Karaoke Forums

I've had this show regularly for over a year now, and recently have been experiencing noises from speakers. Yeah...., it's the SAME noises that we've talked about time and time again. The HUMMMMMM, the ear ringing sound, crackling like POPCORN. Well, this morning, it was TERRIBLE. I had a HUM, AND the POPCORN crackling noise. I thought (@$#%&^&^%), don't tell me my speaker is messed up. I had attributed the crackling noise to change in temperature from outside (transporting) to inside temp. Well...., this morning it was SOOO bad between the hum, and the crackling, I COULDN'T ignore it. So, FIRST, I used an adapter, just to see if it was a ground problem, NO LUCK. Then, I thought MAYBE, it's the speaker cord. Changed it, NO LUCK. So then, i thought MAYBE a bad power cord, swapped it, NO LUCK. So then I notice ANOTHER outlet in the area, plug into it, BETTER, (BUT) still there. NOW, I'm PI$$ED, so... what I do is run an extension cord from the other side of the room, and hook my speaker to it, SILENCE. Turns out that all of the outlets on that side of the room give the SAME problems. Strange how this problem just GRADUALLY got worse, and worse. So..., now all I have to do is buy a power strip with about a 50' cord. It felt SOOOOO good when the noises STOPPED. Just thought I'd share.

Rosario
Serenity Now Karaoke

Not sure if this would help in this situation, but I carry one of these and it's the first thing I plug into an outlet before any of my equipment.

http://www.testitfirst.com/site/972962/product/AMP-PY-2

Brilliant! One of my bars has what I consider off and on days (pun totally intended) with the wiring, so this would be perfect!

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Wam bam thank you m'am.

The tester is a great tool to identify a problem in the wiring, but getting it fixed after proving a problem exists can be a completely different matter.

I used to carry a short extension cord that I intentionaly wired with reverse polarity so if I encountered an outlet that someone wired backwards, I could correct it at the time just by using my special cord and those responsible for permanent repair could do that later (I'm not rewiring their building without getting electrician rates to do so).

That popping and clicking could be caused by a noisy fan or smoke eater or any other type of motor driven equipment injecting noise in the power on that circiut. Since tracking it down and getting it fixed on short notice before a show is a long shot, keeping a very long extension cord to find an outlet on a different (less noisy) circiut is good preparation.

Another good tool is a nice UPS (uninteruptable power supply) with power smoothing. It will protect your equipment from surges, spikes, and those momentary power blips that reboot or crash your system.

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KNOW THYSELF

This should be standard equipment in everyone's rig. I always test any outlets I plan to use before I plug anything in. Even when I've played there 10 times before. You never know what has changed since the last time you were there. I've seen problems ranging from no ground to Hot/Neutral reversed. Hell I even played a bar that had a 50A 220V plug that I regularly plugged into with my distro. Well after 2 years of playing in that bar I went in one night, plugged in the distro and when I plugged the tester in to test the circuits I got all sorts of weird light patterns. So after some digging I talked to the owner about the power issue. Turns out they had a supposed "electrician" in working on wiring some stuff in the kitchen. Well I don't know what the hell this guy did or how any experienced electrician could do this, but he had one of the hots and the ground reversed. NOT GOOD.

The equipment we use does not enjoy things like reversed polarity, and considering the expense we all have into it, we should be taking steps to protect it. So again, get yourself a tester, that little $15-20 piece of gear will save you $1000's in damage at some point.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Ok.
Do as Tony recommends.
All firework shows are now cancelled.

Everything went great last night, with my speaker running on extended power strips. Going to Home Depot today to get a tester, AND a power strip with 50' cord. Hey, that's why I continue to stay on this forum, SOMEBODY will know what to do in any case. Thanks for the advice on the tester.

Rosario
Serenity Now Karaoke.

If a wiring problem were to damage the tester (not likely seeing as they are designed to indicate problems, not blow up), that same wiring problem would be sure to have damaged any of my other equipment had it been plugged in. I would rather pay to replace a tester than pay to replace any other piece of my equipment!


How would you know that the outlet was wired backwards and you had to use the cord? Would that be after you already plugged your equipment in and blew it up? I hope the 'reverse' cord was well marked so that you didn't accidentally use it in lieu of a proper cord, or worse... someone else used it not knowing it was incorrectly wired!

You would know that the wall plug has reverse polarity by using the AC tester that has been talked about in this thread.