Speaker Hum From Receiver !!! (1 Viewer)

[Gary Thomas]

I just moved in to my new ht basement & have an annoying hum coming from my speakers. I have the same components as my previous family room set up...which was hum free.

The basement has a 20 amp dedicated circuit. I've isolated the receiver as the culpret by turning off the sub amplifier, satellite, dvd, etc. With just the receiver turned on I have a noticeable hum coming out of the speakers. I tried plugging the receiver into two other outlets w/ the same result. It is currently plugged into a Panamax line conditioner, which is plugged into the dedicated circuit.

The receiver plug is two pronged.

Any ideas on how to fix this?

Thanx!!!

 

[BrianKR]

Do you have cables connecting your other components into your receiver? If so try removing all of the cables (interconnects, component, diag coax, video) connecting your components to the receiver and see if that removes the hum. Even though you don't have your other components on if they are connected to your receiver they can still cause interference if you have a bad cable connected.

I had this very same problem a few weeks ago with my DVD player and brand new component cables while my DVD player was in standby mode.

 

[Gary Thomas]

Good catch Brian!

I discovered the hum occurred from my Satellite In coax cable. The cable is connected to my satellite receiver. The hum occurred even with the satellite receiver turned off!

I'll try swapping out the cable & see if that does the trick.

 

[Parker Clack]

Gary:

Is you satellite receiver plugged in with a 3 prong plug? If it is trying using a "cheater" plug (that is one that takes a 3 prong and converts it to a 2 prong plug) that you can get at any hardware store.

See if that gets rid of your humm. Also, make sure that your satellite dish is properly grounded. Did you have this installed for you? If you did get with the people that installed the satellite system and ask them if they grounded the antenna or not.

Parker

 

[Philip Hamm]

It's very common to have a ground loop problem from a cable or satellite hookup. You need a very simple device for the sat coax. Post a request for help on the tweaking and cables hardware forum, you'll get quick answers and links. Or do a search there, this issue has come up many times.

 

[Gary Thomas]

Thanks Parker / Philip:

My satellite receiver is two prong...so that leaves the adapter out.

It appears as though the satellite is properly grounded. The satellite ground goes to a connection box, with a green ground wire going to the whole house ground. The phone ground also goes into the whole house ground.

I tried disconnecting the ground from both the satellite dish & the connection box to the house ground, but it did not solve the hum.

I'm wondering if it could be the cable I am using to run the original satellite cable to my equipment rack? The cable originally had a ground wire (which I removed) attached to the coax.

The only time the hum is present is when the satellite cable is connected to the satellite receiver. It goes away completely when I disconnect the cable.

It seems as though the gizmo's Philip refers to cost about $50. That may be the next step!

 

[Philip Hamm]

It seems as though the gizmo's Philip refers to cost about $50. That may be the next step!

That sounds wrong. Ask over in the Tweaking section, ten people will give you answers there instead of one or two. Check the coax cable going to your satellite box. Unhook it and see what happens.

 

[Ilya]

Noise coming from a satellite feed is common. Have you tried sending the feed through a surge protector with a filter for your coax connection? It will have a coax in and out so you can send the signal through it to your sat receiver.

 

[Gary Thomas]

Update:

The coax carrying the satellite signal to the satellite receiver is definately the problem. In researching solutions I'm down to the following two options:

1. I'm having a contractor (who finished my basement & ran the electrical connections) come over to check out all of the grounds in the house. It appears that the house, phone, and satellite are all ground at 1 point on the house ground. My contractor, however, seems to recall seeing a ground wire connected to one of the home's plumbing pipes.

2. I ordered a Jensen Transformers ISO-MAX VRD 1FF. http://www.jensen-transformers.com/press.html This seems to be the best solution for a gizmo that will not degrade picture quality. (It retails for $59.99) There are other options for less $, but they are often not compatible with satellite or HD.

Here's a link to a pretty good article on ground loops: http://www.hometheatersound.com/feat...n_20030601.htm

 

[Philip Hamm]

Wow that's a lot more expensive than I thought it would be, but I strongly suspect that the transformer you've ordered will solve your problem.

 

[Gary Thomas]

Good news / bad news....

Good news: connected the Jensen IsoMax Transformer & No Hum!!!

Bad news: No picture either!!! Arghh. From what I've read, the satellite signal should pass through...but it doesn't. I get a "searching for satellite" error message.

I've since found some info on the Jensen site stating that the Iso Max will not work with satellite because it does not pass DC current. They suggest a "gas discharge tube isolator"(whatever that is!) between the satellite box and the ground.

I guess I'll have to wait for my contractor to work on the grounds.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Or ask in the tweaking section. They've covered this subject many times, and I'm sure would be happy to again.