Noise In Speakers

[mbamike]

I have a high pitch noise emitting from my computer speakers. The noise is still there when I mute the volume. Unplugging my router and Access Point has no effect on the noise.

The speakers are the ones that came with the system. It is a Dell XPS 420. Does anyone have any ideas how I can rid my speakers of this noise?

 

[trinket]

You might try this thread for your exact computer model, "XPS 420 speaker noise" or this one, "Dell XPS 420 loud/high pitched squeal/noise". (Although, the poster is the second thread seems to mistake that sound for a BIOS/boot sound, which is unrelated, another person or two chimes in it's definitely the PC speakers for their issue.)

Also this thread doesn't reference your specific model, but see if the stereo vs. surround concept works for you.

It's helpful to isolate whether it's the speakers themselves or the sound card/driver causing the sound. You were right to eliminate other aspects of electrical interference the speakers might be picking up. Sometimes if they're too close to a monitor, lamp, TV or something else generating an electrical field you can get noise or distortion. I suggest you can try removing the speakers entirely from your setup and putting them somewhere without many electrical devices around (say, sitting on a kitchen counter or something). Plug them into the power and turn them all the way up without any sound card input and see if you're getting that kind of squeal. You could also try inputting from another source, like the headphone output of an MP3 player or TV or something. Then, try headphones as an output device on your PC instead of the speakers (assuming it's standard 1/8" output and not digital connection) and see if you get any noise from the PC's soundcard itself. If the sound is clear from all the things in this paragraph, it unfortunately might be the combination of the model of PC soundcard (and its configuration) and the speakers as a few people have talked about in those threads.

 

[burke67]

Trinket's pretty much covered everything...

I'll add that you might try plugging the speakers into the front headphone output vs. the rear speaker output (or vice versa) as another possible isolation point for the issue. Test both outputs with headphones too.

 

[mbamike]

A little more information. . .

the noise is still there when I unplug the speakers from the computer's audio output. The woofer has a power cord and two external speakers connected to it. The on/off control with volume control is on one of the external speakers.

 

[star-warrior]

Do you have a microphone plugged in, or with your computer? It might be a feedback loop.

 

[mbamike]

Do you have a microphone plugged in, or with your computer? It might be a feedback loop.

No, there is no microphone connected.

sounds like electrical interference from something... have you tried moving them into a totally different room and seeing if there's any change?
I've seen that happen from the speakers being too close to an older monitor, fans, or my cellphone.

I moved the speakers to the kitchen. The noise is still there.

 

[trinket]

When you say "high pitch noise", do you mean a "hum"? I know it's hard to describe over the 'net. I originally thought you might be talking about an ungodly, unnatural squeal. But since you mentioned the speakers on their own without input, I should mention standard "speaker hum" is common enough because of electrical sensitivity or grounding issues.

You can also try to make sure your power isn't too "dirty" with a proper filtered power bar or UPS (like some of the suggestions here). But keep in mind this is regular electrical hum I'm talking about which may not be your symptoms. Therefore, can you make a Youtube video of you re-creating the noise, vocally? Just kidding. But loki81 might be right - an electrician here or someone more schooled in the ways of power might have some further input (get it? speakers? input? HA!) - but a replacement might be in order.