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Weird hum issue. Please help!

hankspencer

hankspencer

New Member
I got a Rega RP1 connected to a Yamaha A-S2100 integrated and it hums / buzzes. I have a ground wire coming from the Rega connected to the amp. Without it is worse.

The strange thing is: when I connect a rca cable coming from my macbook to the amp, the hum gets quieter (buzz is more a quieter hum) but is still there on loud volume. (Macbook Pro > a powered Elgato Thunderbolt Dock > 3.5mm to rca cable > A-S2100)

All this happens regardless if the turntable is turned on.

Here are a few things I noticed:

- hum is barely there on low volume with Elgato dock connected
- hum increases with volume
- hum regardless if turntable is plugged in or powered
- touching tonearm makes no difference in hum
- using different outlets for the devices makes no difference
- touching rega rca cable or cables from cart increases hum noise
- connecting rca cable from powered Elgato thunderbolt dock to any input on amp decreases hum (phono as source selected on amp obviously)
- when I unplug the Elgato dock from the outlet while keeping its rca cable connected, the hum increases > meaning no power on the cable
- the rega doesn‘t seem to use a proper rca cable and seems to have no shielding
- when the Rega is not connected there is no hum coming from the amp/speakers

Is the cable from the Elgato dock somehow grounding the amp so that the noise decreases? What is going on here?

Eventually I‘d like to get rid of the thunderbolt dock and switch it for a proper dac. I don‘t want to keep it connected just so I can use my turntable with a bit less hum.
 
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Sound like the Elgato is generating a ground-loop. Have you tried different RCA cables between the dock and inputs? Also, try using a cheater plug on the Elgato power supply outlet. Flip the plug in the AC outlet and see if that helps? :idea:
 
Mr Boochie said:
Sound like the Elgato is generating a ground-loop. Have you tried different RCA cables between the dock and inputs? Also, try using a cheater plug on the Elgato power supply outlet. Flip the plug in the AC outlet and see if that helps? :idea:
Click to expand...


If plugged in with the Elgato it gets quieter, SO I don think its the Elgato. I think the Elgato has better grounding since it has lower hum when connected.

I think its something external or the yamaha's GND isn't very good for some reason.

Athanasios
 
Does any of your equipment have a 3 prong plug? Also, isn't the REGA power supply a wall-wart? If so, how far away from the cartridge/arm is it (the farther away, the better)?
 
Nashou66 said:
Is there router near by?Or a dimmer switch?

Athanasios
Click to expand...

In fact, there is an electric heater nearby, but it is hardwired to the wall and not currently operating. Router is 5 meters away and I'm using Ikea Tradfri smart lighting, but all of the lights are turned off and don't seem to change anything when turned on.

Nashou66 said:
If plugged in with the Elgato it gets quieter, SO I don think its the Elgato. I think the Elgato has better grounding since it has lower hum when connected.

I think its something external or the yamaha's GND isn't very good for some reason.

Athanasios
Click to expand...

Yes, I think that might be true.

WaynerN said:
Does any of your equipment have a 3 prong plug? Also, isn't the REGA power supply a wall-wart? If so, how far away from the cartridge/arm is it (the farther away, the better)?
Click to expand...

The Rega has a three prong plug and no wall wart (and also the ground wire; both of which I think are not original and have been fitted by the previous owner). The Yamaha has no third prong in its AC inlet. So I think it should not have any effect using a three prong cable for it (I do use one in fact and there is no difference to the original two prong).
 
Any possibility to switch to another rca cable on that Rega? My hum issues has almost always been caused by bad cables or connections in the audio signal chain from stylus to amp.
Another interesting troubleshoot would of course be to connect the TT to another amp/reciever. Any friendlys around that can borrow you one for testing (of course without breaching distancing protocols)?
 
T68 said:
Any possibility to switch to another rca cable on that Rega? My hum issues has almost always been caused by bad cables or connections in the audio signal chain from stylus to amp.
Another interesting troubleshoot would of course be to connect the TT to another amp/reciever. Any friendlys around that can borrow you one for testing (of course without breaching distancing protocols)?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the rca cable is hard wired to the rega. So I can not use another.

I used to run the Rega via a Musical Fidelity V90-LPS to an active speaker. It worked but there was also hum on loud volumes.

What‘s new is the reduced hum when using that Elgato dock.

I just tried touching the ground prong of an outlet and with the other hand touching the ground prong on the Elgato (disconnected from outlet; essentially creating a weak ground connection between the Elgato and the outlet) and it reduces or at least „changes“ the way the hum sounds like.
 
Have you tried carefully tightening or just twisting the cable connectors a bit (use a small plier or tweezers) to the pins on the cart to see if there´s a bad connection going on there?
 
