Feedback caused by External Hard Drive???

[bbrom224]

Here's a weird problem for everyone:
I just bought used speakers for my studio (Event PSP8's), and they worked fine in every way except for one. When I turn on my external hard drive (Glyph GT050Q) the speakers get this feedback which coincides with the activity of the drive (it gets louder as the drive gets more active).

When the drive is turned on, but not connected to the computer, and the speakers are, there is no feedback. When the speakers are not connected to the computer but the drive is, there is no feedback.

There has to be some kind of problem with my set up right? Everything works great separately, but when they are plugged in and turned on together, there's this weird problem. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Ben

 

[Guest]

What you describe as feedback may actually be mains hum (check earthing -- including removing earth on one component) or if higher-pitched may be mains borne or rf interference (check screening of equipment and wiring and use USB cables which include a ferrite choke).

To be pedantic, feedback is, literally, when a transducer such as a mike or turntable is picking up output from a speaker and feeding that response back into the system resulting in what is sometimes called howl-round.