Loud Buzzing Plasmas!

Bish

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Hi all

Having just read zAndy1's comments about his brand new buzzing Toshiba, i was interested in how widespread this problem is? I took delivery of my brand new 42" Panny W5 last week, Prog scanning through my Arcam 88+ i can honestly say that i have never ever seen images like it...i am however concerned about the constant buzzing noise eminating from the panel.

I noticed the noise from the very first time i switched the panel on, and it really is starting to bug me now. Watching the screen late at night at a lower volume the buzzing is ever present and its worse now because im tuned into it...my brother came over to see the screen at the weekend and i hadnt said a word to him but it wasnt long before he commented on its buzzing also.

Obviously, when running a fully charged 5.1 DTS soundtrack its nowhere to be heard but in reality thats gonna be a couple of times a week, the majority of time is spent watching normal TV at a sociable level in the lounge.

I have heard that its pot luck, you may get a noisey one, you may not (not all the power supplies are the same) but as zAndy1 commented these displays are sold as "silent operation" - mine definitily is not.

Bearing in mind that i have a 100% pixel perfect screen, do i risk an exchange??. Sounds like the chaps at NexNix came up trumps with Andys....people with overly buzzy plamsa screens please let me know what you did, have you put up with it and gotten used to it now ir did you ask for an exchage??
 
i really have to put my ear up to the right hand side of the plasma to hear it, its not a fan noise as i think there are no fans its like the psu buzzing,
maybe you could try a russ andrews silencer they let you try for 30 days ,
but i know what you mean when you are told of some problem you cant help looking for it , which if you never knew it would not bother you and you would be injoying your loverly plasma

ps. i think its your dv88+ playing up and you should offload it as soon as poss to me for £50 ok :smashin:
 
Like you I've just got a the same plasma, same DVD player, set it all up at the weekend. And yep, from the moment I turned the plasma on I noticed the buzzing.

But now its up on the wall, I find that with the volume at a reasonable level, I don't really notice it unless I listen for it. I think that like lots of these things, if you let it bug you it'll really bug you, just take solace in the awesome picture and crank up the volume! :cool:
 
With most plasmas, it's the power supply that buzzes, usually one of the tranformers. You *may* be able to pursuade them to change the power supply PCB for a quieter one.
 
Guys - thanks for your comments.

Gary B - are you able to expand on your comment " changing the power supply PCB for a quieter one" ?...im far from technical...does that stand for Power Circuit Board???....if so doest that mean major "butchering" opening up the display etc... what about buying a high quality kettle plug lead??

Peo - Seeing as we have the same set up (88+ and W5), have you made any earth shattering discoveries, i think i could play around with the picture/colour settings all my life and still think i could somehow improve it, what picture mode are you using...most people say fro best results stick it in cinema mode, lower contrast and nudge up the colour a few clicks, have you done anything with the white balance for blues, reds etc..

Jmack - The best advise i could give you would be to save, beg, steal or borrow and get your hands on one, its the best £900 ive ever ever spent, soooooo much quality for the cash!! :D
 
bish
thats my plan i should be in the club within 3 months i hoping i might get one a bit cheaper when the dv89 comes out :)
what was your address again:devil: when are you out:devil: do you live in a easily accessable ground floor flat:devil: he he he
 
Not really had it long enough yet, only set it all up on Saturday! Its currently set up along similar lines to those you have.

However, I have got a pretty good setup dvd (think its called Video Essentials something or other - long time since I last used it!). Once I get this back off a mate who I lent it to I will give it as good a setup as I can - if I come up with any startling discoveries I'll let you know!

But even with just a little tweeking, I've not got many complaints with the picture (at least on DVD and NTSC consoles - Freeview is another matter, ugh!). Only thing that has niggled me is slight colour banding, but afaik this is a problem with all plasmas.

But, I try not to get too wound up about these things - nothing's perfect - hope you have fun with your setup! :)
 
Carl and RedRose - thanks very much for supplying those links to previous threads, exactly what i wanted to read about....sounds like its a widespread problem, many people have exchanged their set for even louder ones or ones that buzz at the same level...and one of you guys even had yours repaired and it still buzzed the same...think i'll live with it for a while longer to see if i can forget about it!!

cheers
 
Bish,

I just learned to live with the buzz when I read all about it and now it doesn't bother me at all, you kind of tune it out after a while. So my advice is accept it now and don;t let it bug you, there's nothing you can do about it. Just enjoy the plasma and before long you won't be bothered by it.

