Old speakers making high pitch crackling noise in new house

[nt627422]

I’ve had these ‘Creative’ speakers for quite a while but we just moved. Now both the speakers make a constant high pitch noise. This noise happens even when the power of my desktop is off but not when the speaker system is off (obviously). This was never a problem in my previous two houses where I lived and I don’t know why it’s a problem now. Any suggestions?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, get a cheap outlet tester and make sure that the outlet and power strip are both wired correctly and have no faults, shorts or ground issues.

https://www.amazon.com/Gardner-Bender-GRT-3500-Receptacle-Indicates/dp/B000NBDTQI/ref=sr_1_8?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1542603224&sr=1-8&keywords=outlet+tester

If your system is plugged into a power strip, eliminate it and plug directly into the wall socket.

Try a DIFFERENT outlet on a completely different wall, preferably in a different non-adjoining room.

Make sure all of the connections are FULLY plugged in. Sometimes they can be partially plugged in and still "work", but exhibit a hum or crackling.

 

[nt627422]

@Darkbreeze thanks for the quick reply. I’ll need to try it out tomorrow so I don’t wake everyone up. I quickly tested the speakers by unplugging them from everything. It seems they only need power to generate this sound, I plugged it in an adjoining (yes I’ll try nonadjoining tomorrow) room and they still made the sound. Wondering maybe they broke in the move today. I think it is plugged I fully. The last thing I question is this house was made a long time ago, and I read somewhere that the speakers might be receiving too much power? Not sure I’m going to be doing some testing tomorrow just this really sucks. And I’ll look into buying that thing off amazon or a local shop if they GW e

 

[Darkbreeze]

If the house has REALLY old wiring, it might not be grounded well and you could be picking up a ground loop through the speakers.

Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, and similar type stores all sell those little outlet testers, so finding one locally shouldn't be a problem if you are in a developed area that isn't extremely rural. Maybe even then if there is half decent hardware or tool store.

I think even Harbor freight carries them.

Might have to have an electrician look at the configuration of your panel if the tester shows anything being wrong. In some power grids it might even be necessary to use a power line conditioner, but I think I'd definitely try other speakers first before going that far.

 

[nt627422]

@Darkbreeze So I tested an outlet on the other side of the house and my speakers just made the normal humming noise that you can only hear if you put your ears next to them, but not the high pitch crackling noise. I guess the next thing would be to get an electricitian in to fix this? Thanks for your help by the way

Update: just to clarify the high pitch crackling static noise can be heard in most rooms, one room had the crackling noise, and if the crackling wasn’t there it was a loud humming noise, louder than I’d usually think. We brought another sound system to test it and it still had crackling in it.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I think you should get an outlet tester and see what it tells you, and then if it shows a problem get an electrician or the landlord (If you don't own the house) to correct the issue. Even if the outlet tester says the socket is wired correctly, it could still be an electrical problem, not at the socket, but at the panel or elsewhere. Ground loops can cause all kinds of bad interference and noise.

If everything is ok as far as the wiring, socket and panel, then it might simply be on a problematic power grid and you might need a power line conditioner to eliminate unwanted signals and wavelengths on the device.

 

[nt627422]

@Darkbreeze I got an outlet tester and it had green. (Mind you I pressed GFCI test on it on one wall and the power stopped working for that section, I think I just reset breaker and it’ll be ok?). So since everything looks fine there I should look into buying a power line conditioner?

 

[mortemas]

Seems like either a poor ground or something noisy plugged in nearby or emi/rfi coming from somewhere. Any new devices in your new home that weren’t in the old one?

 

[nt627422]

Nothing new here, especially electronically, we didn’t even have any TVs/internet/cable set up when I first found out the problem. We do live beside a busy street but it’s still far enough away from my house. We do have pot lights set up around the exterior roof of my new home, had that in the old one but they could be different. The outlet tester I got doesn’t say bad ground. Just middle green for “correct”.

 

[nt627422]

Actually we do have a Rogers home monitoring system. I think there is a wired camera outside my bedroom window. I tested two speakers in my room and they both created this sound. I then tried it on a room two adjacent it was less quiet and I tried it on the opposite side of the house and floor below and the squeak wasn’t there at all.

 

[jsmithepa]

Sounds like my dog whining when moved to the new place, as if he was saying "what a dump, unacceptable!"

As all say, points to bad power. If you are able to use a different power supply, that may help, 'cuz finding the source maybe difficult.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Try disabling that device, if appropriate, and see if it still does it. It could be picking up something from that wireless signal I guess.

 

[nt627422]

Apparently it is disabled and they still make the noise in a room two adjacent. I guess the only option for us would be to get an electrician. And even then who knows if they can fix the problem or know how to. And its not just these speakers we tried other speakers and the same problem existed. Maybe I just have to live without speakers in this home and buy headphones. I wonder what will happen when my parents try plugging in their speakers downstairs. This home is approximately 20 years old so its not super old, and its in a nice area I guess.

Edit: Just to recap, this happens on my computer speakers and it also happened on other speakers, made from a totally different company. These were external speakers. I plugged my samsung tv into the outlet and those speakers weren't making any weird noises.

And sorry for the long reply we just moved and Ive been trying to figure this out and how the ethernet is wired in this house :/

 

[mortemas]

Is there dimmable lighting in your new house? Could be that. Try it with the lights off in that room if that's the case.