hum with 2wq filters/ general hum help needed


my system is vandersteen 3a sigs, stereo 2wq's, first sound presence deluxe mkII, BAT VK 200, ayre cx-7, musical fidelity trivista sacd, and modwright 999es. i have used wx-2, old version m5, and new version m5. every time i hook up the filters, hum starts. with the trivista hooked up there is no hum, remove the tri-vista and the hum returns. remove the filter and the hum goes away. hum only occurs when the amp is on. i'm also using adapters from the single ended pre to the balanced amp. filters are single ended. any thoughts or suggestions? also wondered what star grounding is and is it safe?

aloha keith
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Keith, I have had the same problem for a while. I have an Ayre V5x, Calypso preamp and the 3a Sigs with a pair of 2Wq's using a modified Sony Xa777es player. I have found that it envolves the grounding scheme between tubes and solid state. It will drive you nuts.
I have grounded the 2 subs to the preamp using the little knobs on the back of the subs. I have ungrounded and grounded everything in the system at some point. No filters, no hum.
Finally, I unplugged the cables with the amp unplugged, hooked the cables up, turned the amp on and ---no hum. I haven't touch anything since.
I talked to Ayre and Vandersteen with no help. You could plug the filters straight into the Ayre with nothing connected on the other end and it would hum!
I have found using a solid state pre---no hum.
It has got to be some sort of ground thing between the use of a tube preamp and a solid state amp with the filters inserted. Neither component ties the signal to chassis ground and both are true balanced.
Everyone said that using balanced would cure the hum but it hummed with single ended and it hummed with balanced.
Right now, everything is dead silent---no hum whatsoever. I can't say why but I'm not touching anything!
try makig a star gounding system where all of the components are grounded to one point. Maybe someone here can help with the design.
bigtee,

i borrowed a friend's v-5x a few months ago and hooked it up and it hummed so much i can't even call it hum, it was more like massive drone chanting. took out the filters and no hum. loudness of the hum seems to be a little less than usual today even though i removed all the cheater plugs which work but degrade the sound. the hum does seem to have a mind of it's own.

aloha keith