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I recently purchased a couple of Mackie Thump 15" powered speakers and in going through a pre-gig setup test in a small room in my home I am hearing an unacceptable hum from both speakers. Also this is the 1st time I use powered speakers so this maybe the norm.
My setup is as follows:
> Laptop 1/8 jack into Soundcraft Mixer into(2T RTN)via RCA stereo jacks
> Soundcraft Mixer to Powered Speakers via 1/4 jack into a 1/4 female to XLR adapter
> I am plugged into house a/c power through two separate outlets (one for each speaker)and have no fans or lights on in the room that may cause some feedback.
My initial thoughts are that maybe the room is too small for an accurate test and/or the adapters may be causing the problem. Also I am going to use my new setup on a gig this Friday just for a comparison. I figure it is an hour gig so I can put up with the humming for an hour.
Any thoughts?
THANKS!
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Ground lift?
Or teach them the words so they don't have to hum....
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If the laptop has a three-wire AC plug, get and use one of those two-prong adaptors to lift the ground at that point.
You may also have to do the same for at least one of the powered speakers as well, if plugged into two different places. Do the laptop first, as that is the usual culprit.
--Mac
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That mixer has balanced outs. Those adapters need to be 1/4 TRS to maintain the balanced out.And to compound no doubt that the line level cables are running along side and parallel to the AC lines powering the speakers.
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John,
The cables are 1/4 inch but they have to be inserted into the speakers via an XLR female input, therefore the adapter. Maybe I am missing what the term TRS stands for and have other 1/4 inch cables. But they were the same cables I used on my Yamaha non-powered speakers, am I missing something here?
And you are correct the ac power supply is indeed running next to the speaker cables.
Thanks,
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Ac cords should go across at 90 degrees otherwise not at all, and not parallel.
Unplugging things one at a time can solve the problem. A plug inserted but going no where does this noise too. But usually where there are lots of cables.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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Well, that Wiki article explains TRS but does not say why it is important in audio. Here's why:
The sleeve is connected to the shield of shielded cable. The tip and ring are connected to the small wires inside that carry the left and right channel, which would be far more likely to pick up electromagnetic interference (such as from power cables, as both Johns mentioned) if there were no shield.
Having said that, I think you should return to the first advice about lifting the ground.
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You could be experiencing a ground loop hum also. Try running your setup with the laptop on battery. If the hum is gone then you should get an inexpensive ground loop eliminator to use when the laptop is on AC. Later, Ray
Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.
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Mains powered devices have an earth, or ground, connection for a reason - it's called "safety"... (you know, I have actually become to hate that word because of the way it's been used to justify all sorts of stupidity, but in this case it is appropriate) Now, that said, I am well aware of the problems that can arise from earth loops and the resulting noise. So, to alleviate the problem, we lift an earth connection. This is fine, but I do NOT advocate doing it at the mains connection to the device(s). As the problem is primarily related to an earth LOOP, then breaking the loop at any point suddenly makes it not a loop anymore. Thus removing the ground connection from an audio link will do just as well and does not compromise safety. If the primary source of earth related noise seems to be a notebook computer then run it on its battery. If the battery life is too short then many notebooks have the ability to attach an auxiliary or second battery - a small investment in something that just might save your life... My $0.02 AUD (which is currently just a little higher then the USD  )
--=-- My credo: If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing - just ask my missus, she'll tell ya  --=--You're only paranoid if you're wrong!
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Those cables CAN NOT BE REGULAR SPEAKER CABLES.They are not shielded. You need to purchase long TRS>XLR shielded patch cables. If you don't know what you need let me know & I'll give you a link.
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Quote:
That mixer has balanced outs. Those adapters need to be 1/4 TRS to maintain the balanced out.And to compound no doubt that the line level cables are running along side and parallel to the AC lines powering the speakers.
If you are responding to my advice, what I said has nothing to do with balanced or unbalanced connections, either can hum when there is the old AC Ground Loop problem. Because the hum is on the Common Mode.
--Mac
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Quote:
Well, that Wiki article explains TRS but does not say why it is important in audio. Here's why:
The sleeve is connected to the shield of shielded cable. The tip and ring are connected to the small wires inside that carry the left and right channel, which would be far more likely to pick up electromagnetic interference (such as from power cables, as both Johns mentioned) if there were no shield.
Having said that, I think you should return to the first advice about lifting the ground.
No.
The balanced connect is mono.
There are indeed two wires inside the shield, but these two wires carry the same analog information, it is just that one wire is positive-going and the other wire is negative-going. This is what we call a "differential pair" and when that is summed properly by the input's circuitry, any noise on that line that is not part of the signal introduced at the other end will be self-cancelling.
But the problem described here very likely has not one thing to do with balanced connect, I suspect AC Ground Loop problem, which can rear its ugly head with either balanced or unbalanced audio connections.
He has described quite clearly that there is more than one path to AC Ground and that's the recipe for an audio ground loop problem.
--Mac
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Quote:
You could be experiencing a ground loop hum also. Try running your setup with the laptop on battery. If the hum is gone then you should get an inexpensive ground loop eliminator to use when the laptop is on AC. Later, Ray
This is good advice, follow it.
--Mac
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Issue corrected. Thanks for all the advice, here is what I did:
1st I placed the ac (2 prong) adapter between the power supply of the laptop and the surge protecter. Then I re-wired and re-connected each component i.e. monitor, fx pedal mixer etc. I guess I won't know for sure until I setup and do a gig this Friday in a live situation but I am feeling pretty confident the problem is solved.
Big handshake/hug to all of you cats for taking an interest and offering suggestions.
Later,
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Quote:
Quote:
That mixer has balanced outs. Those adapters need to be 1/4 TRS to maintain the balanced out.And to compound no doubt that the line level cables are running along side and parallel to the AC lines powering the speakers.
If you are responding to my advice, what I said has nothing to do with balanced or unbalanced connections, either can hum when there is the old AC Ground Loop problem. Because the hum is on the Common Mode.
--Mac
Nope. I was responding to this:
Quote:
But they were the same cables I used on my Yamaha non-powered speakers, am I missing something here?
I think he sort of fixed the issue for now cause things got rearranged. The regular speaker cables will pick up every bit of noise in the venue he's about to play. Hope they don't have light dimmers.
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Hmm. I see what John means now. Maybe those are shielded cables and maybe not...
They should be shielded audio cables.
--Mac
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Quote:
Hmm. I see what John means now. Maybe those are shielded cables and maybe not...
They should be shielded audio cables.
--Mac
Not likely shielded as the cost of 25/50' pair of balanced cables would have cost considerably more.And not a good idea to use balanced shielded cables for regular speaker cables either.
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Strat , tube amp under a neon sign , now that's a hum !
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