Are all powered monitor noisy? I have had a couple pair in the past and both of them had some noise, not a lot but definitely part of the equation. I use a lot of field recording, which are often quiet, and some has wind/wave/noise to them, so I find it annoying that my monitor are not completely silent. Are there silent powered monitor or I should look into something else?
My Genelec 8330’s are very silent. Are you shure you didnt have a ground loop issue or something? Or had the gain up very high on the monitors?
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Well I am a bit freak about noise, my computer is completely fan less and I hacked my vs-1860 to make virtually no sound and I live in a place where silence is all around. We can actually ‘smell’ car before we can hear them! But yeah I’ve tested my power and tried in different ground connection. I’ve read here and there about powered monitor that always have a bit of a hum, and today and the music store the sales guy was kind of not being able to get the right info about noise and powered monitor… I’ll look at the model you are using! thanks!
ah right at 1600$ a pair, I would definitely hope I don’t hear these when they are turned on. I wonder if it’s just a question of price. The last pair I bought for 600$ for both.
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They do cost a bit. But well worth the investment.
I have read about self noise on powered monitors, but dont have any experience with anything but the ones i got. I do hear some noise from mine if i set them to max volume. But then it is so much louder than neceseary so i could make music that way.
There are cheaper genelec monitors without the dsp calibration. I think they should be on the same level regarding self noise.
i have the 8010’s and the 8030’s- the 8010’s have quite a bit of hiss, the 8030’s much less so, but it is there. in my experience all powered monitors have some (low level) noise, at least at the price points ive been able to manage. never enough to bother me tho
Right, that’s what I’ve heard when searching around. I’m wondering if there is something around this? Would the only solution be using an amp and passive speakers? Do people use that in a studio settings?
I find it strange that passive speaker should make less noise. But that seems to be the case. I saw genelec mention something about 5-10db of noise on their monitors. For most that will be inaudible. A totally “silent” room often has 30-40db of background noise.
Do they make noise powered up with no audio plugged into them?
And is this white noise or a hum with a specific frequency?
Sounds like a ground loop. Unplug the monitor and take it to another room far away from the studio. If you can plug it into an outlet somewhere else and it has no noise, you know it’s a loop in the studio room.
You should not have audible noise
yeah nothing plugged in. It’s a good idea to record that noise an analyze the frequency. These are fairly cheap monitor, I might end up buying something with a bit more oomph to them… Thanks everyone to help on this.
Do they make noise when they are the only thing turned on sharing the same power outlet? If they are quiet with everything else turned off, you can try turning individual things on one by one to see if anything else is introducing noise.