Audio Systems: Monitor Speakers hiss/buzz, yorkville ysm1p, headphone jack

Question
QUESTION: Hi Kyle,
I just bought a pair of the Yorkville YSM1P series 2 monitor speakers. They are the first pair of nice speakers that I have ever owned. Right now I have them plugged into my computer via a left/right 1/4" to 1/8" "Y" adapter. I've been using them for a few days, I just noticed a faint hiss and buzz. I have to put my head right up to the speakers (it's coming out of both, and they are not daisychained together) to hear it. And there is definitely two distinct sounds, a hiss, and a buzz on top of the hiss. I was just wondering if this is normal, and/or if it could be due to the cheap "Y" adapter that I have (I plan on getting a proper audio interface). Any help would be much appreciated!

ANSWER: Tucker,
This is definately not normal.It could be a number of things. Start with the source and move outward. Do you have a soundcard or are you plugged into the computer's standard audio outs? When you plug a headset into these outputs do you still hear the noise. Is it in both speakers? If you don't hear it in a headset then the culprit is the cables. Let me know if you narrow it down.

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QUESTION: Hi Kyle, thanks for getting back to me.
The sound is coming out of both speakers, which would lead me to believe that it's not a problem with the speakers because it would be highly unlikely that they would both break at the same time after just a few days of use. I also want to tell you that the sound is pretty faint, I literally have to put my ear about and inch away from the speaker to hear it.
Right now I'm running it our of my computer's audio out (headphone) jack. Right now I'm using a simple/cheap "Y" adapter that allows me to plug in both of my speakers 1/4" cables into my computer's 1/8" jack. I'm pretty sure the issue is with this adapter because it was pretty cheap. I'm pretty sure that it's not my computer jack because I hooked it up to my iPod and it's still there.
Right now I'm saving up to get a proper interface. Hopefully I'll be able to borrow one soon so I can try hooking my speakers up through that and see if it helps, and I'll get back to you.

Thanks,
Tuck

Answer
You are correct, very, doubtful it's the speakers. No matter how faint, you should hearing anomalies. If I am understanding correctly, you connected your ipod to the computer through the Y cable and you can still hear it. I would certainly say it's the cable. A good 24bit 96khz sound card is a good investment and they are not expensive. The improvement can be quite noticable.