or at least interference. which explains the randomness, and why it seems to work better at night.
excuse me while i line the walls with aluminum foil...
it wasn't happening before, so i probably just knocked in a weird position or something.
i should be able to get it right by playing around with it.
hopefully.
if not, the other cable seems to work better. which is a little counter-intuitive. i was connecting with quasi-fancy gold plated rca cords. the ones that seem to work better are a step down. the thing's just gotta conduct, and it's not like i'm putting it under any pressure, so i can't imagine how it could have gotten damaged.