Disappointment with Pro-Ject...


It seems I'm late to the party on this one,  but my Project Debut Carbon Espirit SB has that dreaded ground hum issue, that I wasn't aware of when I purchased it.  I figured oh...maybe it's my surge protector...nope.  possibly my interconnects?  Nope.   New ground wire? Nope.  Different phono preamp? Nope.  And what sealed the deal was hooking up my old JVC hunk of junk deck I had lying around, and while it doesnt sound very good, it did not hum.   

I'm already a few months out, so can't return it.  Wouldn't feel right selling it with this issue  to fund something different like a Rega (which I should have just spent the extra money in hindsight for a P3) and it's a shame...it sounds lovely...it really does. but I'm at a loss and don't know where to go from here...I've tried every trick I've seen on every forum and nothing has remedied the issue.  Hate the feeling that I've wasted over 500 dollars on a defective product.  (Well, closer to 700, but the Ortofon 2m Blue I feel was worth the extra money!)

Any ideas or solutions?  I feel like I've tried everything!
tehchuckelator
Dumbest thing I ever did in Audio was to sell a brand new in the box Sansui
929 which I won in a contest .
Most beautiful piece of audio gear  I ever saw !
I'll tell ya even more.
Dose DIY ProJects will never be better than old skool Pioneers, Yamaha, Sansui Technics and JVC included 
Just one question: Is your table/cartridge near a dimmer switch? If it is, then your cart is picking up the mag field of the dimmer when it is on. Either replace the dimmer switch with a standard on/off or move the switch elsewhere.
I also had a strange experience with a project debut table relating to hum.
In my system it was very noticeable even at low volume, in exactly the same setup both a Teac tn200 and funk firm vector v gave absolute ink black silence so not just the setup.
But here is where it gets even odder.
My daughter wanted a vinyl setup so as I had not sold the project (like the OP I did not want to pass along a possibly faulty unit to somebody else), i thought I would give it another try.
All she had was a wall mounted soundbar connected to her multipurpose PS3 (BLURAY, CD. YOUTUBE, PANDORA ETC). the soundbar had rca inputs as well as the dig in she was using.
so bought an el cheapo phono pre from ebay and gave it a try.
in this setup there was just a very faint trace of hum at high volume but at sane levels there was nothing discernible at all.
so one happy daughter and now not $350 wasted after all.
one reason could be there is no other major electronic equipment anywhere near the table in her setup at all?
Good point. I get a hum from my rega P3. I noticed it is directly related to the proximity of the TT to the transformers of my preamp. So I moved it as far away as my stand and aesthetics would allow and now the hum is barely audible at listening levels..

I discovered this by turning the volume up high enough to hear the hum, then I picked up my turntable and carefully moved it around in space. That’s when I noticed proximity to the pre caused the hum.. just be careful. I had to have the needle down on a non turning record to hear the hum. With the high volume, I did not want to bump the table too suddenly!
I have a Debut Carbon.  A couple years ago I moved and was messing with different placements for components in my new setup.  First I tried wi-fi streamer, to the right of that was the Debut Carbon, and to the right of that my integrated amp.  I had a terrible hum coming from my speakers when playing a record.  Then I swapped the amp and DC so had streamer, amp, turntable.  Viola!  No more hum. 
I buy and sell turntables as a hobby and have owned probably close to a dozen DC Carbons and numerous RPM series tables and run Pro-Ject products in my permanent system.  I have never had any hum issues.  I am not denying people are having problems, but there is a good chance the issue is not with the table.  Most Pro-Ject's are brutally simple.  Pro-ject Debut Carbons are wired straight to the RCA jacks.  While this is the most direct path, if your ground is not good, or you are near components or wireless devices, there is a good chance you will pick something up.  There is a good chance that your JVC has circuitry in-between the tonearm leads and the RCA jacks that basically help it "find" ground.  Many tt's and things like powered subs use this kind of a setup.  If you are grounding your tt to your pre, and your pre is not actually grounded, that is most likely the issue.  Many preamps treat it's case as a ground which often doesn't work.  (If your pre has a two prong power cord, this is most likely the case)  All of my pre grounds are always wired to a true ground, usually on the back of a power conditioner that actually monitors grounding.  You can still pick up trash from your ground, but you should be without hum.  I do not want to dismiss the problem or the fact that people have tried just about every iteration of setup known to man, I just have never ran into a hum issue with any tt I have ever owned no matter the model or brand.  So either I have been extremely lucky (possible, but all of my lotto attempts have failed so far), or I have a setup and environment for my tt's that has garnered success.  I am banking on the latter. One thing to try and I know this is a stretch, but if you have access to another Pro-Ject tt, if you plug it into the same setup, you should get the same hum result, even with a high end Pro-Ject tt, as the wiring has the same setup as the Debut.  I hope you get your issue figured out and get to enjoy the table.  I think that bang for the buck, the Debut Carbon DC and Esprit are some of the best tables out there.  Keep it spinning!
Sort sort of related
mine hums also
did not try Ground lift cheater
will do that but my recollection ( too lazy to go look) the wall watt is 2 prong any way....

