Severe Static/Slight Hum SME 20/2 w/BAT

You need to ground your table. The main bearing housing is an appropriate point, or somewhere on a metal part of the subchassis that contacts the main bearing.

Static electricity can be generated by the stylus in the record groove. If it is not drained by a ground wire attached to the main bearing, then it will accumulate on the record, and sometimes even crawl up the stylus and make noise in the cartridge, in an attempt to get to ground through the tonearm cables.

If there is not a provision for a ground wire on the bearing housing or subchassis, then make one. You can test this by making a ground wire and stripping an end bare, and temporarily taping the bare end to the bearing housing or a non-painted surface of the subchassis. Then ground the other end of the ground wire. This should yield the desired results. If it does, then make the connection permanent in the best way you can.

Definitely try all of the simple things you can first. TWL's suggestion is great. I recently solved a grounding problem with my phono stage by simply plugging it in to a different AC source. In my case, it was a bad ground on one of the analog source outlets on a power filter that I use mainly as a gang box for my sources. Through trial and error I solved my issue by plugging the phono into the same AC outlet as my main amp. The difference was amazing.
Of course this happened after checking all of the ground path from the cartridge to the phono stage.

Happy hunting,

Dan

Well here`s my expereance, I had same problem low level hum. I have a TNT JR /BAT vkp-5 tried several things as Twl suggested I grounded better (Twl suggestion are execellent)no such luck for me. When I did switch tonearm cable from stock SME To ZU Xaus it did go away, seems it picking up RF somewhere in it`s path. I don`t know why some manufactors sheilding works in one application but fails to work in the next. I hope you don`t have to buy a cable for a hum but I did. David

Thanks all. I have a ground wire from the motor I which is on rubber mounts, and a ground wire on the upper plinth, which is where the bearing is bolted on. These 2 ground wires are grounded via the power supply for the motor. So, I took off the plinth wire and used a jumper to the back of my phono stage (same ground as tonearm). Hum is the same, but I swear the static is better and there is less noise from pops and clicks. So, thanks TWL.

So, now it's off to trouble shoot the hum...maybe a bad ground somewhere like Dan_ed says.

Cylinderking_1, that's very strange you say that. The reason I bought this tonearm cable a year ago was the fact the Graham I had picked up all sorts of RFI. The Hovand eliminated it...not sure if it was the XLR config or a different grounding scheme. I was so happy to have the latin radio station not playing over my music, that I overlooked the hum. Now...I think I may try a 3rd cable to see.

Thanks to all.

Jfrech, since my last post mainly addressed the static problem, the hum may be approached by first checking for the possible sources of hum.

Is the hum present when the TT motor is not running? Or does it appear when you turn on the TT? This could indicate that the motor or some other part of the TT electronics might be generating the hum.

Also, another big hum source can be the positioning of the AC wires, in relationship to the sensitive phono cables. The AC power wires from any part of the system should always be routed well clear of the low level signal cables. The AC fields generated around the power cables can induce a hum on many low level signal wires. I recommend at least a foot of distance away, if possible. If you must have the AC power cables near or crossing over the low level signal wires, please do it at 90 degree angles, as this will be the best orientation to reduce any interference. Just this alone has reduced noise floor in many systems that I am aware of. This effect can also be caused by the low level signal wiring being in close proximity to the power supply sections of any of your components. Do a good check for this.

Those would be my first recommendations.