My subwoofer is haunted

vonPoonBurGer

Ok, probably not actually haunted. But it does make strange noises from time to time. It's one of those subs that doesn't have an on-off switch, it just stays in standby mode (red LED) until it needs to make noise, then it turns itself on (green LED). On several occasions I've come into the living room (where everything is powered off and no one is using my home theater) to find the sub powered on, making low-pitched burbling/chirping noises.

Things I have tried so far:

• disconnecting the cable coming into my sub from my receiver: no effect
• plugging it into a voltage regulator: no effect

Basically, if it's plugged into the wall it will sometimes make weird noises. I can only assume it's picking up interference from somewhere that it interprets as an audio signal it needs to output. Anyone have any insights on anything else I can do to make it stop making strange noise? One of my other thoughts was possibly bad electrical wiring (I live in an old, old building), but the wiring fault indicator on the voltage regulator doesn't light up.

Oh, this is my sub, in case that makes a difference.

eternalbl

I used to have the same thing with my sub, turned out a lamp plugged into the same outlet was causing interference and keeping it on.

Iruka

My speakers chirp if I leave my phone near them and get a text message, Could it be the same type of interference effecting your woofer?

Dunadan019

My speakers used to pick up radio signals from the local station (less than a mile away) enough that I could hear them even while the volume was turned all the way down. It was a local college station so I would constantly get video game music....

of course the wires to my 'rear' speakers were about 10 feet long so that might have something to do with it.

VeritasVR

Iruka wrote: »

My speakers chirp if I leave my phone near them and get a text message, Could it be the same type of interference effecting your woofer?

Mine also do this. I can tell when one of my neighbors is getting a call or text too.

Gafoto

I have clearly heard portions of conversations through my speakers before while a state Department of Transportation vehicle was passing by the house. Freaked me the fuck out because the speakers weren't connected to any device, just sitting there. Could be any number of things with a wireless signal it seems, especially if you're in a dense city.

meeker

Ground-Fault Loops. They are a subwoofer's worst enemy. And they scare the shit out of the dogs in the middle of the night and you jump out of bed and grab a bat to face this would be burglar in your boxers!

http://www.epanorama.net/documents/groundloop/

vonPoonBurGer

VeritasVR wrote: »

Iruka wrote: »

My speakers chirp if I leave my phone near them and get a text message, Could it be the same type of interference effecting your woofer?

Mine also do this. I can tell when one of my neighbors is getting a call or text too.

I've heard that noise before from other speakers, but I'm not sure it's the same noise that's coming out of my sub. I'll put my cell near the sub and try calling it to see if that's the cause. Could be my neighbour's cell phone...

Kevdog

Are there any wireless networking devices near the sub? I had a similar problem a while back, and it turned out the sub was picking up radio activity from a nearby Tivo's wireless adapter. What tipped me off was that the "murr murr" noises were exactly in sync with the network activity light on the adapter flashing. Moving the adapter away from the sub fixed the problem.

vonPoonBurGer

There is a wireless network in the house, but nothing really close to the sub. Most devices in my home theater setup are wired only, and they're all patched into a wireless network bridge that's a good 15-20 feet away from my TV (6' cables from devices to switch, 12' cable from switch to bridge). The only wireless device really close by is the Wii and I haven't used it recently, but I think it does have some download capabilities that can fire up even when it's "off". I'll check that out too anyway.