Sudden speaker interference

crossmr

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2006
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18,510
I've got an issues with some speakers experiencing some sudden interference.
I've had these speakers and this set up for well over 2 years, and no change was made. About 2 months ago I started getting intermittent bursts of static from the speaker. Sometimes it would go on for a little while, other times it would last just a short time. Sometimes it wouldn't happen for at least a week (that I noticed)
It's finally gotten annoying enough that I'm trying to do something about it. Key points:
1)When the PC is off the speakers will still make the noise
2)when the speakers are totally unplugged from the computer they'll still make the noise
3)When the speakers are moved to an entirely different room they'll stop making the noise (or at least as far as I can tell from the short test I did, the speakers are firing off about every 5-10 seconds right now and after 5 minutes nothing in the other room)
4)When moved to another outlet in this room and moved across the room they'll still make the noise albeit a little bit less loudly.

I haven't added any electronics devices in the room, and the fact that they do it when the machine is completely shut down tells me it is unlikely to be anything like that.
The fact that they seem to stop in another room tells me it's not the speakers themselves.

I just can't figure out what the interference would be. My only thought is that the downstairs or upstairs neighbour has put in some kind of new equipment of some kind that might interfere, but I can't think of what might interfere into the next apartment like that.

I have a wireless router here in the room, but that's been there as long as the setup I have.

[edit]
Further edit here. I finally got a hold of some other speakers to swap out, and low and behold, they're doing the same thing. Different brand, etc. So clearly some interference in this general area, but I can't imagine what it is..
I've tried:
completely turning off my cell phone (it's 4G but anyway)
unplugging the wireless router
disconnecting the external hard drive that sits slightly near the speakers (but has always been there)
removing my logitech unifying receiver for my mouse
removing the logitech mini receiver for my keyboard (note that the mouse and keyboard do seem to stutter during these recent bursts of interference)
turning off the printer
 

crossmr

Distinguished
Mar 19, 2006
2
0
18,510
That might make sense if it wasn't localized to one spot in the room. I'm also on the fifth floor of my apartment building, and not in the US so I can't file a complaint with the FCC. This also carries on randomly through the day. Usually it shows up for an hour or two then goes away, but the last 24 hours it's been fairly consistent. I've attempted to account for every single thing in the room that is electric and turn each off gave no relief yesterday (already assuming it's not the PC as the speakers did it for the better part of a night a couple weeks ago while the PC was turned off)
I actually ripped the ferrite bead out of an old cable and stuck the speaker wires through it (near the speaker) and wrapped it around and it made no difference at all.
Both speakers still spat out the same interference at the same volume at the same time.

I'm looking at getting an EMI thing to plug into the socket and see if that helps as nothing else seems to help or remotely change it at all.

While it gets interference on the other side of the room, it's noticeably less noise coming from the speakers there, and in a farther away room, I didn't notice any interference. My guess is that it is something either in the apartment directly above or below, but I'm not sure what that would be.