Little problem.

[southall-1998]

Today, I've connected my amp and speakers to my Laptop. This is my first time!

Good sound, but keep getting this strange noise constantly coming through the speakers. Very hard to explain this sound, it reminds me of the sounds you hear on pirate radio stations.

Any reason for this?

[Alan]

Sounds like a noisy power supply maybe - does it go when you unplug the laptop and run it on battery power?

If not, it may be any number of things, from software not configured correctly to noisy regulators inside the computer.

[southall-1998]

Sounds like a noisy power supply maybe - does it go when you unplug the laptop and run it on battery power?

If not, it may be any number of things, from software not configured correctly to noisy regulators inside the computer.

Yes, Alan.

[Alan]

If you can make the sound go that easily, and your laptop can hold a decent charge, just listen without the power supply.

If, on the other hand, you really want to fix it, you might take a chance and buy a replacement charger from ebay or amazon. They are quite cheap, and might well be better quality than your noisy one, though nothing is certain!

[Tim]

Shane, if you are connecting your laptop directly to your amplifier using an interconnect or similar whilst running from the mains, I'm pretty sure what you are experiencing is Ground Loop Hum. This will cease if you disconnect the power brick to your laptop and run it from the battery. It occurs when two or more devices are connected to a common ground through different paths, so your laptop and amplifier are forming a ground loop which can cause hum in audio equipment.

You can buy an isolator fairly cheaply Ground Loop Isolator (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ground+loop+isolator&sprefix=ground+loop%2Caps%2C253) or it could as Alan suggests be the power supply, but I suspect its GLH. You will notice a very small sonic degradation by using an Isolator, but its benefit certainly outweighs this as the noise will stop. You can pick them up on eBay cheaply too.

Ground Loop Hum (https://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_nf=3&tok=OyGOLWjY6fxItJcigv3EOA&cp=13&gs_id=f5&xhr=t&q=ground+loop+hum&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=ground+loop+h&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=f0757f9dd0e77dbb&bpcl=38093640&biw=1920&bih=1046)

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