Digital Audio skips a beat?

[douglasbjordan]

My system is doing something very strange in my apartment, and I don't understand why...

I have a computer in my study. It's connected digitally to a receiver in the same room. This receiver's digital out is connected to my living room receiver digital in. I can plan an audio file on my computer and hear in on speakers in my study and living room.

Here's the problem: when I turn off the fluorescent lights in the kitchen, the receiver in my living room loses the digital signal for about 1/4 second then restores it. It's like that power blink you get when you turn on the vacuum cleaner. This problem is NOT happening with any analog sources (I have analog lines connecting the receivers, too), just digital.

The same thing *was* happening to the receiver in the study, but that problem was cured when I connected my computer to a UPS with automatic voltage regulation (AVR). Now if I turn the study music way up (so I can hear it from the kitchen) and flick the kitchen lights, nothing bad happens (no 1/4 second blank).

I figured maybe the power in the living room was jumpy, so I connected the living room receiver to a UPS with AVR. Still got the 1/4 second cutout. Here's my current setup:

* Living room receiver plugged into a UPS with AVR
* Living room subwoofer plugged into same UPS
* All other living room devices are unplugged (even TV cable)
* Study receiver plugged into same UPS (long extension cord =)
* Study computer plugged into different UPS with AVR in the study.
* All study room devices that are connected to the computer are powered via UPS AVR sockets.

When I flick off the kitchen lights, the living room receiver has 1/4 second cutout (the little "signal" indicator on it disappears/reappears). The study receiver is steady the entire time (and it's connected to the same UPS as the living room receiver!).

Any ideas? I have no idea how to fix this!! Thanks.

[E-Stat]

My system is doing something very strange in my apartment, and I don't understand why...

Any ideas? I have no idea how to fix this!! Thanks.
From my computer background, I know that one should never run a data cable near the ballast of a fluorescent light because of the RF field around it. Perhaps your digital cable is likewise conducting the same RF.

I think this is where Skeptic would recommend wrapping the cable to the living room with aluminum foil to see if that helps. Ultimately, you might benefit from using a shielded cable.

rw

[douglasbjordan]

From my computer background, I know that one should never run a data cable near the ballast of a fluorescent light because of the RF field around it. Perhaps your digital cable is likewise conducting the same RF.

I think this is where Skeptic would recommend wrapping the cable to the living room with aluminum foil to see if that helps. Ultimately, you might benefit from using a shielded cable.

rw
Interesting. The digital cables are all optical, so I didn't think RF would affect them. Could be that the RF field around the fluorescent light is influencing my living room setup..

I no longer suspect it's power-related, since I tried unplugging everything from the wall and running from the pure battery backup power and I still heard the audio skip when I toggled my light.