Harmon/Kardon Soundsticks 2 Question


Recommended Posts

Hello Fellow Mac Users,

I have a question. Two, actually.

1) Does anyone use the speakers listed in the topic?

If yes,

2) When you first start playing songs, or when a sound plays (ie, MSN Messenger for a new message), do you sometimes hear a small click noise, like the speakers are waking up from an inactive state? It reminds me of my home stereo, where when I pop in a DVD and the music starts playing, there's a small noise as the subwoofer wakes up.

Basically, I'm trying to determine if this is normal or if there is a problem with the speakers. Note that this doesn't happen all the time, and it's only when a sound/music first starts.

Thanks.

Link to comment
https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/225414-harmonkardon-soundsticks-2-question/
Share on other sites

I have the speakers as well and I don't experience the popping that you mention. I am sure if you recently made the purchase you can return them for another pair, at the very least let the store examine them for you.

The only times I remember them 'popping' was when my power went out unexpectidly.

Best of luck!

Well, the noise sporadically reappears, so I'm off to exchange them for a new set! Normally I'd blame it on the powerbook, or consider it normal.. however, since there is no problem with headphones, I would think speakers plugged into the headphone port would be trouble-free as well.

One last post before I'm done with this thread..

The new speakers make that noise as well... however, I've determined after a bit of testing that the noise only occurs when I'm using the powerbook with battery power. When it's plugged in, it's fine. Maybe that will help someone should they ever have this problem :)

When your PB is unplugged, the audio hardware is turned off to conserve power until it's needed, which is why you hear that little noise before it starts as the audio hardware is given power (which is what you hear) and powered back up.

When your PB is unplugged, the audio hardware is turned off to conserve power until it's needed, which is why you hear that little noise before it starts as the audio hardware is given power (which is what you hear) and powered back up.

That is almost the exact answer the Harmon/Kardon technician told me when I emailed to inquire as to if the sound is normal behavior :) What the technician didn't tell me that I figured out (and you just confirmed) is that the noise only happens when the PB is unplugged.

Thank you!

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • AMAZON needs to take total accountability for this.
    • Server Summit had a heap of announcements, ADCS changes are baller.
    • Nice, hope they *finally* fixed the issue with the NTFS driver where the system would completely brick during large file copies using the built in driver. It's been broken for years requiring me to use the older, slower, NTFS-3G FUSE driver.
    • Windows 11 KB5094126 BSODing, freezing, forcing BitLocker lockout, breaks OneDrive, and more by Sayan Sen Microsoft released Windows 11 KB5094126 and KB5093998 last week as the latest Patch Tuesday updates. Following that the company also published the accompanying dynamic updates under KB5094149, KB5095971, and KB5094156. While Microsoft has so far not acknowledged any major problems with the release, some users online are running into problems. These range from OneDrive and Dropbox access issues, BitLocker recovery lockouts, to blue screens and BSODs. The most common one seems to be happening with HP systems wherein affected users say they hit 0xc0430001 BSOD (blue screen of death) error code after the KB5094126 update. We wonder if this could be related to the recent bug we covered on HP devices wherein the ongoing Secure Boot certificate updates are leading to similar issues. While we are not certain, users affected by this issue likely need to ensure that the boot.stl file is included on the installation media (such as a USB installer or ISO), if the above-mentioned dynamic updates are deployed. If this file is missing, computers may fail to boot from the installation media and could display the error 0xc0430001. This STL file is used by Secure Boot to verify that the boot files are trusted, so it must match the same Windows version and system architecture. To ensure the file is included, Microsoft recommends using the Update WinPE script, which automatically updates the image and handles the required files. Alternatively, you can manually copy the boot.stl file from the Windows\Boot\EFI folder on a Windows device and place it in the matching folder on your installation media before deploying the updated image. Aside from blue screening some users also note their systems have been freezing following the update. This could be happening to Lenovo PCs specifically. In the case of the OneDrive and Dropbox access issues, a user figured out that there could be a conflict with UAC. He explained: "Okay, so I did some digging, and in our environment KB5094126 breaks OneDrive and Dropbox in Explorer. I went through all our GPOs and found out that the combination of disabling UAC and having my user being a local admin breaks OneDrive in Explorer. ... If I enable UAC again, then it works, even with KB5094126 still installed." Hopefully, Microsoft will look into these issues. Source: Microsoft forum (link1, link2, link3, link4), Reddit (link1, link2, link3, link4)
    • It is when it's a desktop in my house though for a PC that's lightly used and not really important when it is. If it was a laptop, it would be a different story. The real solution is varied and begins starting at post #22 in that thread.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jeroen Wilms earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      rolfus earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Leroy Jethro Gibbs earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Conversation Starter
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Month Later
      AndreaB earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      508
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      197
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      138
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      90
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      80
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!