Bose Companion 20 - power supply making high pitch sound

[wuhtzu]

Hi everyone

I have recently bought a set of Bose Companion 20 speakers. They are really great (though expensive) except for one thing.

Right from the beginning the power supply (and a replacement power supply the sent me after I complained) made an easily audible (when not listening to music or the like of course) high pitch sound. This is when it is just lying behind my desk on the floor.

All power supplies of this type makes buzzing sounds if you put it right against your ear (power supplies for laptops, speakers, monitors etc), so that's not what I am talking about.

It is the kind of sound whose intensity changes dramatically with the angle of your head. Change the angle of your head the tiniest bit and you cannot hear it. Change it back and it is unmistakably there again. It makes me the most irritated in the morning when I wake up (my bed and the speakers are in the same room, I'm a student, living in a small apartment). No other noises are there, your ears/brain have had all night to "reset" and then there is this high pitch sound if you place your head in the wrong angle on the pillow.

So if you own a pair of Bose Companion 20, please let me know if you experience this as well. Bose say that they haven't heard anyone complain about it before.

Best regards
Wuhtzu

 

[bruce0126]

We have exactly the same problem with Bose Companion 20 speakers that my wife just bought. Plus, she puts them right next to our bed so it is really annoying when trying to sleep at night. The hissing noise appears right after you plug the power cord in, but disappears after the control pod is turned on. I guess I'll have to leave it on all the time to avoid that noise or make a trip to return it.

By the way, if you plan on leaving this speaker always on, the power comparison is:
0.3 Watts (Standby) vs 2.4 Watts (Powered On)

It is very kind of you to respond to this post BoseService.

Maybe I was a bit unclear in one of my replies, Bose has not exchanged the speakers yet, just offered to to so. So I am still in possession of my Companion 20 speakers.

I have since my last post discovered that the high pitch noise is only there when the speakers are turned off / on standby (plugged into the wall socket but turned off/put into standby using the control-pod). As soon as the speakers are turned on again (via the control pod) the high pitch noise disappears.

This must be something other people have reported.

 

[wuhtzu]

My speakers turn themselves off after a period of time (10 minutes or so) with no activity. So for me it was not an option to leave them always on.

We have exactly the same problem with Bose Companion 20 speakers that my wife just bought. Plus, she puts them right next to our bed so it is really annoying when trying to sleep at night. The hissing noise appears right after you plug the power cord in, but disappears after the control pod is turned on. I guess I'll have to leave it on all the time to avoid that noise or make a trip to return it.

By the way, if you plan on leaving this speaker always on, the power comparison is:
0.3 Watts (Standby) vs 2.4 Watts (Powered On)

It is very kind of you to respond to this post BoseService.

Maybe I was a bit unclear in one of my replies, Bose has not exchanged the speakers yet, just offered to to so. So I am still in possession of my Companion 20 speakers.

I have since my last post discovered that the high pitch noise is only there when the speakers are turned off / on standby (plugged into the wall socket but turned off/put into standby using the control-pod). As soon as the speakers are turned on again (via the control pod) the high pitch noise disappears.

This must be something other people have reported.

 

[Shmilyjq]

Hi , guys I have same issue with my companion 20 here!
I really want to say Bose quality just like shirt !,!

 

[Shmilyjq]

I can't sleep , if I don't plug out the power cord !
And also I have a Bose music monitor speakers , it is same shirt quality from Bose !

 

[Tony-25]

Same problem. The high pitch sound is there, even with the control pod turned on. The only way to make it quiet is to unplug it from the power source. After the purchase, I unplugged it just to sleep but now I have to unplug it even during day time, it got really worse after only 4 months of use.

 

[Bebie]

I have the exact same problem. It makes this high pitch noise when the speaker is turned off. Not sure how to fix the noise. It turns off by itself after not using for a while, so it's not even an option to leave it on all the time. Anyone knows how to fix it?

 

[paulojmc]

I have the exact same problem. It makes this high pitch noise when the speaker is turned off. Not sure how to fix the noise. It turns off by itself after not using for a while, so it's not even an option to leave it on all the time. Anyone knows how to fix it?

Hello,

The solution for me was to disable automatic standby, and leave it on all the time...

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Automatic standby

The Companion® 20 system automatically goes into the standby state after two hours when there is no audio signal or the volume is turned all the way down. You can disable automatic standby so the system is always on when connected to power.

To disable automatic standby

On the the control pod, lightly press and hold the top center for approximately six seconds until you hear two tones that chime from high to low.

To re-enable automatic standby

On the control pod, lightly press and hold the top center again until you hear two tones that chime from low to high.​

Source:
http/ worldwide.bose.com/productsupport/en/web/article_573_automatic_standby/page.html?productlabel=companion20_series1

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Regards.
Paulo

 

[arafatjahan]

Hi i'm facing the same issue for Companion® 20 multimedia speaker system just bought before 5 days ago. When my speaker are in idle then a pitch sound is very loudly hear from the adapter. And also have another question that as there have no power button except when i touch the pod control the speaker turn off. but it is actually not turn off the adapter. So is it safe to put the adapter plugin for all the time and only switch off/on the speaker by pod touch button?

Hi there. We represent Bose's technical support group.

We're sorry to hear that you had to return your Companion 20, but we wanted to respond to your posting here.

We'd like to acknowledge that a slight hum is not out of the ordinary for a power supply of this type. Being able to hear it without being very close to it is not though.

It's recommended that any customer who owns a Companion 20 and is concerned that the power supply is louder than it should be should contact our technical support at 1-800-711-5772 - Monday - Friday: 8:30AM - 10:00PM , Saturday: 9:00AM - 7:00PM.

Thanks!

 

[xytiz123]

This high pitch noise is from the 60Hz AC power to DC power conversion. Bose has not cared enough to design the power supply with robust noise suppression...

Whats happening is when the amplitude of the signal reaches certain voltage in our case +ve 110V diode has to switch on and again at -ve 110v the problem is switching takes certain time .. So in order to smooth out the noise there needs to be a high frequency filter in place. Looks like Bose has missed putting it in their design...thats the problem with AC to DC conversion , if its not done correctly the problems become complicated especially when an amplifier is encountered in the subsequent stages of sound/signal processing..

 

[olen__]

I HEAR THE HIGH PITCH NOISE!!!! I thought it was my AppleTV in standby. It was NOT the AppleTV. It was the charger plug for my Bose Soundlink Mini. When plugged in and NOT charging the speaker, it makes that awful noise. I used an app called SpectrumView to analyze it; there are two wavelengths. Audible at 8250Hz and inaudible (to me) at 16000Hz! crazy! so now I unplug it when not charging. That's less of a hassle than returning it. I wonder what other wavelengths from other devices are quietly driving us all completely insane or rattling our cells into dysplasia.