Unstable 8 #1 April 16, 2008 Hey Physics/audio buffs, Have you ever had a set of speakers with a resonant frequency attune to a local radio station? Ever had a ghost speaker? Do you know how to tweak em? So my favourite set of PC speakers is a pair I bought at the Mac store. Nice sounds, but both their speakers have resonant frequencies with a radio station. When they are just plugged in, they play 101.5 faintly in the background. When they are NOT turned on but plugged into the wall, I can hear them playing faintly as I fall asleep at night. When I play a CD while I am studying, it's quite distracting. Is there a way to de-haunt a set of speakers? =========Shaun ========== Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RevJim 0 #2 April 16, 2008 I can't say I'd call that a "resonant frequency." it's more likely caused by faulty wiring. Take them back and demand a new set. If that doesn't solve the problem, hook the power for them up to a surge strip that can be killed when not in use. If it was true resonant frequency, they would pick up the radio when not plugged in at all. they are picking up the transmission through the power lines, probably a ground loop.It's your life, live it! Karma RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydemon2 0 #3 April 16, 2008 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVjd5w2iRAg&feature=relatedBeauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone! I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Unstable 8 #4 April 16, 2008 QuoteIf it was true resonant frequency, they would pick up the radio when not plugged in at all. they are picking up the transmission through the power lines, probably a ground loop. Nope - they pick up the station when not plugged in at all as well. I have to hold it to my ears, but it's there!=========Shaun ========== Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Unstable 8 #5 April 16, 2008 I love that movie. Man, when the librarian jumped out at those guys, I wouldn't go in libraries for years!! Probably explains why I didn't catch up in reading until 6th grade....=========Shaun ========== Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydemon2 0 #6 April 16, 2008 Look at your name "Unstable" are you sure you are hearing it or do you just think you are hearing it?Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone! I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RevJim 0 #7 April 16, 2008 Quote Quote If it was true resonant frequency, they would pick up the radio when not plugged in at all. they are picking up the transmission through the power lines, probably a ground loop. Nope - they pick up the station when not plugged in at all as well. I have to hold it to my ears, but it's there! Odd. I'd still try exchanging them. If that didn't work, ebay them off and get a set of Klipsches. It's your life, live it! Karma RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Unstable 8 #8 April 16, 2008 Quote Look at your name "Unstable" are you sure you are hearing it or do you just think you are hearing it? That was certainly a possibility. I had a few of my friends listen too, and they all said they heard it. I think these were my real friends too. The other ones stopped coming around a few years back.=========Shaun ========== Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydemon2 0 #9 April 16, 2008 Thats good keep taking the pills!! Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone! I like to start my day off with a little Ray of Soulshine™!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #10 April 16, 2008 It's the wiring (most likely cheap unshielded wire, but possibly a fault anywhere, even inside your computer). All that is required to pick up any nearby AM source is a wire, a diode, a speaker and a ground. The wire is the antenna, which could possibly be tuned for a resonant frequency but amazingly doesn't actually need to be for sufficiently strong sources. The diode makes all the current flow in one direction. The connection to ground gives the current somewhere to go and the speaker itself allows you to hear it. Plugging in serves as the ground in this case. Turning on the amp just makes it easier to hear. If you can hear it while the amp isn't turned on, it's a very poorly designed speaker. Exchanging it for the same design will probably give you the exact same results.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJD 0 #11 April 16, 2008 Reminds me of the stories of people receiving radio broadcasts through their dental fillings. Apparently this is quite possible given the right conditions. Imagine how annoying that would be. Your speaker problem doesn't seem so bad now, huh? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Unstable 8 #12 April 16, 2008 Quote Reminds me of the stories of people receiving radio broadcasts through their dental fillings. Apparently this is quite possible given the right conditions. Imagine how annoying that would be. Your speaker problem doesn't seem so bad now, huh? I think that was some BS Lucille Ball pulled when she was old and senile. MythBusters put an end to the Dental-filling-Radio myth. =========Shaun ========== Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #13 April 16, 2008 Quote I can't say I'd call that a "resonant frequency." it's more likely caused by faulty wiring. Take them back and demand a new set. If that doesn't solve the problem, hook the power for them up to a surge strip that can be killed when not in use. If it was true resonant frequency, they would pick up the radio when not plugged in at all. they are picking up the transmission through the power lines, probably a ground loop. Okay Mr. Wizzard...How come when I lay my cell phone on the shelf near the bedroom stereo...