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Acceptable Level Ground/Earth Noise

Hi Everyone
I have a dedicated earth for my audio system.  I was digging a bore for water and lost the rod so decided to dedicate that bore for Earth.  It is about 100 feet deep an is in water.  The line runs straight to my dedicated audio room and is shared among the various audio components.  
I am running a Clearaudio DC preformence through an Avid Phallus phone stage hooked up to a ML No.  38s pre.  The cartridge is a clear audio virtuoso MM.  The ML volume level goes to 92 and the hum appears at 60. Previously when the earth was shared the hum was almost unbearable at 60 but now is significantly reduced. 
My question is that is the hum just part of the analogue experience or should it be absolutely quite? 
srafi

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
I did forget to mention it gets louder when I touch the tone arm so could be something else.
Most definitely! The tone arm tube should have continuity to the chassis of your phono preamp. If it does not, hum is a likely result.
Is some level of hum part of an analogue setup or should it be absolutely quite?
Hum is not part of the analog experience. You might get hiss but hum is an indication of a problem somewhere.
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