HDD Noise getting through system to Subs only ?..

[FNQGuy]

Only happened when I swapped out the SSD Lappy to a HDD all in one.. Its got me stuffed..
The Setup is..
AIO , HDMI Flacs out, to Marantz 1509, 1509 drives the uppers of the towers, MTM. Piggy back Line out to Behringer A800 for low mid and woof.. Yes the towers are 5 way...
1509 Subs L & R out to second A800 to drive Subs .. Now, the whirring and clicking is the HDD in the AIO, its obvious.. faint but audible in low ambient noise, the volume on the A800 can be anywhere but the volume of noise is the same, whilst the ups and mids remain completely silent. Ive moved cables, swapped amps, tried everything I can think of. My current guess is that the sub outs on the 1509 are sensitive to RF. Dunno, Im at a loss, Anyone anything similar, please... ??

 

[dfuller]

HDD motors in my experience throw off a truly goofy amount of noise - and if you have any amount of ground current leakage, it becomes audible. There are two solutions here:
1. Swap the HDD for an SSD. This may or may not be easy - AIOs are a pain like that.
2. Swap the Marantz for something with balanced outs. Balanced I/O doesn't so much fix the current leakage problem as it does eliminate common mode noise.

 

[FNQGuy]

HDD motors in my experience throw off a truly goofy amount of noise - and if you have any amount of ground current leakage, it becomes audible. There are two solutions here:
1. Swap the HDD for an SSD. This may or may not be easy - AIOs are a pain like that.
2. Swap the Marantz for something with balanced outs. Balanced I/O doesn't so much fix the current leakage problem as it does eliminate common mode noise.

Ahh yes I understand, thank you.. Ill have to switch back to the lappy SSD, Damn too small a capacity...Maybe I could drop a cap across the subs being passive and just filter it out... Its only noticeable at night when its quiet and I don't want to wake the war office...I thought it might be the interconnects.
That was ruled out when I swapped the roles of the A800's interconnects and all, problem did not follow...From what your saying and the only thing I have not tried is distance between the AIO and the 1509... Its food for thought and I appreciate it... Cheers...

 

[CIT PhD]

Several years ago when I lived in property with an HOA, I was forced to put my ham radio antenna in the attic. Whenever I would broadcast, the output could be heard in every sub woofer in the house. It was nicely de-modulated, so it definitely was not something that wires were doing. All the subs were powered and turning the power off stopped the interference. I didn't investigate any further, but am convinced the the (mostly class D) amplifiers in these subs were not shielded properly and somehow received the RF signals and de-modulated them. (Note that I was putting 100 watts of RF into the antenna, which was no more than 30-40 ft. from the subs) I have never tried to test an HDD for noise, but I bet if you put it near the amplifier that drives the subs you might find the amp to be the problem. One way to test is to turn off the sub amp(s) and see if the noise goes away. I bet it will.

 

[dfuller]

Several years ago when I lived in property with an HOA, I was forced to put my ham radio antenna in the attic. Whenever I would broadcast, the output could be heard in every sub woofer in the house. It was nicely de-modulated, so it definitely was not something that wires were doing. All the subs were powered and turning the power off stopped the interference. I didn't investigate any further, but am convinced the the (mostly class D) amplifiers in these subs were not shielded properly and somehow received the RF signals and de-modulated them. (Note that I was putting 100 watts of RF into the antenna, which was no more than 30-40 ft. from the subs) I have never tried to test an HDD for noise, but I bet if you put it near the amplifier that drives the subs you might find the amp to be the problem. One way to test is to turn off the sub amp(s) and see if the noise goes away. I bet it will.

I have, unintentionally, with guitar pickups. I can hear the drive spin up and turn off because a characteristic whine goes away. One of these days I'm replacing that drive with an SSD and I'll finally be rid of any magnetic storage for full-time use.

 

[FNQGuy]

Several years ago when I lived in property with an HOA, I was forced to put my ham radio antenna in the attic. Whenever I would broadcast, the output could be heard in every sub woofer in the house. It was nicely de-modulated, so it definitely was not something that wires were doing. All the subs were powered and turning the power off stopped the interference. I didn't investigate any further, but am convinced the the (mostly class D) amplifiers in these subs were not shielded properly and somehow received the RF signals and de-modulated them. (Note that I was putting 100 watts of RF into the antenna, which was no more than 30-40 ft. from the subs) I have never tried to test an HDD for noise, but I bet if you put it near the amplifier that drives the subs you might find the amp to be the problem. One way to test is to turn off the sub amp(s) and see if the noise goes away. I bet it will.

Ah, I thought it was the Amp too, but I have 2 identical class D, and if I swap the inputs cables and all, the problem stays with the sub, and its passive. the problem only dissappears if i turn off the AIO. What confuses me is why its only the sub thats affected regardless of the config. Ive come to the conclusion that for some reason the sub outs on the marantz are sensitive to RF. Probably the wrong assumption, but to me its the only one that makes any sense..