtecs that would pick up different radio signals if you moved the wire around... everything from trucker CB radios to country radio stations...


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## CounterZeus (Jun 22, 2010)

razaron said:


> certain (older) batches of z5500's and all x530's have this problem and it can not be fixed. it's got something to do with a design fault with the electric shielding of the wires or something like that (sorry can't remember the exact problem). check with logitech if your z5500's are from the dodgy batch they should replace them for free-ish.
> i've got x530's but some reason im not allowed replacements (evil logitech). i can hear the radio from them. yes they pick up radio signals including alot of classical music.



haha, at least I'm picking up a pop music channel


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## Easo (Jun 22, 2010)

My X-530 are popping all the time when someone do something involving eletricity switches... xD


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## lyndonguitar (Jun 22, 2010)

It happens to some of my speakers too. Its always BUZZING the hell out of me.


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## hat (Jun 22, 2010)

I don't think I've ever had this happen to me tbh... and I've always had generic speakers, up until now.


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## razaron (Jun 22, 2010)

hat said:


> I don't think I've ever had this happen to me tbh... and I've always had generic speakers, up until now.



it only seem to happen with logitech x530's and older z5500's.


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## Mussels (Jun 22, 2010)

the popping is lack of/bad ground wiring. most logitech speakers dont even HAVE a ground wire.

they're just picking up and aplifying the electrical noise in your home... its more your homes wiring fault, than it is the speakers.


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## hat (Jun 22, 2010)

Don't have a ground wire... what? Why would that be? That sounds incredibly cheap...


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## Flak (Jun 22, 2010)

Took too long to reply, so I'll reinforce that it is most likely a grounding problem.  Grounding problems are most prevelant in speakers because they produce an audible noise that corresponds to the problem which can manifest as popping/humming/buzzing.


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## Mussels (Jun 22, 2010)

hat said:


> Don't have a ground wire... what? Why would that be? That sounds incredibly cheap...



cause it is cheap. it doesnt matter if you got clean power, but obviously you guys lack clean power. Me? i get popping when i turn my computer on and off (through the analogue jacks on the sound card) and thats it. clean power ftw.



Flak said:


> Took too long to reply, so I'll reinforce that it is most likely a grounding problem.  Grounding problems are most prevelant in speakers because they produce an audible noise that corresponds to the problem which can manifest as popping/humming/buzzing.



beat ya to it


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## hat (Jun 22, 2010)

How can power be "clean"?


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## ste2425 (Jun 22, 2010)

pops and noises, as others have said, is due to other devices or appliances on the same power as your other things in your home. 

An example i did the sound for a gig at the localpub and when i turned the pa on there was a loud buzzing. All the faders were turned down on the mixing desck etc. the cause was the huge fans in some set of fridges they decided to plug into the same power socket from the wall. Turned them of, the buzz went away.

Thats one cause for noises, the other could be design faults with the system its self, again as others have said


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## NdMk2o1o (Jun 22, 2010)

razaron said:


> it only seem to happen with logitech x530's and older z5500's.



My x-530's dont have this issue, though I have had numerous other speakers that pick up radio when you dont insert the jack into your sound card fully, thats cool  

My logitechs seem to be quite quiet when not being used, I know that sounds like an odd statement though I have had a few pair of cheap speakers with a slight hum/buzz when there is nothing playing through them which is annoying as hell


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## ste2425 (Jun 22, 2010)

NdMk2o1o said:


> My x-530's dont have this issue, though I have had numerous speakers that pick up radio when you dont insert the jack into your sound card fully, thats cool



thats bad shielding on the wires themselves, they act as a radio antenna picking up interference


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## MohawkAngel (Jun 22, 2010)

It could be fixed with a condenser I think. Open your speaker sets...if there no condenser add one or use a Noise suppresor used in car audio. 12 volts and you choose the amperage you need.
it suppress the electrical interference or radios, electricity and surge in sound systems.


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## Mussels (Jun 22, 2010)

hat said:


> How can power be "clean"?



if the wiring in your house is shit and laid/wrapped around each other, noise from one line (say, a fridge with a shit power supply) feeds into the other wiring, giving interference. you wouldnt notice except your poorly shielded, ground free speakers are amplifying it

its the same as crosstalk on bad phone lines, how you can hear other peoples conversations in the background. the noise just leaks over through EMI.


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## hat (Jun 22, 2010)

Oh, bad wiring. From what I hear, this apt complex has terrible wiring, but I still havn't had this... the only interference I've ever gotten is if I used my cell phone near my speakers... I have yet to try that since I set the reciever up though.


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## Kreij (Jun 22, 2010)

You can get a outlet wiring tester for about $10 if you want to check the wiring in your home.

You'd be surprised how many homes are wired incorrectly. Especially the grounding.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jun 22, 2010)

If it's a clean power problem would something like this help? Since I've been meaning to get one anyways... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102050

@robn
If it's an oc issue it's a hard one to pinpoint, since it's stable with intel's burn test on max.... but I guess it could be some obscure memory timing.


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## Mussels (Jun 22, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> If it's a clean power problem would something like this help? Since I've been meaning to get one anyways... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16842102050



not likely.

UPS's feed you regular, unfiltered, unaltered power UNTIL you lose mains power... so you're gunna get pops just the same. You need an active UPS (one that runs all the time) to get the good filtering, and they cost a ton, and a ton to run.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jun 22, 2010)

Fudge


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## Kreij (Jun 22, 2010)

A UPS will help, but you really need a line conditioner to get rid of unwanted noise and crap like that.
Yes, they are expensive.


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## Mussels (Jun 22, 2010)

i think the best solution is to turn up the volume on the PC, and down on the speakers. less amplified, the noises will be.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jun 22, 2010)

Mussels said:


> i think the best solution is to turn up the volume on the PC, and down on the speakers. less amplified, the noises will be.



That would just replace one problem with another. Go above 50% volume on these sound cards and they start amplifying. I'm already at 50%, and it's only happening on the speaker end once a day so it's not a great trade off for me.


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## Mussels (Jun 22, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> That would just replace one problem with another. Go above 50% volume on these sound cards and they start amplifying. I'm already at 50%, and it's only happening on the speaker end once a day so it's not a great trade off for me.



depends how bad the noise is, i used to live in a house with bad wiring that would make a really really loud pop whenever a certain light was turned on, so amplified noise was better than amplified audio explosion.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Jun 22, 2010)

Looking at line conditioners, they don't seem much more expensive than I was prepared to pay for a UPS.... I'm assuming whatever I buy it will be cheaper than having the house rewired


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## MohawkAngel (Jun 22, 2010)

Mussels said:


> i think the best solution is to turn up the volume on the PC, and down on the speakers. less amplified, the noises will be.



Thanks for the advice Master Yoda


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