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RFI in tube system

Hi Folks,
I need help. I recently set up my tube system in my new house and everything was great for a couple of months. Then I started to pick up significant RFI. I can hear a muted radio station coming through my system and static interference. Driving me crazy.

I've been playing around with cables, equipement, etc and found the following: My Shanling SACD player has output levels, so I bypassed the preamp and hooked my CDP directly into my amps. RFI was gone. So it seems that the preamp is the problem. I've switched out my interconnects and power cords and there's no appreciable difference. I've also tried using another outlet with no improvement.

I'm not sure what I'm doing here as I'm not very technologically savvy, so any advice would be appreciated. I've read here about power conditioners. Would they help? Or RFI Filters on my interconnects & power cord? Or is this going to be an expensive hit-or-miss process.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
scotlynn
jimjoyce25
215 posts
 
Are any other components plugged into the preamp? Try removing them, so that only the component you are using is connected to the preamp at one time.
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Poorly shielded interconnects are often acting as antennae, so try is to replace yours w/the cheap interconnects that typically come w/olds vcrs(2 wires, white, red, & yellow). They sonically are lousy, but they are usually very well shielded because JVC, Sony etc, expect their customers to have many wires often tangled. If they eliminate the trouble, then shop for highly shielded good sounding interconnects.
Physical line of site to radio signal often comes into play, so try moving gear away from windows, and/or turning gear 90degrees, it might help. Cheers,
Spencer
scotlynn OP
10 posts
 
Thanks for all your helpful advice everyone - and sorry for my delayed response. (My job popped a surprise worktrip on me and I've been out of town for a couple of days.)

Mrtennis, I'll pm you about those rfi chokes. Woudl like to give them a try though I'm using Audio Metallurgys and need to figure out if they'll fit around them.

I'll also try to further isolate the problem as suggested when I get home tonight. In the meantime, I was looking at a PS Audio Duet (I'm on a budget here!) Does anyoen thing that might help reduce the rfi problem?

Thanks again!!!
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Don't buy any components to suppress noise until you know what's going on...
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