(a little one the iPod docks into) Right before the phone starts ringing there is an obnoxious 'buzz' 2-3 seconds prior to the actual ring, which continues (if left unanswered) until the voicemail picks up...which I then can hear quite clearly through the stereo speakers? ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #14 April 16, 2008 Years ago, I had an older hearing aid that I swore I was hearing something that sounded like a radio station broadcasting directly into my ear. It was only that one aid. I never had it happen again. I can't explain it, although my college roommate thought it was theoretically impossible. I do remember I started having problems with that aid around that time so possibly there was a short inside or something. It was an over-the-ear aid."Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #15 April 16, 2008 Quote Quote If it was true resonant frequency, they would pick up the radio when not plugged in at all. they are picking up the transmission through the power lines, probably a ground loop. Nope - they pick up the station when not plugged in at all as well. I have to hold it to my ears, but it's there! At Perris one of our AFF students SWORE he heard (through his radio earpiece at 4,000') Taco Bell down the street asking "Can I take your order?". ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightingale 0 #16 April 16, 2008 No idea... I had something really creepy happen to me in college that was probably a similar phenomenon. I was in the concert hall just after midnight, recording for the soundtrack for a film project I was working on. My friend was up in the audio booth working sound, and I was down on the stage at the piano. I finished my song and sat quietly, waiting for my friend to indicate that he'd stopped recording. Instead, when I looked up at the booth, he was gesturing to me frantically. I went running up there. The lights on the inputs were still flashing, like there was still a low level of sound going into the system. This concert hall was built for recording, was highly soundproofed, and there wasn't a sound in the place other than the two of us, and we weren't talking. We were looking at each other, thinking WTF, when the lights stopped. We rewound the tape and played it back. At first, all we heard was static, and then, when we cranked the volume up to max, we heard the school choir singing Faure's Requiem. I was completely freaked out, because the last time we had performed that piece, it was at the funeral of one of the choir's mentors, who had selected that requiem for the choir a year earlier, and who always sat in the audience whenever there was music happening in the concert hall, even if it was just a recording or rehearsal. If there was music happening in that hall, he was there. Half the choir, upon hearing this, was firmly convinced it was some kind of message from the grave, letting us know he was still listening. Personally, I think the recording was probably being broadcast on the school's radio station, and the equipment picked it up, or the tape had been used so many times that it had recorded one of our rehearsals and didn't erase completely. Either way, it was weird and kind of cool. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RevJim 0 #17 April 16, 2008 Quote Quote I can't say I'd call that a "resonant frequency." it's more likely caused by faulty wiring. Take them back and demand a new set. If that doesn't solve the problem, hook the power for them up to a surge strip that can be killed when not in use. If it was true resonant frequency, they would pick up the radio when not plugged in at all. they are picking up the transmission through the power lines, probably a ground loop. Okay Mr. Wizzard...How come when I lay my cell phone on the shelf near the bedroom stereo...(a little one the iPod docks into) Right before the phone starts ringing there is an obnoxious 'buzz' 2-3 seconds prior to the actual ring, which continues (if left unanswered) until the voicemail picks up...which I then can hear quite clearly through the stereo speakers? Well, that's easy. It's ghosts. You see, they are pissed at you. they've gone ahead without you, from eons ago. They're getting sick and tired of waiting!It's your life, live it! Karma RB#684 "Corcho", ASK#60, Muff#3520, NCB#398, NHDZ#4, C-33989, DG#1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airtwardo 6 #18 April 16, 2008 Quote Quote Quote I can't say I'd call that a "resonant frequency." it's more likely caused by faulty wiring. Take them back and demand a new set. If that doesn't solve the problem, hook the power for them up to a surge strip that can be killed when not in use. If it was true resonant frequency, they would pick up the radio when not plugged in at all. they are picking up the transmission through the power lines, probably a ground loop. Okay Mr. Wizzard...How come when I lay my cell phone on the shelf near the bedroom stereo...(a little one the iPod docks into) Right before the phone starts ringing there is an obnoxious 'buzz' 2-3 seconds prior to the actual ring, which continues (if left unanswered) until the voicemail picks up...which I then can hear quite clearly through the stereo speakers? Well, that's easy. It's ghosts. You see, they are pissed at you. they've gone ahead without you, from eons ago. They're getting sick and tired of waiting! Thank God...I thought the voices in my head went cellular! ~~Can ya HEAR ME NOW?! ~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
