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I have an old Creative Inspire 5.1 surround system hooked up to the computer I use with a movie projector. The speaker system has recently begun to give off a weird sort of discharge sound, and it really does sound like a very deep "whoomph", lasting about half a second. The sound appears to come from all speakers, not just one of them, and it happens mostly when the computer isn't playing a sound but I've also heard it while watching a movie.

What can cause such a sound? It sounds like some sort of power build-up that is released at uneven intervals.

Update:

  • I wielded a screwdriver and inspected the subwoofer's electronics. I remember an old motherboard once died of bad capacitors and thought this might be part of the problem here, too. A visual inspection of the capacitors and the electronics board in general didn't reveal any problems though, so the bad-caps hypothesis is ruled out.
  • The computer is ruled out as well because the speakers go "whoomph" even when not connected to any source.
  • That leaves the 220->110V transformer as possible cause, and I can't definitely rule out the subwoofer electronics either. Testing the transformer for this phenomenon is simply not practical, and I have no further means to test the speaker electronics. It seems I can't pursue this any further; sadly I might have to replace the speaker system entirely.

Some techie details about my setup:

The subwoofer acts as a connection hub, so all cables go from there -- 5 speakers, 1 volume/power control, and 3 "stereo walkman" cables to the computer (no digital audio signal). The computer is configured to use a 5.1 speaker system. (Computer-related details have been removed after I ruled out the computer as root cause. Check the post history if you're curious.)

The only special thing is that the trusty old Creative 5.1 set is 110V but my house is on 220V, so I've always had the speakers powered via a 220V->110V transformer. This was never a problem, but perhaps age is catching up (I bought it in Japan 12 years ago!). I don't have a spare transformer to test, nor any other 110V equipment, so it's difficult to test whether the transformer is at fault.

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  • I have owned one of these. Good set of speakers for that time. The only thing I can think of is the transformer. Have you tried replacing that one?
    – LPChip
    Commented Jul 27, 2014 at 19:07
  • No, it's near impossible to find a transformer here, and they're quite costly so I'm hoping the problem is elsewhere. But I mentioned it because it might be part of the problem, yes.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Jul 27, 2014 at 19:12
  • Can you test the transformer with something else? such as a lightbulb or such? If that goes brigher with the same kind of frequency, you know its the problem.
    – LPChip
    Commented Jul 27, 2014 at 19:14
  • This relic is the only 110V equipment I own. Also, there is no regular interval for this. It might be 10 minutes, an hour, anything.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Jul 27, 2014 at 19:17
  • A simple lightbulb will run on V110 and V220. The only exception is that the light is less shiney. Unless the plug is actually different too. That would change things.
    – LPChip
    Commented Jul 27, 2014 at 19:21

1 Answer 1

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Sound Blaster Live 5.1 is an audio card, which you probably don't use anymore, since you replaced you computer, with all-in-one motherboard. Speaker system must be one of GigaWorks or Inspire, but you didn't provide that information.

Since you wrote this started happening from the thime you replaced your PC, I will share what I experienced myself, see if one of these applies to you.

  • Speakers are connected with Digital Cable (SP-DIF or the likes) and when no sound is playing, speakers "go to sleep". When sound starts to play again (any system-sound, for example Windows bleep when browsing internet, in my case) speakers restart with big whomph (my logitech 5500 does that, exactly as you wrote, half-a-second thump).
  • Your sound driver / application is set to "energy saving" or whatever, that causes it to disconnect it's outputs when no sound plays for certain amount of time. Try finding and changing that setting. I can't provide exact step, because I have no ubuntu desktop and can't know how driver / application looks like. I will provide, however, screenshot of my DELL computer's driver app. My system isn't english, though. Note, that when this is turned on, I also get a quiet thump in my headphones, but not as alarming as the one from Logitech Z-5500 and my desktop PC.

Dell MaxxAudio

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  • I have exactly the same experience with a similar set of speakers from Altec Lansing. They go into power-saving mode and then make that kind of noise when they turn on again.
    – Moshe Katz
    Commented Jul 28, 2014 at 3:05
  • My situation is different because this happens even while I'm watching a movie, and also numerous consecutive times while the computer is not doing anything at all; why should it toggle in and out of saving mode? I don't see how that could be caused by power-saving. Also, these speakers are 12 years old and I find it hard to believe that they'd have any "power saving" in them! Btw, mine are connected using the usual analog "stereo walkman" plugs, not digital. My computer only uses built-in Linux audio drivers and there are no power settings there, nor in the BIOS.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Jul 28, 2014 at 15:38
  • If they do it at random, then it's probably different matter. I didn't say, however, that Speakers go into power saving mode, mine just shut out when there's no input. The same set of speakers do nothing when connected to computer by analog cable. WHY did constructors make this decision is beyond me, but they did, and I was frustrated with that, enough to give up digital connection. THE power saving mode setting is within a driver, and nowhere else. So if I had linux instead, which would be the default: with or without power saving? There's no driver for linux to change the setting...
    – Kitet
    Commented Jul 28, 2014 at 19:33
  • You're right; the speaker set is Creative Inspire 5.1, not Soundblaster.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Aug 7, 2014 at 20:02

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