So I was changing a lightbulb last night…

@harpo75 maybe for the sake of experimentation I’ll try some ferrite rings on the switch wiring and see if that does anything. 

Interesting, thanks!

@designsfx They are just normal fixtures. I switched out all the lights in my house for LED’s to save electricity but all of the lights in the basement would flicker when dimmed so I bought a dimmer specifically for LED’s and no more flickering after I wired that in. If this was really impacting my listening experience at all I’d probably pull the dimmer out and wire in a normal switch but I usually have the ceiling lights off when listening anyways and have a couple lamps on instead. So I’m not really looking for a solution I just thought it was interesting and that I’d share it here! Was also curious what was happening. 
 

@russ69 sounds like a business opportunity, ha!

@holmz The tonearm is grounded to the back of the phono stage. As for the light circuit and audio circuit being on the same side, I’m not sure. I’ll take a look later and report back!

@jonwolfpell you’re right, the buzzing was worse with the dimmer all the way down.  Maybe I’ll get a regular switch after all.

@musicfan2349 any advice on how to make sure the fixtures are grounded?

This has reminded me that I used to have a musician roommate in the room directly above this and he would always turn the lights off in the basement when he was recording music. I’m guessing he heard something similar with his recording gear as I’ve heard with my stereo gear. 

On another note, I pulled all of the LED’s to see if another bulb would make a difference but then realized I didn’t have any incandescents laying around but I did have a fluorescent so I plugged that into one of the sockets. For the first 5 seconds or so the light was like pulsating on and off and each time it came on the buzz would come from my speakers. Also the little light on the dimmer switch was going up and down with the light. It sounded like a light saber going back and forth. My dog was looking at me like surely this is Armageddon haha. I’m guessing the bulb just needed to warm up because it stopped flashing after a bit and stayed on. The buzzing wasn’t any better with the fluorescent vs LED. 

@designsfx they are just normal light fixtures that used to have incandescent bulbs. The LED’s I got were advertised as an incandescent replacement that fit that socket type. I did put in a fluorescent bulb but only briefly and then removed it.

@musicfan2349 yeah I don’t plan on listening while touching the light fixture haha but now that I’ve heard the buzz I can’t un-hear it and will probably just put a normal switch in soon.  

@vinylandtubes Yes I do but I haven’t noticed any issues there compared to when it was placed further from the speaker. Are you thinking from vibrations or something else?

@holmz The tonearm is carbon fiber, the clearaudio ‘Satisfy Carbon’. I wasn’t really looking for a solution with this thread I just thought it was something interesting to share here. Although after a handful of people recommended ditching the dimmer for a regular switch, I’ll likely do that soon because now if I ever listen to a record with the lights on I’m going to think I hear the buzz.

@vinylandtubes Before purchasing the turntable I’d read some reviews of people having a lot of skipping issues just from foot falls. I had a local countertop company cut and polish a piece of scrap granite to the dimensions of the tabletop under the TT. I’m not sure if the granite is the reason I’ve had zero skipping/vibration issues but it certainly doesn’t seem to hurt. 
 

@edisoncarter Interesting, thanks!