Speakers hiss/sound static when turned up
I just hooked up some Harman Kardon SoundstickII speakers to my HP Pavilion a1310n desktop. When I crank up the volume on my speakers they hiss. The hissing gets louder as I turn up the speakers. I checked Harman Kardon's site for an answer (Harman Kardon). They had this to say:
Quote:
Question: Why do my speakers make static, crackling, humming or hissing sounds?
Answer: First you need to determine where the problem is. Try connecting your speakers to another audio source such as a portable CD player. If you receive the proper sonic results, this will tell you that the problem is in the computer and/or soundcard setup. In this case there are many things to try. 1. Interference may be causing the distortion. Please check all surrounding electrical objects and place the speakers away from the problem object. 2. Ensure that the speaker input jack is pushed all the way into the appropriate jack. Check all the connections and secure them. 3. The volume on your soundcard may be set too high. Decrease the volume in your volume control panel. Also check the volume and tone controls on the speaker. 4. Sound card or audio source material may cause a problem. *note* the quality of the audio source is also a factor (i.e. bad recording). The compatibility of your CD/DVD rom drive, soundcard and software will contribute to the quality of your sound.
The speakers had no hissing when I plugged it into my portable mp3 player. I've tried grounding my computer case, but that didn't work. I even tried connecting the ground, which is also connected the middle screw on an outlet, to the speaker jack ground. Maybe the reason that none of these things worked is that the speaker electrical plug does not have a ground, whereas the system with the portable mp3 player is electrically isolated.
How can I get the hissing to stop?