plus the antiskate is idiotic geometry

You cannot send it in for warranty repair?  I know they have had defective motors and/or motor mount issues.  Have you tried to play around with the mounts?  
So I tried a few more things. Switched carts, same result.  Re soldered the ground, no change.   So...I give up.   I ended up taking the Ortofon 2m Blue from the Project,  mounted it on my old JVC table  (not great, but at least it doesn't have a ground hum) and honestly,  really isn't that bad sounding,  and will suffice until I figure out what I want to do next. 
I had that table and I returned for the same reason. The carbon DC series is quiet, so hum. 
" I was unaware of the issue.  Since we are about to buy an inexpensive 'table as a birthday gift for a friend of my wife (who has suddenly decided that she wants LPs), this is timely info.  I was looking for the least expensive table with a Rega arm, but the Project entry level models looked like they might be better value.  I guess that was a bad idea.

You can buy a 10k TT and still have the exact problem. I would say there's a greater than 50% chance the problem is something else.

" I was looking for the least expensive table with a Rega arm, but the Project entry level models looked like they might be better value.  I guess that was a bad idea "

 

I was unaware of the issue.  Since we are about to buy an inexpensive 'table as a birthday gift for a friend of my wife (who has suddenly decided that she wants LPs), this is timely info.  I was looking for the least expensive table with a Rega arm, but the Project entry level models looked like they might be better value.  I guess that was a bad idea

Thanks for the heads up.
Does the noise change with volume? Also, the model of your speaker would help.
I went crazy for a long time with hum issue. Changed table,changed cart. played with grounds, cable etc all to no avail. Then one day while playing with this problem my wife ( my wife !) says "try lifting the table up " . I lifted the TT about 12 inches off its shelf and hum was gone!  Turns out my pre was right under the TT, and it was causing the hum. All I did was swap the pre and cd player in my rack and the problem was solved.
I had the same problem, but oddly not immediately out of the box. After many rounds of troubleshooting with my local dealer I decided to do surgery and took the housing off the bottom and manually separated the leads and ensured they weren't touching any of the other metal components. That worked, idk exactly what the problem was. 

I've read in other forums that they have quality control issues. Good luck and I hope it's something simple and not TT related. 
@sfall, my other gear includes a Vincent PHO-700 phono pre, Jolida JD301-BRC integrated amp in my signal chain.  Other than that, I have an Audioengine DAC/Bluetooth receiver.  Speakers are Infinity (can't remember the model off the top of my head) and my interconnects I'm using are Audioquest Tower all the way through.  
@tablejockey No, however, I did have a spare IEC cord lying around (who doesn’t) that I had removed the ground prong from previously, tried that and same result, which I assume a ground lift adapter would achieve the same thing.  Tried that on my phono pre (where I'm grounding my turntable, as the turntable uses a switching adapter for power.
"I've tried every trick I've seen on every forum and nothing has remedied the issue."

Does that include using the $2.00 home depot ground lift adaptor plug?