Display high pitch whine noise normal?

[Frank Kruse]

My brand new Control makes a quite annoying high pitch whining noise coming from the display. Sometimes louder sometimes softer. The display brightness setting doesn´t make a difference.
Is this a common issue?

Thanks,

Frank.

[Brandonx1]

Hi frank,
I have a mc control v1 last year. It's screen made a really annoying high pitch squeal. The screen died shortly after it started making that noise. Avid replaced the until with a v2. No noise at all from the until now. I really like it in black too. You control might have an issue: take it to your dealer or call avid support. I asked for advance ship replacement so I wasn't down durin shipping.
Best

[Frank Kruse]

Thanks. The unit is being replaced via my dealer. (it was a black one BTW)

Frank.

[Frank Kruse]

BTW:

Essentially it wasn't the display but the PSU with it's too short cable that you have to keep it on the table. Tried a few others but unfortunately ALL artist PSUs seem to do this high-pitch whine.
Strange for a device that is build to live 50cm from your ears when using it.

[chris-euphonix]

I have 4 artist units, and one of the PSUs makes a high-pitched whine.

Strangely, it only does this when the artist unit is "off". As soon as I switch the unit on (via its front panel power switch) the PSU stops whining. Weird!

Sometime I'm gonna try and get a single, beefy PSU to power the whole lot.

[minister]

I just got a new Artist Mix and mine is doing that too! Thought I would do a search first. 2 years later and they are still a problem. The first unit was DOA.

AVID has some work to do to get the Euphonix Artist Series to at least a semi-professional level.

[Leverson]

Yeah I've got a Control and 2 mixes and all of their power supplies emit a surprisingly noticeable high pitch whine. It's incredibly annoying. If it was just one I'd try to send it back as faulty, but on all of them it just seems like it's a thing they do? Still incredibly irritating in an otherwise dead quiet studio space. The too-short cables so that I can't put the power supplies further away into my iso box is frustrating too.

Has anyone tried swapping out the power supply units for a different make or brand?

[musicman691]

In order to have a powerful power supply in a small case designers have gone to what's called a switching power supply. This is essentially a high powered oscillator and the frequency depends on the load on the unit. If the units aren't designed with the right electrical filtering and mechanical shielding that noise propagates to the outside world and hence the whine you're hearing. Think back to old style crt tv's - remember hearing a whine from time to time? That was due to the flyback transformer used in the high voltage generator circuit that helped the crt do it's thing.

By going to a switching power supply you get lower heat generated than in an old style linear power supply hence the smaller form factor. And lighter weight. Also a switching power supply allows one unit to be built and used world wide, essentially ignoring the ac mains voltage and frequency.

This noise is why you sometimes see a lump in the cable going from the supply to the unit to be powered. That lump is a ferrite core that clamps around the line to choke off noise traveling along the outside of the cable. Ferrite cores can be installed by the end user easily and won't affect warranty as you're not cutting the cable as long as you get the kind that clamp around the cable. A well-stocked electronics supply store might have them or get in touch with a ham (amateur) radio operator and he/she should be able to help.

[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by musicman691

A well-stocked electronics supply store might have them or get in touch with a ham (amateur) radio operator and he/she should be able to help.

A well known manufacturer of professional audio gear should not package such PSUs with it's gear in the first place so that their customers don't have to find a ham (or cheese) radio operator to fix the issue.
Especially since the issue has been reported for years and these PSUs still seem to be sold.
If they can not be made to not make noise AVID should at last attach a power-cable that is longer than a couple of inches so we can place the PSUs in a box on the floor and don't have to put the PSU next to where we setup the controllers on our desk wrapped in ball of thick foam.

[8dB.co.uk]

Don't assume that a well known manufacturer will spec things properly. The Dolby DS4E used to ship with a ropey external radio shack PSU, and was fitted with the worlds cheapest relays, which failed quickly and were electrically noisy. Incredible for a pro only piece of kit.