ground loop?

I have a Realistic System 300 It was a gift from my grandmother after she passed. The last few days I've noticed that the speakers are cutting out. It's always one side or the other but never both at the same time. I checked the speaker fuses both were good but I replaced with new ones anyway just to be sure. I also pulled the back off the speaker boxes and checked the wires, there were no breaks anywhere. I am wondering if it might be a volume control short. Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated thanks.
 
id try a power conditioner it gives stable power to everything and usually takes care of problems like that. its not very expensive and you would be amazed by the difference in sound you get
 
I have a Realistic System 300 It was a gift from my grandmother after she passed. The last few days I've noticed that the speakers are cutting out. It's always one side or the other but never both at the same time. I checked the speaker fuses both were good but I replaced with new ones anyway just to be sure. I also pulled the back off the speaker boxes and checked the wires, there were no breaks anywhere. I am wondering if it might be a volume control short. Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated thanks.
id try cleaning your reciever out with some deoxit rathan it is a wonder item i find.
 
I'll admit I haven't read all 7 pages of this thread but I will say that anytime there is some background hum in a system the default cry is "ground loop". However, ground loops aren't the only cause of hum and quite often the cause is something else.
Also, many CD players and amps aren't grounded at all, in which case the there can't be a ground loop. I suspect the Pioneers aren't grounded.

You need to determine if the cause of the hum really is a ground loop before looking for ground loop fixes.
 
im causing a hum?

how about this strange hum problem? i have a carver c-2 preamp and a kenwood km-894 amp. volume down all the way- when i hover my hand or some part of me near the carver pre it makes a light hum/buzz in the speakers. actually making contact with the carver preamp does not make it go away or worse. am i crazy?
 
Good evening,

I once also had a ground loop. It was with a Goldmund Job Stereo. Once I had removed the earth of the Job it was over. (I had at that place earth for an airco.)

Best regards, Fred
 
I have a Grace digital tuner and out of the blue I started to hear a hum whenever I have it working. Change outlets, change power supply then I grounded between the power amp and itself and all humming is now gone. So I have the turntable grounded to the pre amp and the tuner grounded to the amp. It is working like a champ again, which is cool as I thought I would end up getting another tuner.
 
I just bought a Cruise Control for my Music Hall TT. I now have a hum when then stylus is on the record. Checked my ground wire from the TT to the receiver and it's good. The way this works is the TT plugs into the Cruise Control and the Cruise Control plugs into the wall with a 2 prong 12 volt adapter. Should I connect a wire from a bolt on the Cruise Control case to the ground post on the receiver??
 
I have an Audio Source EQ series I that has a hum I can't figure out. Wish I had the know how to get it back to working condition
 
The Hum X product does a good job with hums originating from your home wiring.

But I would recommend the Accel Power Squid Surge Protector and Power Conditioner instead. It does the same job as the Hum X, is cheaper, and also provides surge protection and several extra outlets.

But most of the time it's your audio devices that need repair.
 
I was reading all the fixes and things people bought because my system had a hum going through it. In the past it had a hum on other gear that was hooked up in the same spot. I went into trouble shoot mode and disconnected wires finding it stopped when the rg cable to cable box was disconnected. I also started reading on cable tv hum.

I went out to where the cable tv came in the house and took a piece of speaker wire and wrapped one end around the rg to rg connector was and then connected the other end to a metal pipe that ran to the ground. Dead silence inside. Also when a dimmer near the stereo was turned on the stereo buzzed - that also stopped.

Grounding the outside jacket of the cable line got rid of my hum. The best part it was free....
 
Moving around some gear into new configurations and BOOM! Got a group loop. Between my Cary amp and (new by Panor) Dynaco preamp. Which have been paired before in my bedroom with no problems. I disconnected all other gear from the preamp.

I moved the plugs on the power strip. Still there.

I moved the power strip to a different outlet. Still there.

I changed the power strip to a different one. Still there.

On a whim, I switched the two power cords, which are identical. Ground loop gone. Still using the same two power cords.
 
I was reading up on a strange hum/distortion on another forum that I had not come across before and it was
perplexing to say the least. [To me anyway]
The issue only happened when the owner used his turntable and was at an interval of every 8 min and 30 seconds.
So of course you rack your brain around what might only happen every 8 min and 30 seconds just as everyone else was
and various suggestions were put forth.
Turns out a wise sage suggested it might be his alarm system, having looked into a variety of possibilities including
his house smart metre etc, the owner checked his alarm and when installed they tapped into the dedicated power
line to his audio system. This alarm sent out an update every 8 min and 30 seconds!
 
i plugged the CDR player into the same outlet as the amp. problem solved! (at least 80% better).,,
I had just the same problem on my system! I had the sources plugged onto one receptacle and the amp/preamp into another on the opposite side of the room (I was mixing equipment.) I'm pretty sure the two sockets were wired to opposite sides of the incoming 240 VAC (2 x 120.) I finally ran a two wire extension cord across to the Tuner, CD and T/T from the amp side... now no hum!
Cheers,
Roger
 
That's one of my rules when design the power for audio systems (commercial). Use the same phase power for all the racks!
 
I found I was having a ground loop issue. My PC was the source, as it was the only properly grounded component and the reciever is one of those without even a polarized plug.

One of those little ground-loop breakers, roughly the size of a Fun Size 3 Musketeers, and 10 bucks, solved it.

It makes me wonder: why don't recievers/amps/preamplifiers have the isolation built into it? If you're spending a week's salary on a reciever, they could afford to fit one to each input.
 
It makes me wonder: why don't recievers/amps/preamplifiers have the isolation built into it? If you're spending a week's salary on a reciever, they could afford to fit one to each input.
So you wont get killed when the isolation fails, that's why.
Any device that has a switched-mode power supply (like the PC) needs to be connected to a grounded outlet to drain the capacitive currents generated (part of the design). If not, they will travel via the ground wires.
 
I was reading all the fixes and things people bought because my system had a hum going through it. In the past it had a hum on other gear that was hooked up in the same spot. I went into trouble shoot mode and disconnected wires finding it stopped when the rg cable to cable box was disconnected. I also started reading on cable tv hum.

I went out to where the cable tv came in the house and took a piece of speaker wire and wrapped one end around the rg to rg connector was and then connected the other end to a metal pipe that ran to the ground. Dead silence inside. Also when a dimmer near the stereo was turned on the stereo buzzed - that also stopped.

Grounding the outside jacket of the cable line got rid of my hum. The best part it was free....

Thymanst - I had the same problem a few times in different houses. The cable TV Earth is usually in a different location then the 120v house power system Earth connection, thus the ground loop. So, I separated the Hifi system from the A/V receiver and there is no more hum. Or, you can use a Ground Isolator. I bought one from Jensen transformers. Adding all those ground lifters only compromises the safety Earth ground of the 3-conductor powered equipment. It's like two wrongs to make a right.
 
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I just got my 2 Altec 9440 amps back from being rebuilt and they have hum. I checked to make sure they had Good Grounds, everything checks out fine, I disconnected all the inputs and just left the speakers hooked up and they still have hum, looks like they're going to have to go back to the shop is there anything else that I can check that I may have missed?
 
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