New PC build causing interference with monitor speakers

I had marked this as solved but it is not. I came home from work today planning on sitting down and finally playing some music. The noise is back. Nothing has been changed since I last fired it up yesterday but it is back. It's not as loud as it was before but it is there. Switching between USB power and 5v makes no difference. I am at a complete loss and so pissed off with the whole thing right now. I'm thinking I'm about ready to give this PC to my kids and look at other options.
DJDQmusic, how have you set up that surge protector? Are you using it to power your audio inteface?

 

You could try fully decouple PC and audio chain. I have seen somewhere USB "cable" that electrically disconnects both devices....

Also, the interference might come from the wall plug.

 

I had some noise from my wireless mouse with my audio interface/monitors. Coincidentally also with a Steinberg UR22 MK2. Balanced cables solved the issue.

Age you sure yours are balanced/symmetrical?

Gesendet von meinem Pixel 3a mit Tapatalk

 

I have my entire setup connected to the surge protector including my Traktor S4mk3. My setup includes imac, pair of JBL 308mk2 studio monitors and a pair of EV12p powered speakers. Before I had the surge protector I had issues with popping when turning speakers on. The surge protector took care of that for me. I’m not sure how you power up your system, but start by turning on your controller first, computer second then your speakers. Then when you shut the system down turn off the Speakers first then the computer then the controller. This procedure prevents system pops. Also I purchased Chroma cables from www.djtechtools.com.. Great price and designed beautifully for data transmission.. I hope any of this will help you..

 

Once again thanks to all. I will investigate all suggestions.

I have everything in the one powerboard but it doesn't have a usb port so I'm using a charger which was suggested earlier in the thread. The TRS to XLR cables seemed to have fixed the issue but it has come back. Right now I don't even want to turn on the system because I can't deal with another disappointment right now. Plus I have my kids with me tonight so just gonna enjoy that.

One thing I did notice last night before I shut down was when I had Reason 10 open. There was nothing playing, just sitting idle. The DSP meter seemed be fluctuating in time to the noise. Does that suggest anything to anyone?

 

Your problems, most probably, are due to problems in instability of power supply. Some kind of ripple.

The source may be outside your house, it may be in your house, it may be insuffitient power chain in your PC. CPU and GPU create load spikes in which they demand multiple load of its nominal value. It is just for a fraction time and it should be solved by condensers on motherboard and power supply. Some motherboards and powersupplies have more and better condensers, some less and worse.....

Also, it seems to me that your 700 W PC powersource might not be enought. I am not sure, but check it. Intel processors easily take double, triple the nominal TDP value. Your graphic card requires 400 W and i9 (TDP 125) may draw over 250 W (PL2 limit is 250W).

700 W power source seems to be too weak.... You also may try to lower PL2 limit of i9 CPU or forbid using it at all.

Or powersource or motherboard may be defective in some way.....

 

I must ask again: Do you use balanced cables? The important thing is that they're balanced, not whether they're TRS, XLR, or whatever.

 

Yup they are balanced. Mogami Gold TRSXLRM-03

 

I've recently had electrical work done in the house, new lights, switches and power points and my electrician confirms there is nothing wrong with the power.

The mother board is good quality and is also the second one we have tried. Same result with both.

My friend is sure that 700w is enough but old PC had 1000w and never had this issue so that is a possibilty I suppose. How to I lower PL2 limit? I don't even know what that is.

The power supply is also the second one used. The original was 650w but didn't have the correct connections for the second mobo. I doubt if they could all be defective.

 

I do not know how to forbid/lower PL2 limit. There will be something in BIOS. Maybe if you set PL2 time to 0. (Unless 0 means unlimited.....)

Try to Google. I do not have Intel, so do not have experience with it. I only read about it.

PS.
PL2 is the power limit of Intel processors for boost. It may heavily increase power consumprion for short time. In case of your i9 it has power limit (TDP) 125 W, but it may draw for certain time up to 250 W. And for fractions of second even more.
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i9-10900k/18.html

I guess, that using PL2 might cause your problems, 700 W seems not to be enought. I guess you need few hundreds watts more.... Or restrict using PL2 somehow.

