# Audio speakers buzzing when they hit a particular resonance? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051 "2021-07-09T02:16:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/1 "2021-07-09T02:16:50Z")
This is hard to describe without being able to actually provide audio of it. But my computer’s speakers have no problem playing music or sound - except for, when they hit particular notes of a song, or someone says words that hit a particular inflection, then it has a strong vibrating buzz for a second or so, so strongly so that I even worry the speakers are getting damaged. The only explanation I can come up with is that some particular frequency just makes something resonate within the speaker, is this a common issue in the audio business? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/2 "2021-07-09T02:41:07Z")
How old are your speakers? Moving parts can wear out or dry out over time. Have you taken the covers off and checked the surround? that’s the big circular rubber piece that that connects the moving cone with the unmoving enclosure. Or it could be some mesh like cover over the entire speaker cone. Glue may have come lose if is starting to. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/3 "2021-07-09T02:45:42Z")
The speakers are brand new, less than a week old. They’re very cheap, though, about $17. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/4 "2021-07-09T02:48:34Z")
When you buy cheap you get cheap. Can you return them? Lower quality is common with cheap components. Are they computer speakers? What is the brand? ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/5 "2021-07-09T02:54:53Z")
Sounds like it could be a voice coil rubbing. There are all manner of possible resonances and problems in speakers. Mostly they get designed out. But a really cheap speaker that isn’t tested before sale can include a simple manufacturing fault. And misalignment of the void coil would be one of the more common. If it only happens in one speaker it is a likely a manufacturing fault. Both it is a design fault. Some conditions can self perpetuate - once they are hit they make things worse, so they persist at lower levels than the signal that set them off. I’ll be there is a very close fit of the voice coil, and at just the right frequency are resonant mode in the speaker causes the driver to reach the point where the voice coil is rubbing, and it goes quickly south from there on in. Other problems, ones usually addressed in the design are things like cone breakup modes, where the cone itself starts to behave not as a flat membrane, but more like a drumskin. That causes all manner of nasty peaks in frequency response and nasty sound. But what is described here goes beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/6 "2021-07-09T04:42:48Z")
It happens. My previous car–not a cheap one, and supposedly with premium Harmon-Kardon audio–had speakers that would buzz at a particular frequency (brand new). I brought it back to the dealer with a CD that would reproduce the issue on a certain track. They fixed it after a couple iterations. Dunno if they replaced some defective component or if they added some foam or mass damping or something. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/7 "2021-07-09T14:11:26Z")
I have an inexpensive keyboard (the musical kind) with a speaker that similarly buzzes. It turned out to be from how the grate over the speaker clipped to the housing. I wedged a piece of cardboard in the gap and the buzzing cleared up. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/8 "2021-07-09T17:50:58Z")
Ya beat me to it. Sometimes it’s literally that simple. Feel around for places to find small shifting in the wire mesh overlay/ grate etc. It’s that new? Doubt it’s the cones or drivers. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/9 "2021-07-09T17:52:57Z")
I have a Dell laptop that was fine with Win 7, and buzzing speakers after an upgrade to Win 10. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/10 "2021-07-09T21:57:46Z")
This has happened to me intermittently with both speakers and headphones - high quality ones. Usually to work around it I use the graphic equalizer and reduce one of the middle bars. That’s imperfect because it changes the sound balance. But it’s manageable. There are certain songs (both .mp3 and youtube videos) where I have to do that - but weirdly, the same song on a different day might not cause the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Keith1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Keith1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith1)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/11 "2021-07-10T20:10:44Z")
Could be clipping - Google it. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2021, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/audio-speakers-buzzing-when-they-hit-a-particular-resonance/946051/12 "2021-07-11T09:28:47Z")
Yeah, that’s my first guess. The other thing I’d look for is if it is causing something else in the room to vibrate. I’ve got a set on my desk along with some other junk in front of it. The left one is causing the junk in front of it to make buzzing noises when it hits the right frequencies. I really should clean up my desk.