My stereo speakers are causing my TV to change colors!!! WTF!!

I just bought a SONY stereo... It's not the finest precision playback instrument out there, but it serves well to amplify my Cable TV's signal in a big way... That was what I primarily bought it for.

But the stereo speakers (and separate subwoofer) come with speaker wires that are only so long.... Each speaker is a good 10' away from my TV, but one of the speakers is causing my TV screen to have magenta "hotspots" on the right part of the screen. :mad: :mad:

Merde!

Why do speakers do this to a TV? What's the cure? Why would stereo companies put out speakers with this much uncontrolled magnetism??

Thanks, ras

a) Get a LCD TV-Set

b) Put the Speakers further away

c) Get shielded speaker

d) Put a iron housing around the speaker

.

It's a hell of a magnet that'll do that from 10'. If the speakers are 10' from the tv, that means they're 20' from each other. That's as wide as (or wider than) many bar PA systems. Are you sure it isn't more like 3-4'?

Even still, 3-4' should be enough to avoid that problem. Is it just one speaker or do they both do it? If it's just one, take it back and get a new one. This has the potential to mess up your tv permanently. Does the problem go away when you move the speaker to the next room? If not, then at this point it's your tv, not the speakers (though the speakers may have caused it initially)

-Dan.

Whoops! My bad. I meant to type 10"

Sorry.

Yeah, that'll do it. Move the speakers.

That old factor of 12 thing...

Yeah... more wire. Or... you know... lead shields.

Do be warned that spot is going to burn in and stay there! Get some more wire and move the speakers farther away. Magnets cause interference with picture tubes.

Is this a shelf system? If so, just splice more wire on the speakers. Do a good job, not a electrical tape hack. A proper splice with appropriate wire size.

If this is a component system, just get longer wire and a better (bigger) gauge.

If this is an off the shelf home theater type system (shelf or component), I'm shocked that those speakers aren't shielded! What speakers these days (of any variety) aren't shielded???

Hey blue, scope my Acoustic Improv if you have time. Just some messing around, but I'd appreciate your input!

That would be a Sony system. (Ah... Sony, my first nameplate love affair... I learned a lot... but not enough to keep me from getting burned over and over again as she drew me back with her sleek looks and deceptively glowing reputation... [sigh])

______

Sidebar to Stranger... that's WILD... especially when the ACID loop comes in (or is that from that German sample set you used to be able to buy for $40 at CompUSA... I know it's SOMETHING I've got)... it's kind of scary... I sure wish I could do that rapid tremolo flatpick work... It's what's kept me from buying my own mandolin all these years...

Yeah it's basically a $200 SONY that's basically an overgrown boom-box. It does look really cool. The subwoofer is a neat touch too, for both music listening and TV/DVD viewing.

I will say though that they do not exhibit the lack of phase smear that my BOSE HOME STEREO did.

When you get that color problem on your TV, try turning it on and off every 5 minutes for an hour or so.

Here's why: (This might fall under the "too much detail" category ) There is a perforated metal screen right behind the picture tube glass, called a shadow mask. When it becomes magnetized, the electrons within the tube are deflected from their intended path, and light up the wrong phosphors on the inside of the glass, which causes you to see the wrong colors.

The manufacturers build in a big coil around the front of the picture tube called a degaussing coil, which is energized every time you turn the set on when it's cold (there is a part in there that slowly turns off the coil as the part heats up). The coil demagnetizes the shadow mask and corrects the problem, unless the magnetism is so strong that the coil can't 'keep up' with the rate the shadow mask is being magnetized.

Great point, Philbo. Many tv's and monitors now have a menu or hard-button driven degausser built into the set to more gently nullify the excess magnetism on the screen.

My resolution: I bought some 18gauge stereo speaker wire, spliced what I had to lengthen each speaker about 5 feet, then separated the speakers by another three feet.

Problem solved. Thanks, y'all!