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Help with a hum in the pre of a JVC-RS33

JoshuaMonger

New Member
I have two JVC-R-S33 units, and originally I bought one to fix the other as the original one was my fathers and I was repairing it for him. Well I actually decided I like the sound enough that I want one myself. The parts one I ordered I ended up finding a loose ground on the main board and it works great, well... except the phono pre stage has a 50hz hum (I measured it to be certain). Interestingly the hum is only there when I plug in turntable, and the ground wire slightly softens the hum but it is still pronounced. The volume turns up the hum and it is present in both channels. I know the turntable is not the problem as it works with other amplifiers just fine with no hum.

I started by replacing the caps in the power supply board. No avail, however, this actually was the problem with the previous (my father's receiver). I decided to replace a few electrolytic caps on the stage itself and it didn't help so I swapped them back as most of the originals tested better than the replacements I had. I didn't do all of them though and there is a lot of them!! I will get some photos here later today.

So I noticed most threads try and point these problems at the turntable but this definitely is not what is going on. I don't own or know how to use a scope but I could certainly try if I had some idea what to look for. I saw a thread somewhere where people suggested replacing diodes on the ps and i have no idea if that is something I should try. I do have an ESR and a capacitance meter and have no issue pulling and testing caps. I am suspicious of all of the small ceramic caps. There is one on the ps board that I haven't replaced and several on the pre. I also have not replaced the mains caps but I did do a couple of the small electrolytic ones on that main board that I had lying around just to test. The big mains caps are impossible to source and if it's those it's more like just buy another unit. I did also check some grounds continuance on the boards and they seem okay. I did find one interesting area on the pre board where the negative side of a cap ends up have 15-ohm resistance to the ground, but it almost looks intentional as it goes back to the dc-side of the ps and is resistor fed i believe.

I wonder if anyone has any tips or experience for me with this! Any help would be appreciated. I could just get another unit, but at this point I am super curious what is really going on here. Thanks everyone!
 
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I'd be looking at the phono stage and its connections and the turn table, suggest pause on any power supply mods
for time being. Possibly hum is caused by the TT GND being at a slightly different level (voltage) GND to the amp.
Check solder joints of phono RCA connectors.
Try another TT if you have one or connect a CDP or tuner or tape to the PHONO RCA's, power up but don't play, any hum?
Unplug RCA's, amp powered off, measure resistance between phono RCA GND connector (outer) and amp chassis, subtract
resistance when probes connected to each other.
Depending on your cartridge, check L&R GND wire connections to cartridge
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Wow, what can I say other than that was really solid advice. I had done some intricate checking of ground on the printed pre board to no avail. But I had never checked the the RCA outer ground and sure enough, there was none. I wasn't ever really able to access that area of the board by the RCA's due to the construction of the enclosure. But I took it all apart and yes faintly I was able to spot a broken pad on the board where the ground TT is that was not carrying the signal to the next point. I simply made a bridge out of soldier as it was close enough to its next destination and viola! Thank you so much! I am shocked you helped me that fast! It really helps getting advice sometimes. I appreciate it! cheers!
 
I have one of these, and really like the look of it. Kinda transitional.

But I too have an issue with the phono input. The RCA plugs have to be just so for both channels to work well.

The RCA plug and or ground is likely the issue for me too.
 
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