Save My Life. Monitors.

[Invert48]

Hi. I have monitors. m audio bx5as. but i wanted to use them as desktop speakers. so I got a xlr to 1/4'' cable. but my monitors tend to make electric popping sounds. it's scary. I don't want my house to catch on fire or to get electrocuted and die. Why is this happening? What should I do?

[jpleong]

Hi. I have monitors. m audio bx5as. but i wanted to use them as desktop speakers. so I got a xlr to 1/4'' cable. but my monitors tend to make electric popping sounds. it's scary. I don't want my house to catch on fire or to get electrocuted and die. Why is this happening? What should I do?

Exactly how and what is getting plugged into?

JP

[Invert48]

each monitor is getting plugged into an outlet in the same power strip with the speaker cables. then I have 2 xlrs to a 1/4'' cable from the monitors into my macbook headphone jack.

[jpleong]

each monitor is getting plugged into an outlet in the same power strip with the speaker cables. then I have 2 xlrs to a 1/4'' cable from the monitors into my macbook headphone jack.

Okay... First follow-up question... When does it pop? Anything you're doing that can "make" it pop?

Second question... Why not use an 1/8" stereo to two 1/4" ends (a Y) cable?

JP

[Invert48]

oh sorry it's xlr to 1/8''. sometimes it's random and I have no idea why it's popping. but one thing I did notice is I have a fan in my room that I plug in to another outlet, and when I turn the knobs my speakers pop. It's weird. maybe it was happening when the fan was plugged in.

[jpleong]

Okay, I would suggest isolating the problem; try a couple things:
1) unplug the audio cables from the monitors and see if you can get them to pop while dialing the fan.
2) get a cable like this: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CMP159/ and see if this fixes the popping problem.

JP

[Invert48]

recently it hasnt been doing it much but one day it was popping like crazy by itself.

well just now I unplugged the cables and i dialed the fan. I heard very very faint pops. I could barely hear them. With it plugged into to my macbook it was loud. You think it's because of the XLRs?

[jpleong]

recently it hasnt been doing it much but one day it was popping like crazy by itself.

well just now I unplugged the cables and i dialed the fan. I heard very very faint pops. I could barely hear them. With it plugged into to my macbook it was loud. You think it's because of the XLRs?

Quite possibly. XLR is a balanced connection type while the headphone output is a stereo un-balanced cable. It's possible the cable you're using isn't correctly wired. That's why I suggested the 1/8" stereo to dual 1/4" mono. Those stay unbalanced throughout and your monitors are designed to use them that way.

JP

[Invert48]

ok thanks. they make me type at least 10 characters in this post.