Kevin T

my system is humming....how can i make it remember the words?

i have a wicked hum in my system after a recent cable install. changing the coax cables did nothing nor did a cheater plug help. the hum is quite odd in that it is only comes through on the 6 channel input of my pre-pro. it's not the 6 channel cable either as i thoroughly checked that. what's odd about the hum is that if i connect a wire to the ground of my line conditioner and then touch the other end of the wire to the diplexer, the hum gets far my quiet though still present and noticeable. my only guess is it's a ground loop hum and i order a xantech ground breaker so hopefully that will help. anybody got any other ideas as to what it might be if it's not a ground loop? thanks.

kevin t

religion is the opiate of the masses

John S

Iknow it sounds crazy and somewhat dangerous.

But in the peskiest of ground loop hums, I have actually eliminated all grounds completely with good success.

Kevin T

john...i bought 4 ground lifters from home depot this evening and installed them on my pre and all my amps. the hum is gone. i guess i'll test the xantech ground breaker when it arrives and if it removes the hum, i won't reinstall the ground lifters. one question, all my equipment is plugged into a panamax max 2000 which is grounded out the outlet. is there still a possibility that the amps and pre could become live even though they are plugged into a grounded line conditioner. just wondering. thanks.

kevin t

religion is the opiate of the masses

Chu Gai

I take it you meant things started happening after the TV or satellite cable was installed, yes? If so, it may not have been grounded properly. You've a couple of options. First you can contact the cable company and see if they'll do something about it. Else, you can look into products that go in-line (Mondial, Jensen) which essentially break the ground on the incoming cable. There's a few models out depending upon the frequencies that you're passing.

Kevin T

chu...i had satellite previously. i recently had a cable modem installed and added local channels through mediacom as well. this is when the hum started. i have a xantech ground breaker on the way which is an inline group loop isolator. hopefully, it'll take care of the problem as i'd prefer to not lift the ground on my amps.

kevin t

religion is the opiate of the masses

Chu Gai

Post back, pro or con.

Philip Hamm

If you have separates, I have three stereo Ebtech Hum Eliminators which when installed between your pre and amp will safely and effectively remove the ground loop. I had a mean ground hum with my last house when I installed a new refrigerator, and these boxes eliminated it immediately. However, in the new house I don't need them.

Philip Hamm
Moderator Emeritus