My company has a Inter-Tel Axxess system. The music on hold has a lot of static - so much that at times it will drown out the music. The music source is a CD running on a portable CD player. I changed the cable from the Axxess system to the player and it did not help. Any suggestions?

Static tends to be a bad connection. Popping is a bad cable. The Axxess system expects to see a mono (unbalanced) connector. Are you trying to use a stereo (balanced) connector?

Also, is it static or distortion? What effect does turning down the volume on the CD Player have on the static?

Edit: Sorry Doug. Didn't mean to restate most of your post in mine. Looks like we were posting at the same time.

A few things come to mind, but some basic troubleshooting needs to be conducted first. First, are you using a stereo or mono plug to your cabinet? Coming out of your CD player, the jack is most likely stereo, so you should be using a converter to be able to run a mono cable to the cabiniet.

The most logical step is to take everything but the cabinet out of the equation. Take a radio or other sound source with a "Known GOOD mono cable" and hook it to the cabinet. If you still have the issue then it's time to look at the MOH jack on the CPU card or other issues.

Set one of the phones to play music through the speaker phone and turn the music source up and down. Does the static change?


Another concern is how well the cable is shielded. 60 cycle interference will cause static on a poorly shielded cable if it's too close to ballasts, computers, or other types of equipment.

Most of our installations have a work station permanently attached to the cabinet so we use the sound card on the computer and run mp3 files for MOH.

If all of the above fail to produce any results, it may be time to start looking at your card.

Thanks for the quick responses. I am pretty sure that the cord is a stereo cord. Where would I locate one that is mono? Thanks for all the support!!

The cable is a Belkin. It does not specify if it is stereo or not. The print on the cable says maximum bandwidth, shielded audio cable.

You can get the cables and adapters at Radio Shack. Remember if you use a mono cable you'll need a stereo to mono adapter to put on the CD player.

Edit: You can tell if it's a stereo or mono cable by looking at the tip. Notice the little black line that divides the sections of the plug.

A stereo plug has three sections (two black dividers):



A mono has two sections. (One black divider):

Are you listening/testing by turning on back ground music or are you actually calling in on a trunk line? If you are using a trunk, are they VOIP lines?

MacGyver - Just looked at the cable and it has 2 black lines so it is stero.

RCA - I have listened to the background music both by turning on the background music on my phone and calling in - they sound the same - high static with faint music. We do have VOIP lines.

You said the music is faint. Also look at the port you're using on the CD player. You may have both a headphone jack and a line out jack. If so, try moving to the other jack. If there is a balance adjustment on the cd player, make sure you're in the middle as if you're using a stereo plug, you're only getting one of the channels at best.

MacGyver - I think the music is faint because the static is so strong. Most of the time the music is completly drowned out by the static. There is only 1 jack for both line out and headphone. The volume is on the middle.

I am going to go out and get an cable and adapter today. I will post my results later. Once again - THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!

You guys are brillant! The adapter worked perfectly - no static!

:toast: