Hi there!
Just installed my first pair of monitor speakers Yamaha HS-50M, i’ve been using them for about 2 days on my iMacs CoreAudio, I wont be recording any audio so i think i should stick with the onboard soundcard, to be honest im not really satisfied with the audio that goes out of my monitors, should i install an external soundcard? will that improve sound quality? meaning that hiss coming out the speakers will stop, all cables are away from eachother and only the monitors are really close to my computer.
I`m absolutely blown away by the knowledge gained by beeing a member just for one day!!!
i’m using the demo version of ableton live.
and TaL stuff.
Thanx in advance!
you need to get shielded cables and if you monitors have them you need to use the balanced inputs. I dunno what you mac outputs are but chances are u will wont have the right connections for this.
So to get rid of the hiss u should get an external sound card. this will improve audio quality providing u dont buy a cheap budget one imo.
The on board sound card (the one that comes with your pc)is not good for audio recording.
You need to get external audio interface ( soundcard ).
Brands ( Focusrite,Presonus,Motu,Apogee,RME)
More info here:
or here
Coolcuts has a Mac, not a PC so the internal interface has core audio and if you don’t want to record then you shouldn’t need to get an external interface yet.
If you have hiss coming out of the speakers then you should find out what the problem is. It could be:
1. A problem with the HS50s - test using a different source
2. A problem with your Mac - test with headphones
3. A problem with cables - test with different cables
4. ground loop hum - google ground loop hum and see if it sounds right.
If you want to get an interface, great. But if you are only getting it to solve an issue that souldn’t be there then you might spend money and still have the problem.
Thank you all for your replies!
Ant, i run through the checklist you proposed and it seems there is something going wrong with the HS50s. Even if i plug my speakers only to the power line i get hiss coming out, tried different power cables but hiss is still there. That shouldn`t be happening right? 
I don’t think they should hiss. You should try prugging them into a power socket in a different room, or better in a different floor and see if you still get the problem.
But I think you will be going back to your dealer with these. Annoying, but sometimes **** happens :unsure:
Yeah **** happens, that hiss later on will influence final mixing?
[quote]coolcuts (11/05/2011)[hr]Yeah **** happens, that hiss later on will influence final mixing?[/quote]
Well, it isn’t ideal. Are they second hand?
unhook from the sound card and just plug in and see if there is still a hiss.
I had this issue with my krk’s. turns out its was because i didnt use a balanced audio input (xlr or such like) and sheilded cables.