Nooby studio monitor issues

[chickenhide]

Hi all,

I have some KRK G3R5s, my first pair of monitors, and after setting them up I have noticed two problems.

1) I immediately noticed a fuzz/hum from both monitors. It seems to be somehow related to my computer because when I move my mouse, the speakers produce a weird distorted sound. It's constantly making a sound, but moving the mouse "modulates" the sound in a way, which I thought was very strange.

I am using a dual TRS to 3.5mm cable (no audio interface yet) straight into my PC. The distortion does not happen when unplugged from the computer. I also have both monitors, my computer AND computer monitors plugged into one power strip - which the KRK manual says is suggested but other websites say the complete opposite, that I should have the monitors plugged into their own strip.

2) my left monitor sounds louder than the right. I had my friend sit down and listen and he agreed, so it's not hearing loss. The right speaker IS closer to a corner of my room, but wouldn't that make the RIGHT speaker louder, not the left? Is it acceptable to turn up the gain of the right speaker to compensate? I don't have any other way to setup the monitors so if there is a way to make it work with this corner (I'll post a pic after work tonight) that would be ideal.


Thanks for any input in advance. I know these are simple questions but I'm clueless when it comes to hardware.

[rod_zero]

For the first problem there are two possible causes: a ground loop or a noisy power supply. Both are hard to eliminate completely but one way to reduce it is to connect the monitors to a different outlet than the computer.

As for the volume, there is a way to macth them, Presonus has a video on their youtube channel on how to use pink noise and a phone app that meassures SPL to closely match speaker volume.

[BertKoor]

a fuzz/hum from both monitors. It seems to be somehow related to my computer because when I move my mouse, the speakers produce a weird distorted sound. It's constantly making a sound, but moving the mouse "modulates" the sound in a way, which I thought was very strange.

I am using a dual TRS to 3.5mm cable (no audio interface yet) straight into my PC. The distortion does not happen when unplugged from the computer.

That's onboard audio in all its glory. Get a decent interface and it's gone. The internals of a computer are not designed for high fidelity audio, it's RF interference hell there.

And oh yeah, when the computer and monitors share the same ground through 3-prong power cables, that could make it much worse.

my left monitor sounds louder than the right.

That's why there's a volume knob (at the back, alas.) If you have them both at full blast, the difference should be minimal. But it's possible that they are both calibrated a bit differently. Also possible: the 3.5mm plug does not make good contact.

What I would do, is connect them to a cd player or hifi set or whatever, something with RCA connectors that outputs regular line level. To rule out the 3.5mm plug is the cause. And set it up on the table in your living room so room acoustics don't play any part as well. If under these conditions they are still more than 1dB apart in level: send them back under warranty.

[chickenhide]

Thanks a bunch, guys. I guess my biggest priority should be getting an interface. So is it okay to have one speakers volume higher than the other to compensate for poor stereo imaging due to my room setup? (if I can rule out defective speakers)

[tehlord]

An audio interface will definitely help the situation with noise, but may not eradicate it completely. It's common for home based setups to have at least a little hiss/hum. As long as it doesn't interfere with the mixing process it's best ignored.

As for the volume mismatch, it's worth swapping the monitors around to see if one is actually louder than the other or if it's a room issue.

If it's a monitor issue then send them back. Rokits sadly aren't very good and do have more build quality issues than other brands.

[umusachi]

A new interface will surely remove the hum / buzz. I had the same issue when I started.

Regarding volumes there's usually some way to set the monitor's volume via a knob / pot. Once the pots / knobs are set the same they should be fairly similar. If they're not quite there then just adjust one. If they're totally different there may be an issue though....

[ShawnG]

For the first issue, you need one of two things. I used to use a presonus inspire external interface, and it ground looped like crazy, so I bought something called a "buzz off" for like 60 bucks that i ran the output through and that solved the noise. When the inspire died I bought a Focusrite Saffire with balanced outputs, no noise out of those. So either get an interface with balanced outs, or get a ground loop defeating direct box.

Agree with the others about the volume mismatch.