If You Pop That One More Time.....
September 1, 2010 8:18 PM Subscribe
The speakers are popping and it's driving me crazy.
I live in military housing wherein there is a base-wide intercom, with a small box speaker in each room, near to the ceiling.
The speakers have always popped somewhat, but now they pop off and on _far_ too often. A rather loud "BCHOPCH" sound, as if from an old movie pistol. It won't one evening, and then the next evening pops every minute to 10 minutes for at least an hour. It pops at all hours of the day (I mean, I work most of the day, but on those that I'm able to be in my room I think I can give a good assessment), sometimes during the afternoon, the early morning, the late evening.
Like I've said, it's a base-wide intercom, for announcing weather, emergencies, random information. It's not used all that often. I believe I've also heard it pop just before an announcement, and just after but don't trust my memory on that point. I don't know where it's based to, though it's likely an administration building.
People have complained about this, though I don't know if they have made a point to bitch about it to someone via paperwork yet.
What could be causing this? And how do I get it to stop?
I live in military housing wherein there is a base-wide intercom, with a small box speaker in each room, near to the ceiling.
The speakers have always popped somewhat, but now they pop off and on _far_ too often. A rather loud "BCHOPCH" sound, as if from an old movie pistol. It won't one evening, and then the next evening pops every minute to 10 minutes for at least an hour. It pops at all hours of the day (I mean, I work most of the day, but on those that I'm able to be in my room I think I can give a good assessment), sometimes during the afternoon, the early morning, the late evening.
Like I've said, it's a base-wide intercom, for announcing weather, emergencies, random information. It's not used all that often. I believe I've also heard it pop just before an announcement, and just after but don't trust my memory on that point. I don't know where it's based to, though it's likely an administration building.
People have complained about this, though I don't know if they have made a point to bitch about it to someone via paperwork yet.
What could be causing this? And how do I get it to stop?
Probably a bad ground in the PA system (or bad capacitors in the amplifier).
posted by peabody at 8:28 PM on September 1, 2010
posted by peabody at 8:28 PM on September 1, 2010
Somebody is in charge of maintaining that system and probably wouldn't be happy about it if you tried taking matters into your hands, especially if it's used as an emergency annunciator. If it happens before and after an actual announcement, and it's happening system-wide (i.e not just the speaker in your room, but all the speakers in the building or on your floor) then it's probably the amplifier switching on and off due to a faulty component or a level sensing trigger that is set to too high a sensitivity. There's not anything you can do about it without having access to the amplifier itself, unless you wanted to disconnect the speaker entirely, which again seems like a bad idea. (If you do decide to be reckless and disconnect the speaker, take care that you do not short the wires coming from the amp together. Cut or disconnect one at a time and use wire nuts or at least some electrical tape to protect the cut ends from each other, as shorting an active amplifier channel can fry the amp.)
Are you sure you'd need to file paperwork to get this fixed? It might be as simple as calling the appropriate maintenance office and telling them it's happening so they can walk over to the rack and give a little knob a quarter twist.
posted by contraption at 8:54 PM on September 1, 2010
Are you sure you'd need to file paperwork to get this fixed? It might be as simple as calling the appropriate maintenance office and telling them it's happening so they can walk over to the rack and give a little knob a quarter twist.
posted by contraption at 8:54 PM on September 1, 2010
Response by poster: Well, since I'm an IT, but work with the maintenance folk half the time, maybe I can get an in with them and see if it's already been looked at or can be looked at?
Also, you'd be surprised what you have to put paperwork in for in the military. People can barely change their printer paper without assistance here.
posted by DisreputableDog at 9:19 PM on September 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also, you'd be surprised what you have to put paperwork in for in the military. People can barely change their printer paper without assistance here.
posted by DisreputableDog at 9:19 PM on September 1, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I own a large space with PA speakers and like griphus says, it is possibly a loose connection where everything is plugged in. It could also be a poor quality cable. In addition, one of my amps has a switch that is called something like "phantom-something-or-other" (I'm sorry, I'm not the most technically adept) and if we keep that off, the popping stops. HTH!
posted by shazzam! at 4:10 AM on September 2, 2010
posted by shazzam! at 4:10 AM on September 2, 2010
(Phantom power allows you to power equipment like condenser microphones without an external to the mic power source)
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 5:02 AM on September 2, 2010
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 5:02 AM on September 2, 2010
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posted by griphus at 8:21 PM on September 1, 2010