Howdy all. Here is my problem: Got a pair of Bose Companion 3 speakers (two satellites and a subwoofer) for Christmas. Plugged them in and... I can hear my hardrive spinning through my subwoofer. It's annoying to the point where I have to have the speakers muted. I'm about to get rid of them. Please help. Here's what I've tried: Moved the speakers clear out of the way(cables and power cord on another circuit). Problem is still there. Grabbed another PC(HP Pavilion). Problem is still there. Grabbed another PC(Compaq Armada laptop). Problem is still there. Grabbed a MAC(G4 dual proccessor). Problem was gone. Hmmmm??? What the hell is going on? I had almost ruled out the PCs and was blaming the speakers but, they work great out of not one but two MACs. Odd. It seems that my hardrive oscillations are being picked up by the subwoofer. Please help with any suggestions you may have. I have a custom built PC. Motherboard: CFI-S969L Audio: Realtek AL650 AC97 built in 6 channel Processor: 3.06ghz OS: XP Pro SP1 Thanks! -Psykopal

Either wrap your sub in lead, or take 'em back.

Couldn't get my hands on enough lead to wrap my sub in so, I'm going back to Bose tonight. Unless, of course, someone figures this thing out before then. Thanks! -Psykopal

Realtek AL650 sound output is 20 ohms. Mac G4 sound output is 1000 ohms. Sounds like you've got an impedance mismatch between your speakers and your sound card. The man at Radio Shack should be able to sort you out for a couple of bucks.

Thanks for trying to help, Roy Hunter. Please correct me if I'm wrong but, I'm pretty sure that the standard ohms produced by any and every un-amplified sound interface is 600 ohms. Be it MAC or PC. 600 ohms is basically just audio signal, useful enough for headsets but, not strong enough to power a speaker. My Bose speakers are self-amplified so, the ohms really don't matter. Also, even if there was an ohm mismatch, ie. 4 ohm to 8 ohm, the only distortion would be a hum. I actually hear thumping to the rythym of the hardrives' spin. Odd, huh? I called Bose technical support and spoke to a very nice person with a great deal of knowlede in audio stuff. He had never heard of the issue. Said I should return them... Seems like that's my only solution. Thanks again. -Psykopal

My suspicion would be pointed towards the sound card (adapter).