telling myself it's ok to spend $200

[opabinia]

I never want to put all my receipts from the car buildup together in one place. The project has been so costly*, I hesitate to spend money on anything else. I refuse to think about what the obligatory biennial-ish trip to Puerto Rico cost.

Guided by atalanta and mrzero's rave reviews, I bought a pair of Audioengine A2's. My six-year-old Cambridge Soundworks stuff has declined steadily, and now it buzzes and wails intolerably. The woofer doesn't woof so much as crackle. I really didn't want to spend the money, but I use this stuff every day, and I can't deal with the

*brrzzziiiiiiiiiiifjjjjrrrrrzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaarrpp*

when the volume is low, or the

*crack crack crack crack*

when it's high.

I'm unsure if the CS system simply deteriorated with age, or if there's some unknown and growing radio frequency noise problem. It could be a combination of the two: materials can decompose, allowing noise to penetrate. I don't know anything about audio or electronics, though. anechoic looked at the problem a couple of months ago. He scratched his head, and uttered the dread statement: "It could be anything."

The oddest thing: if iTunes is on, and I move the scroll wheel on the mouse, the noise goes away while the wheel is moving. If I toggle between browser windows, the noise quiets down for an instant. Could be that my computer is getting radio-leakier, and not the speakers. DamnitIdon'tknow. There's no quieting the woofer issues, anyway.

If there's a growing source of radio interference anywhere in here, I hope the A2's are impermeable to it. At the very least, I look forward to owning speakers that don't have this awful CS feedback dial volume control wheel.



* As I said before, I'm trying to categorize this as an education-related expense. Now I know more about putting a car together, and I know how not to contract the work out.

Comments

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

I was told a while ago that there was a known problem with the CS volume wheels (I have 2 sets similar to yours, if not identical, and both conked out in the same way).

You'll like the A2s a lot, I think!
They are definitely excellent quality for their price range (actually for well above their range).

[seishino.livejournal.com]

Sound cards are definitely leaky, especially on-board ones. Have you tried with an external USB sound card? Does the same thing happen when other people plug their laptops in to your speakers?

Have you tried filtering power to your speakers via UPS or running on battery?

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

I didn't go too far with diagnostics, because even if the radio noise was remedied, I'd still have volume wheel and senile woofer problems. I will definitely try this stuff if the A2s sound radio-noisy, though.

[developer.livejournal.com]

Do you know that I have two pairs of bookshelf speakers and a sub like yours in the basement? And a receiver the size of the one in the living room. Plus a pair of surrounds!

Like, we're awash in fucking speakers.

Unfortunately, not powered speakers.

[anechoic.livejournal.com]

He scratched his head, and uttered the dread statement: "It could be anything."

I'm afraid you've got cows, Mr. Farnsworth.

[lepidosiren.livejournal.com]

Hah. That's more or less what developer said, too.