Slight buzz through speakers

Hi @spatialking thanks for replying. So I have my McIntosh preamp plugged into my Furman Elite 20PFi power conditioner (along with everything else except the Sim amp). I have my Simaudio amp plugged directly into the same wall outlet as the Furman Elite. It is a dedicated 20 amp line. So on that dedicated 20 amp line the Furman is plugged into the bottom receptacle and the Sim amp is plugged into the top receptacle. Both the Sim amp and the Mac pre have 3 prong plugs-the Sim is a C19 20 amp power cord. 

Just this morning I tried unplugging the McIntosh from the Furman and then plugging it directly into a different wall outlet altogether. No change buzz still there.I also removed all of my Transparent Plus XLR IC's from the McIntosh to the Sim amp (McIntosh still plugged into the Furman at this point). I completely removed the XLR IC's. So the only thing connected to the Sim amp was the speaker cables. And no buzz. This confirmed the buzz wasn't coming from the Sim amp (and I never had this buzz before so I knew it wasn't the Sim amp).

Just this morning I also unplugged every component 1 at a time from the Furman. Buzz still there so the buzz isn't coming from any other component so it has to be the McIntosh preamp, right? 

I have never plugged to Mac into the amp directly, not even possible.

Thank you for the suggestion of the cheater (many others have suggested this-I will try that). I will check out the Jensen piece you reference. I also ordered the Hum-X which will arrive tomorrow and I'm really hoping plugging the Mac into the Hum-X and then connecting to either a different wall outlet or the Furman-I'll try both and see if either works.

Again the buzz/hum is very faint and can only be heard without anything playing and putting my ear within a couple inches of the tweeters, But it was never there before and changing volume does not change the buzz it remains low (thankfully) and certainly not at all audible from the listening position...

@soix thank you. I have contacted Mac for other questions before I bought the MX122 and their tech support was always available. I’ll give that a shot certainly. Ya Mac from what I’ve seen/heard/read isn’t for everyone (just like every other component maker out there huh?)…thanks for the well wishes👍🏻!

@spatialking thank you so very much again for taking the time and interest to help…I will certainly post here what happens once I get the Hum-X. Someone in the preamp-amp forum where I also posted this, said he had the exact same problem and the Hum-X fixed it. I had already been familiar with it and pulled the trigger right then and there after reading that reply. If it doesn’t work I can return it no harm. At $81.00 why not-I’m ready to pay 10x that if there’s a solution! And thanks for the support-nice to know I’m on the right track😊

The hard part to swallow (even though many have said since it’s not audible at the listening position and it’s on the quieter side no problem to live with it as so many do) it wasn’t there with my previous Marantz AV8802A preamp (which I still have, not sold yet). I know the Mac is in another class than the Marantz which is why I wanted to get my hands on it. So hard to wrap my brain around living with it at this point…

Hello @straightwire and thanks so much for taking the time to send such a thorough and detailed reply😀!

I currently have Comcast/Xfinity. Unfortunately, Verizon FIOS is not available in my area and because of my location (lots of woods/tall trees) satellite dish is not available either. It's Comcast or none. I already tackled the cable box buzz as it was very loud and went louder as volume was turned up. Unplugged the coax and hum disappeared completely. I bought a coax hum eliminator and once installed no more buzz/humm whatsoever (this was when I had my previous Marantz AV8802A as my processor). Soon as I upgraded to the Mac and reconnected a very faint buzz could be heard. I started with cable again disconnecting and hum still there. One by one I disconnected and reconnected every component in the system. Buzz never went away. The volume of the buzz has stayed consistent never changing with volume or anything else...

Once I tried unplugging my XLR cables leaving only the Mac and my Sim amp (with speaker cables connected to my amp) connected buzzing went away. As I reconnected the XLR cables 1 at a time the buzz returned to that speaker/channel. At this point it seems (unlike the Marantz/Sim combo) like the Mac and Sim just "do not play well together". There's only 1 other thing I haven't tried and that's going RCA instead of XLR. But I have spent a very small fortune on my Transparent XLR's so that's not really an attractive option-though I will try to see if that takes away the buzz just for kicks as I have a few RCA's hanging around. So I'll try just to see if that changes anything.

The only other thing I can think of is that whilst I never had this issue with my Marantz, the Marantz is a 2 prong plug and the Mac is a 3 prong. Maybe somehow this makes a difference? Though I did try a cheater plug on the Mac and the buzz was still there...

I have had many folks reach out and tell me they have the same issue and that because it's so faint and can only be heard ear within 2 inches of the tweeters, do not worry about it at all. So, I'm starting to wrap my brain around it🙄, It cannot be heard at all away from the tweeter and from any listening position and is not intrusive at all (other than my OCD knowing it's there) so I can certainly live with it. Besides I have tried pretty much everything...except calling in a priest to get rid of this evil entity but I've seen the mess that makes afterward😂🤣

Thanks again for the thoughtful reply...I'm still open to any/all suggestions...

Thanks again @straightwire. I did try the 2 prong cheater plug and the hum was still there. There is no noise coming from the Mac unit itself, but through the speakers. I am pretty convinced that somehow introducing the Mac with it's 3 prong plug somehow opened the gateway and allowed this entity to get in.

You are definitely correct this unit is a definite upgrade from the Marantz, and I have called Mac's Tech Support. But they really couldn't diagnose, everything they suggested I had already tried... I guess this unit like others have said "just doesn't ply nicely with others". At this point I am learning to accept it. It is by no means intrusive, and you cannot hear it when music is playing (though with ear to tweet and low volume I can hear it but that's because I'm listening for it too). But when volume is at normal levels you cannot hear it at all. It is very faint so I guess in some ways I should feel lucky (others have said this as well) because this is so common and much worse in many cases...