So I powered the minidsp equipped boombox I built up for the first time in a few days and tried to listen to some music, and it sounded harsh and grating. When I listen to this system, I normally want to turn it up, but this time I wanted to turn it down. It wasn't super obvious, if I was listening to music at a lower volume while doing the dishes, not really paying attention, I probably wouldn't have noticed. I listened carefully to figure out what was actually causing the harshness, and it's a bit hard to describe what exactly I heard but I'll try my best. I could hear all the detail in the music, the general picture, but in the background it was almost like certain frequencies were resonating again after being played. It's like someone tried to mix in a little of the audio feedback you get when you point a mic at a speaker. The best way I can describe it is the sound you get when you plug an aux cable in improperly into a stereo, except not as obvious. I also noticed that it only seemed to come from the tweeters, both of them. I confirmed this by switching the woofers off. It's a two way system. I tried eliminate what I thought could be a problem, if I'm missing anything maybe someone could let me know. First, I eliminated the source itself by playing the same music on my other systems and seeing if I heard the same thing. I didn't. Next, I eliminated the tweeters by disconnecting them and connecting a coaxial car speaker I had lying around. Still heard it. I then eliminated the amp by disconnecting it and using the amp for my bookshelf speakers instead, I still heard it. I'm not really sure what else it could be, I checked that all the cables were plugged in correctly, and I don't think they fail that easily do they? How likely is it that it's the minidsp board? I assumed that since its a digital device it's the least likely to screw up the sound, but I think I've eliminated anything else. It's possible I might have knocked something lose accidentally as I've been trying to install some amp meters, but I'm generally careful and can't remember any instances of that happening.
I have had this type of problem before with my minidsp when I was overdriving it - try lowering your input gains a bit at a time to see if you can reduce the distortion. For me, some of the PEQs I was applying to each driver required me to reduce the global level of all channels until I the distortion was gone. It's helpful to find a track that consistently produces it, as when you get close with the gains, it's only things that are mixed very hot that will cause the distortion. I think the track I ended up using for final level tweaking was either Daft Punk or Gorillaz if that helps.
When you have the minidsp software running and music playing, check the level of input signal. it should stay green.
Next check output channels' levels too.
Next check output channels' levels too.
Thank you guys, I checked input levels and they were in the green. I tried lowering it, but I still heard the distortion/ feedback. Not sure what's up. I have another minidsp lying around for another project, so maybe I can swap them and see if there's a difference.
Nope, no luck.
Hey guys, so I got around to swapping the minidsp out and tried again, I'm still getting the same weird distortion. I'm not sure what it is at this point, could it really be one of my cables? Really confused now. 🙁
Hey guys, so I got around to swapping the minidsp out and tried again, I'm still getting the same weird distortion. I'm not sure what it is at this point, could it really be one of my cables? Really confused now. 🙁