Subwoofer feedback on Audigy

[Wakeboarder141]

I have an Audigy X-Gamer hooked up through the digital out to my Sony AV receiver. Everything works fine, but when I have the digital output hooked up, my powered sub emits a faint hum constanyly. The higher I turn up the sub, the louder it is. If I unplug the digital out from the sound card, the sound stops. If I turn off the receiver the sound stops. Anyone have any ideas how I can get rid of this? Thanks.

Aaron

[shrae]

Are you using coaxial or optical out? If it's coaxial try using a different cable. (Edit: originally recommended using an optical cable, but the X-Gamer doesn't have optical out, d'oh.)

It should be a soundcard issue or a cable issue (the cable between the soundcard and the receiver), since unplugging the digital cable eliminates the problem. It's possible that there is interference. Either way it's a very odd problem; most of the time when a subwoofer hums it is a ground loop or polarity issue, but in this case it doesn't seem to fit into those categories.

[shrae]

Actually, I guess it could be a ground loop problem between the computer and the receiver. (Edit: I just realized the X-Gamer doesn't have optical out. It's possible that the coaxial is receiving interference or is part of a ground loop.)

Of course it's still hard to say... in any case, one way to eliminate potential ground loop is to connect all the relevant components to the same circuit. Maybe try plugging in your subwoofer and your receiver into the same plug / powerstrip that your computer is plugged into.

[Wakeboarder141]

Well, I tried plugging everything in to the same powerstrip and that didn't help at all. I have two of the same cables, and both of them still have the feedback. What do you think would be the most likely cause? The cable I am using is a relatively cheap radio shack brand 1/8" mono miniplug to RCA phono plug cable. Could the cable cause this? Thanks.

[shrae]

If it's not a ground loop issue, then it'd have to be a cable issue if you're not having problems with the sub on any other hookup. Have you tried using direct analog 5.1?

Also, what model speakers/sub and receiver are you using? You may want to poke around usenet a bit and see if anyone is having problems with the same equipment.

What's odd about this is that all your other speakers are working fine... if there is interference to the coax signal it shouldn't just be the sub acting up. This sounds like a ground loop problem.

BTW, is it a three-prong or two-prong connector on the sub? You may want to check polarity.

[pinoy87]

i have an audigy2 hooked up to a yamaha rxv530 receiver via a coaxial digital cable. my infinity subwoofer seems to work fine - no hums at any volume and works flawlessly loud when i want it to.

try plugging the sub to another source (i mean the reciever) and see if the sub still makes the hum. u need to eliminate all other sources before we can honestly say that the problem is either a groundloop, interference, or just plain bad sub.

[Wakeboarder141]

It uses the regular red and white RCA connectors so I know those are hooked up correctly. I don't think there could be anything wrong with the sub because if I disconnect that cable everything plays just fine with no hum from all sources. I haven't tried hooking the sound up analog. I was really trying to stay away from having to run all those wires.

[shrae]

Originally posted by Wakeboarder141
It uses the regular red and white RCA connectors so I know those are hooked up correctly.

Which plugs on the receiver are the RCA connectors plugged into? Check to make sure that your sub is supposed to receive powered or unpowered signal, and make sure that the corresponding outputs are correct.

Is it possible to hook up your sub to receiver using LFE only?

If you can, hook up analog. Just to test it out.

[Wakeboarder141]

The output on the reciever is an unpowered single output so I have to use a splitter to the receiver from the RCA cables. I can also hook the sub up with high lvl inputs which use the speaker cables from the front right and left speakers, but it is a pain to have that much speaker cable running around my room. I am not familiar with what LFE means, how can I check if I have that? Thanks.

[Wakeboarder141]

This is getting very annoying. Does anyone else have any ideas on what I can do to get rid of this noise? Thanks.