my speakers "pop" every once in a while?

[freddy13]

i have SB live value and when the pc starts it pops and then every so often it does it again. It happens infrequently, not enough to make me rip my hair out, but it is strange.

[DrSilver]

What motherboard do you have?May be it`s the installation of electricity which is not clean.

I have a sblive and i get it sometimes too

[freddy13]

mine is without onboard audio... how do i tell exactly what model i have?

[DrSilver]

I don`t think it`s the mainboard b/c I tried my sb live sound card with both the gigabyte ga-6vx7b-4x (via 694x &686B chipset) and asus cusl2-c and both gave some "popping" at times.I sure it`s the electricity coming through the wall socket.I suggest you try your computer in a different wall socket.

[LongJohn]

I get the same but it is not loud!
The cause of my pops is my "Frig".
When the compressor turns ON, the speakers pop.

Enjoy,

[Guntro]

I got just the same pops with my SB Live! 5.1 because of the same reason, the compressor of my fridge. It's not loud but sometomes late at night when it's quiet, it pops that loud that it scares the hell out of me

I tried to move the plugs around but it affects the whole power grid. I live with it because it happens only once in a while.

[DaveM]

Set all your volume sliders in the mixer, including the master output to 75%.

Then turn up the volume on your speakers.

Don't take your mixer settings above 75%.

Except Digital CD Audio or Digital Spdif Audio inputs, they should be set to 100%

[freddy13]

Why do we have to do that?
curious br0therfrank

[DaveM]

I have found that the the line output of the soundblaster live is overdriving (clipping) my amplified speakers when levels are set above 75%.

Also When levels are at 75% that is what is termed in the audio industry as "Unity Gain" or "0dB gain".

So anything above 75% may cause your amplifier to "Pop" (also known as clipping) on peak signals.

My speakers are the Altec lancing ACS54, 4 channel with subwoofer.

Some Amplifiers require a -4dB input, Some Amps requires a 0dB input and some require +10dB input.

If you send +10dB to a device rated for -4dB input you're going to have a lot of clipping and popping.

[Edited by DaveM on 03-12-2001 at 09:51 PM]

[topazal]

If in fact the popping and static sounds are the result of power line problems you may need to put a good surge protector and a UPS unit infront of your system to filter and condition your power supply.

I live in a remote country area with a lot of electrical problems and I have both inline surge protector's and TrippLite UBS's in front of my system's and have had no such problems with my SB live cards (3) in my home.

Just a thought.


Good Luck!

[Edited by topazal on 03-17-2001 at 05:29 PM]

[Randalles]

Hi all, I'm new to this group and am having a similar problem but it doesn't seem related to the volume levels or noise from external devices. My problem has to do with the speakers poping while browsing from page to page using IE. I'm running XP on an Asus M2N-MX SE Plus mobo using the onboard Realtek HD audio connected to some old Boston SPDIF speakers. The audio manager is configured for digital, as it should be, I've reloaded my codecs files, upgraded the BIOS and still cannot figure out what is going on. It's like the sound system is switching between different modes or going to sleep after a few seconds when it pops. However, if I play something (music) with Windows Media Player from my HD then pause the playback, I can browse all I want with no poping and the system sounds, like browser clicks etc., play as normal. Without runing WMP I'm backing to the poping. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Slyder]

Originally Posted by ;9538

Set all your volume sliders in the mixer, including the master output to 75%.

Then turn up the volume on your speakers.

Don't take your mixer settings above 75%.

Except Digital CD Audio or Digital Spdif Audio inputs, they should be set to 100%

Very good tip. I found this out long ago, but never knew the reason why it worked.
Slyder

[Deer Slayer]

Your popping noise could be not even comming in on the audio line. I agree, you need a power conditioning UPS, or similar device. The pop could be due to a large motor, or another device that draws a lot of current causing surges in the line. More than likely it's a motor, because they can backfeed surges into your household power. See if it coincides with the AC/heat, or fridge, or sump pump (like mine was doing). You'll probably find the speakers do it whether plugged into the computer or not. The pop is power from the mainboard initializing the card when your machine starts. I dunno what to tell you with that. I leave my volume at about 85% and I use the volume control on the speakers.

[jaketerminate]

I have this same incident happening to me, with the whole popping of the speakers at initial startup. I think this is directly related to an external sound card I have them hooked up to them (M-Audio Fast Track USB) that is USB powered. I think the instant start of the sound card registering with the speaker line and the system start causes the big pop your speaking about. Like Deer Slayer was saying you might need something to regulate the power on cycle of your speakers, but in my case I have my USB Card unplugged on boot and I plug it back in after everything is up and running.