Verry strange issue that no expert can figure out! Take a shot at it for me (1 Viewer)

[Chris M34]

So here is my set up Sony STR DN1060 AVR Samsung UN65H7100 TV,PS4, JBLES90 Fronts, Polk Audio CS10 center, JBL sub and 2 satellite rears. Runs very well except I wanted more so I attempted to introduce an AudioSource AMP 310 AMP. Tricky part is my AVR does not have preouts so I ran the 2 front ports to a Russound line level adapter then RCA's from the adapter to the AMP. Speaker A amp outs to my fronts. Sooo to give myself space in setting everything up I disconnected the cable wire from the cable box. So I tested out the stereo playing music from my PS4 and it was great!!!!. Then I put the cable wire back into the box and it send the amp to "protect" humming sound and no audio. Take the wire out it would play again. I then fooled around a little more and the amp will work with the cable in if I remove either HDMI from the back of the TV!! Has anyone ever heard of such a thing. I think I've tried everything except replacing the AVR

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Well, let’s follow the connection chain.

Typically an amplifier’s speaker (-) is common (i.e. has continuity) with the amp’s chassis. This would be true of your Sony as well. The same is true of all the RCA jacks of all components in your system. It is also true of the threaded post (i.e. the shield) for the coaxial cable connection on a cable or satellite receiver (assuming that’s what you meant by “the box").

The cable TV coaxial feed goes to a ground block outside your house where the cable company’s service comes in. The ground block has a wire attached to it that ties into the ground stake of your house electrical service. The ground stake has a heavy wire tied to it that feeds to a buss bar in your electrical breaker panel. The neutral side of every circuit in your house connects to that buss bar as well.

Hopefully you can see that you’ve in essence tied the speaker outputs of your Sony into your house electrical service. No wonder it’s not happy.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Chris M34]

Well, let’s follow the connection chain.

Typically an amplifier’s speaker (-) is common (i.e. has continuity) with the amp’s chassis. This would be true of your Sony as well. The same is true of all the RCA jacks of all components in your system. It is also true of the threaded post (i.e. the shield) for the coaxial cable connection on a cable or satellite receiver (assuming that’s what you meant by “the box").

The cable TV coaxial feed goes to a ground block outside your house where the cable company’s service comes in. The ground block has a wire attached to it that ties into the ground stake of your house electrical service. The ground stake has a heavy wire tied to it that feeds to a buss bar in your electrical breaker panel. The neutral side of every circuit in your house connects to that buss bar as well.

Hopefully you can see that you’ve in essence tied the speaker outputs of your Sony into your house electrical service. No wonder it’s not happy.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Yikes!!! Is there a fix?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

The more I think of it, the more I think I may have been wrong, because (as mentioned) all the components’ RCA shields are common with the chassis too. So I don’t know. Maybe your cable box has an internal problem. In any event, I’ve never heard of people having problems with external amps and cable boxes when they used a receiver’s RCA outputs to feed the amp. Using a line-level adapter is pretty low brow anyway, so I’d suggest ditching the amp. Unless you were regularly running your system high enough to cause audible distortion, you don’t need it anyway.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Chris M34]

The more I think of it, the more I think I may have been wrong, because (as mentioned) all the components’ RCA shields are common with the chassis too. So I don’t know. Maybe your cable box has an internal problem. In any event, I’ve never heard of people having problems with external amps and cable boxes when they used a receiver’s RCA outputs to feed the amp. Using a line-level adapter is pretty low brow anyway, so I’d suggest ditching the amp. Unless you were regularly running your system high enough to cause audible distortion, you don’t need it anyway.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Yes it's very odd. What makes it even odder is when all is connected and I remove either HDMI cord and it works. I basically got the amp because I guess I'm being over the top. I listen to most of my music by streaming spotify through my PS4 or iphone and also use a DJ app on my iphone that I connect through RCA's. I can turn the volume up very loud without distortion and sometimes all the way but it's in a big room and with people over I just wanted a little more. It's only certain times. I've never had an issue with Home theater. I barely have to turn it up.lol I would guess it's the quality of older music I stream.

 

[Chris M34]

I've tried a different cable box, different TV, had xfinity over to check my connections, 2 different line level adapters,Sony support has walked me through different things. Although I realized when I reset my receiver there was still distortion with the receiver off.