John.
 
Originally posted by Bish
Guys - thanks for your comments.

Gary B - are you able to expand on your comment " changing the power supply PCB for a quieter one" ?...im far from technical...does that stand for Power Circuit Board???....if so doest that mean major "butchering" opening up the display etc... what about buying a high quality kettle plug lead??

PCB is Printed Circuit Board. Most plasmas are modular, with interconnected boards that perform the various functions. With most of them it's easy to replace the boards and this is what most engineers do to repair units on site.
 
With great respect, I think anybody who pays this kind of money for a plasma and then "puts up with it" is too easily pacified. I can't imagine the Americans putting up with it.
If you bought a £20K (i.e. not cheap) car and found that it was squeaking or buzzing you would shove it straight back at the dealer and tell him to sort it. Why not the same with a (not cheap) plasma?
It is not even the case that "all plasmas do it"; the Pioneer is silent. Not very quiet, silent.
I respect anybody's decision to do as they choose with their money, but if we just accept this level of design quality how can we expect the manufacturers to improve their products, or even offer a remedy?
 
Redrose: Quick question (on a slightly different note:blush: ). You have a 503MXE don't you? I beleive you swapped your Panasonic 50" for the Pioneer.

Can I ask how far you are sitting away from your screen? And how you find the image - i.e. blowing up the image onto a 50" screen do you pick out any more noise/grainyness?

Tim:)
 
What buzzing noise.

I never heard anything buzzing sounds from my Phillips plasma with the volume turned off.
 
Originally posted by yasa22
What buzzing noise.

I never heard anything buzzing sounds from my Phillips plasma with the volume turned off.

They don't all buzz. Even different samples of the same model can vary tremendously.
 
JMack,
BTW, the Russ Andrews Silencer reduces the background 'noise' (i.e. electrical variation) in the ring main circuit that supplies your equipment. It wouldn't stop a problem circuit within the plasma from buzzing.
Does nice things to you hi-fi sound though.

Rgds

Nick
 
well mine and my cousins both bought at the same time are both quite No buzzzzzzzzzing at all.

Maybe they just have a quieter circuit?
 
This issue is one of the main reasons I ruled this plasma off my list.

The real frustrating thing for all owners is that some say their's don't buzz (whether they do or don't is another thing) - but it makes it even more frustrating for those with sets that do... because you think - perhaps if I get another one it will be quieter. Then it turns up and it isn't. :mad:

I had this issue on my Panasonic TX36PF10 CRT set - this issue of buzzing power supply's isn't new - you only have to look at old issues of What Video and TV and you'll hear people complaining of certain Panny sets buzzing (mainly the TX32/36PF10 range).

I guess it must be a Panny power thing.

Tim:rolleyes:
 
Silence is golden...

Checked mine very carefully last night, turned everything off in the room, muted the sound and listened...... and listened.... nothing..... No Buzzing at all.
 
Seems like you are one of the lucky ones yasa22. . .

Guard it with your life:D

Timbo
 
Originally posted by Themmings
Can I ask how far you are sitting away from your screen? And how you find the image - i.e. blowing up the image onto a 50" screen do you pick out any more noise/grainyness?

I sit about 10 ft away from the screen. With regards scaling artifacts and graininess it's difficult to say because I never had a 42" screen in my house to compare it with. It's pretty darned good though. I've covered my findings quite fully in other threads, but for me the Pio scores better than the Pan when all things are considered. If you want the ultimate picture at the expense of anything else then get the Pan. If you live in the real world with ambient light, no dedicated home theatre room, wife, kids, lots of devices (Sky, VCR, games machine etc.) and can tolerate a 5% PQ loss, then get the Pio.
 
Are you guys remembering that the buzz is related to whats being displayed at the time, If I switch everything in my room off, have a nice black screen there is no buzzing at all, invert that to a white screen and it buzzes. Over at AVS forum there have been numerous posts about Pannies and Pioneers buzzing, I don't think it's a case of some buzz and some don't I think it's more like they all buzz but people percieve/hear it differently.

I've yet to listen to a plasma that doesn't buzz and I've heard a lot from various manufacturers.

John.
 

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