Distortion in micro monitor speakers

[Benmason]

Hi,

I have a Nord Stage 3 which I'm trying to connect to these monitor speakers https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/i ... hp?p=specs

I'm using these cables https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Li ... le-1m/1090 to connect straight from the Ch1 Out and Ch 2 Out into the RCA inputs in the monitors.

However I adjust the volumes and settings on the speakers or keyboard, I get distortion when playing notes loudly (listen to attached recording). It's like a ringing sound on the attack portion of the note, and it's worse for some notes than others.

I'm fairly sure it's not damage to the speakers as I can play audio through them from another device and there's no distortion.

Probably obvious to those who understand audio better than me! Any recommendations?

Thanks

[pterm]

I downloaded your file and had a look at it and it's spectrum and spectrogram in Audacity but I don't see anything obviously distorting at the note harmonics.

Just listening to it I hear a mechanical "rattle" sound. It could be a loose screw on one of the speakers causing the enclosure to rattle. Alternatively, check the area near the speaker for things like a set of keys, a dish of coins, picture frames - it sounds like some sympathetic vibration in the detritus that collects on the top of our acoustic upright piano. Hit a note that causes the distortion most and start touching things nearby. Your touch dampens out the sympathetic vibrations allowing you to determine the source (or sources!).

Also, check if any of the rubber feet on the speakers are missing -- it could be vibrating the speaker across your desktop.

Let us know what you find.

[Benmason]

Thanks, I've done some investigating and there was some resonance in nearby objects that I've managed to dampen down.

However, I can hear that part of the vibration is coming from within one of the speakers itself. If I hold it in my hand I can hear this resonance from inside. Another user has opened up his speakers and added some rubber foils here: viewtopic.php?p=172826#p172826

Any suggestions on how I go about opening up the iLoud Micro Monitors to dampen the vibrations?

[DJKeys]

Trying to use 3"computer speakers to amplify piano samples from a professional instrument is going to be problematic at best. I would stick with headphones unless you want to invest in some proper amplification-

-dj