T68 said:
Have you tried carefully tightening or just twisting the cable connectors a bit (use a small plier or tweezers) to the pins on the cart to see if there´s a bad connection going on there?
Click to expand...
Just tried disconnecting and reconnecting. No change.
 
Sorry, then I´m out of suggestions for now (...but very curious about those stock Rega RCA:s, but I understand fully if you don´t want to go on a soldering frenzy :-) ). Hopefullyother AK:ers will come to the rescue. Good luck
 
Well not quite done yet. Just thought of something else that maybe can be interesting to try. That is to run a temporary ground cable from the amp ground and try to connect it (just touch) other parts of the TT, like the headshell, tonearm, tonearm base and other places to see if anything happens to the hum. Disconnect the real ground wire first. This to see if the´re something iffy with the ground cable itself.
 
Ok, I disconnected the real ground wire and tried touching metal parts with another wire. No position I touched would be as effective to reduce the hum as the real ground wire does. There was only a small change in hum without any ground wire compared to hum with that other ground wire.
So the real ground wire seems to work somewhat.
 
hankspencer said:
I'm using Ikea Tradfri smart lighting, but all of the lights are turned off and don't seem to change anything when turned on.
Click to expand...

This one of those remote control lighting setups? "smart home" stuff isn't very smart. They inject more noise into your electronics than the cheap cfl bulbs did.

That stuff never turns off. Try unplugging it and see if that helps your table noise.
 
Process of elimination. Try swapping out your cartridge, if you have an extra. It could be a bad ground in the cart or defective cart,,,maybe the ground on the cart is bad?. I would give that a try most definately. Simply because a cartridge is an amplifier and would most definately be a causation in that medium with regards to grounding issues.
 
I recently was given a turntable by a friend to check out for him. One of its issues is a hum in one channel. I can change the volume of the hum by moving or twisting the RCA cables. These cables are almost 40 years old. If you can do the same with your cables, the issue is probably bad cables. How old is the Rega? Is your hum in both channels or just one?
 
Angry Possum said:
Process of elimination. Try swapping out your cartridge, if you have an extra. It could be a bad ground in the cart or defective cart,,,maybe the ground on the cart is bad?. I would give that a try most definately. Simply because a cartridge is an amplifier and would most definately be a causation in that medium with regards to grounding issues.
Click to expand...

I was wondering, with turntable turned-off, could you temporarily short (with DVM probe) the LEFT, then RIGHT channel posts (in the back of the cartridge) to ground. Either the ground post of the cartridge or a grounded probe from the pre-amp? Then, listen for changes in the hum level --- maybe with headphones? Changes in hum would indicate poor shielding within the cartridge? :idea:
 
hankspencer said:
I got a Rega RP1 connected to a Yamaha A-S2100 integrated and it hums / buzzes. I have a ground wire coming from the Rega connected to the amp. Without it is worse.

The strange thing is: when I connect a rca cable coming from my macbook to the amp, the hum gets quieter (buzz is more a quieter hum) but is still there on loud volume. (Macbook Pro > a powered Elgato Thunderbolt Dock > 3.5mm to rca cable > A-S2100)

All this happens regardless if the turntable is turned on.

Here are a few things I noticed:

- hum is barely there on low volume with Elgato dock connected
- hum increases with volume
- hum regardless if turntable is plugged in or powered
- touching tonearm makes no difference in hum
- using different outlets for the devices makes no difference
- touching rega rca cable or cables from cart increases hum noise
- connecting rca cable from powered Elgato thunderbolt dock to any input on amp decreases hum (phono as source selected on amp obviously)
- when I unplug the Elgato dock from the outlet while keeping its rca cable connected, the hum increases > meaning no power on the cable
- the rega doesn‘t seem to use a proper rca cable and seems to have no shielding
- when the Rega is not connected there is no hum coming from the amp/speakers

Is the cable from the Elgato dock somehow grounding the amp so that the noise decreases? What is going on here?

Eventually I‘d like to get rid of the thunderbolt dock and switch it for a proper dac. I don‘t want to keep it connected just so I can use my turntable with a bit less hum.
Click to expand...

The part highlighted leads me to believe it might be a house wire grounding issue. Do you have one of those plug in device that check proper house wiring polarity?
One outlet might be reversed with neutral on hot/load. Is it possible to flip the Yammys plug in the socket or the Rega's ?
Also where is the Rega's power plugged in? The wall or the Amp? Try both, and even the Elgato. That is try them all in bite the wall outlets and then the amps outlets and a combination of both.
Keep notes on what your connecting where and its results.

nashou
 
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