 

My old PC had a 1000w power supply so maybe that is the difference. I'll do some research into this when I have a chance.

Thanks again for all input.

 

I used a couple of different online resources to check if my power supply is adequate and the result was good. 700w is more than enough.

I also set the PCs power plan to High Performance which solved the DSP meter fluctuation in Reason. This also seemed to calm the noise a little. It is now really just a whine which I can almost live with. There are some devices that claim to fix ground loop issues and I'm investigating those.

I'll keep updating this thread as I go. Hopefully I get a result and it may help others.

 

Have you looked into Ferrite Core Chokes for your USB and Speaker Cables. These help reduce RFI (Radio Frequency Interference) introduced through cables.

cheap on Amazon...

Amazon.com: Clip-on Noise Filter,VSKEY[10pcs 5mm] Anti-interference High-Frequency Ferrite Core Choke Cable Clip for Home Audio System,Tvs,Speakers,Radio,Audio Equipment Noise Suppressor (0.2 inch inner diameter) : Electronics

a more detailed explanation of how they work.

Ferrite bead - Wikipedia

 

In past time cable would be delivered with ferrite core.
My monitor cable has one and the scanner also one.

 

Some do come with them, but there are a lot of cheap (Amazon) cables out there that don’t. Anything used for Audio/video should have them, but it does not appear that Audio (TS and TRS) do... they rely solely on Normal shielding... just thought I would mention them as they might help... but I could be wrong

 

I guess, audiocables have lower voltage and mainly currents (so less power is transmited) and more importantly much lower frequencies. Do not think, ferrite core would do any job on audio cables.

But it may help on USB (data) cables. And also, the shortest and thickiest data cables.

 

Hi Soft Enerji,

This may not be a good enough check for the problem faced.

The power supply has quite a few filters (condensers and coils) on the input side (110/230V AC) , and on the output side (+/- 5V, +/- 12V). If they are inadequately "sized" or of low quality, such issues may arise.

You also mentioned, that you had an electrician come in and do some thing on the lights. Were there perhaps LEDs installed, which usually bring "switched power supplies" with them? If of poor quality, they are a good source of noise and ripple injected back (!) into the 110 (or 230V) AC cabling. Reason is potentially pulsed current on the input side, if not designed good enough.

Is it possible for you, to plugin the power supply of your old PC - just for testing? I know, this requires some work but should not be too bad, as long as it is compatible.

LG, Juergi

 

You need at least 250 W (probably more) for CPU and 300 W is recomended for your graphic card. So you have 150 W for the rest. Motherboard, HDDs, .... will take something.... Not much left, if anything just for case....

700 W might be OK as well as not so OK.

This would be another indication (for me), that you need either stronger/better power source, or better motherboard, or the both.

I would try very opposite. Instead of High Performance, I would restrict CPU to use PL2 limit. By setting High Performance you probably allowed to use PL2 as much as possible.

 

Hey folks thanks for the replies. I've been dealing with other "life" stuff so have given the PC probs away for a while.

But.....I actually just splashed some cash on a Komplete Kontrol S61 and a Maschine MK3 as well as Ableton Live 11. The noise doesn't seem as intrusive using the Maschine as the audio interface but maybe that's just wishful thinking.

Just to summarise where I'm at...

I've tried ferrite beads with no result.

I've tried 2 different mobos, 2 different CPU coolers and 2 different power supplies with the same results. I've already given the old PC to my boys but getting it back to try the power supply is still an option but not sure I wanna pull it apart to do so. My friend that built the PC is not available to help at this point and I'm not confident of doing on my own. I may contact a local IT company and see if they'd do the exercise. May as well throw more cash at the problem

I'll keep digging around and post here when I have any info.

Once again I really appreciate the input.

Cheers

Mark

Edit: The LED lights I've had installed are mid range quality but I very rarely
have them on when I'm working on music. No difference on or off.

 

I use MacBook mainly during record new music, online work and etc, Quite powefrul device which I recently bought after got digital cash of Tremendous for good results of research job. I have plan to run giveaway among some musicals in my place.