Need help solving a hum problem

thanks for the heads up. I will try it as a temporary fix to determine which component is causing the hum issue. then I will address the problem from there with a permanent solution with correct grounding

Andy, don't listen to Peter with regards to the AC adaptors. If you have to resort to that, the equipment needs to be fixed as running it that way can be dangerous.

I have solved most of the problems I was having this afternoon. I did go to the hardware store and picked up some 16g copper wire to make some ground leads. I have now connected all of my components to the ground lug on my power supply. My phono stage is a rogue ares. It has selectable dip switches for the grounding. I switched it to ground only the right channel. This made the majority of the hum go away. I can only hear it now when the volume is maxed out. When I am listening at my normal volume at my chair, I cannot hear a hum. I can hear it when I stand next to the speaker.
I talked to Peter Lederman from soundsmith this afternoon. He was nice enough to help me troubleshoot a bit. He said I might be having an issue with my exposed tonearm wire on my JMW 10.5 tonearm. It does not use a shielded wire. This may cause some interference with my high output moving iron cartridge. He said to try wrapping it with a single strand of copper wire. A small wire like the size of a hair. Then terminate this wire to the ground lug on the turntable. This should help to shield the tonearm cable.
He also suggested using some 3-prong to 2-prong adapters and only earth ground one piece of your equipment. I am going to earth ground my phono stage and then connect my turntable ground to the ground lug on the phono stage.
I did try the turntable without using the ground on the phono cable and it sounded worse. I will try these ideas out and report back later.

Andy

I would try to ground the phono pre to your preamp. That solved the problem I had with my Dynavector P75.

Try disconnecting the ground from the TT to the phono stage. On rare occasions some cartridges work better without this ground. Worth a try.

To see if the hum comes from the phono stage, try using a cheater plug on the phono stage PC and see if it goes away. If it does you have identified a ground loop problem as opposed to other possibles. If that works I would leave the cheater plug in place and relax, although others might not. You do not IMHO need to establish a seperate ground between your phono stage and your pre-amp.