Muffled Voices from PC Subwoofer with nothing playing & speakers muted

[Claire Robertin]

I have a near 20-year-old speaker system - 2 fronts and a subwoofer from Creative. They work and sound great! Lately, I'm hearing what sounds like the muffled voice of half of a telephone conversation. I have nothing playing on my computer and even have the speakers muted. Unmuting changes nothing. If I unplug the speakers from my computer, then the sound goes away. I have Avast running and being a computer geek, I don't visit nefarious sites or download / click on things of unknown origin. I do look at funny pictures and memes through links on Facebook. After a reboot, I can still hear the muffled voice at the start up / login screen of Windows 7.

Any thoughts?

 

[popatim]

Are the voices there all the time, 24/7? or do they come and go like you might be getting interference from someones cordless phone?

 

[ko888]

Are you using WiFi for your internet access?

 

[Claire Robertin]

I'm wired for my internet access... and yes, it sounds like half of a conversation like I'm picking up a cordless phone. We do have older neighbors - so they may have a landline, but the distance surprises me if that's what it is. I've just never heard of a sound card picking or speaker wires picking up a cordless phone conversation.

 

[ko888]

I'm wired for my internet access... and yes, it sounds like half of a conversation like I'm picking up a cordless phone. We do have older neighbors, but the distance surprises me if that's what it is. I've just never heard of a sound card picking or speaker wires picking up a cordless phone conversation.

What's up with my speakers?
http://ask.metafilter.com/107953/Whats-up-with-my-speakers

 

[mpguidry]

I once had a problem with my headphones plugged to the front of my pc, everytimeI moved my mouse I was getting whine, clicks, pops. Sounded like ET trying to tell me hello. I pulled the front panel off and looked at the board that has front audio and USB port I found the audio shared the same ground as the usb ground(common ground plane) I was able to use a knife and cut the copper trace to separate it.

Here's a way to test if its the same design. Open up your pc and unplug the front usb port from the MOBO header but leave the audio plugged in. Boot up to WINDOWS and see if you can still replicate the noise. If its gone then you need to split the grounds.

EDIT - holy typos batman, damn fat fingers and cell phone combo never good,

 

[popatim]

LOL - One place I worked at, their Intercom system would pick up nearby CB conversations. This one trucker sat nearby trying to arrange a ..uhm..'date' and desperately trying to use a Burgerking buy one get one free coupon for the ladies. Hahaha. That gave us all some good laughs.