Trytone.....I suggested the cheater to find where the ground loupe is. Try it on the turntable first (I doubt it will help there)..... also try it on your other black boxes until you find the culprit. In my system (Ayre amp, preamp, Universal silver disc player, Vandersteen speakers (which plug into the wall), and dedicated headphone amp)...if the headphone amp is not plugged in, I get a hum (with the 2nd preamp output connected).... You just have to wade through the system ....the joys of audiophiledom. Plug the 3 way plug you are testing into the "cheater" which allows you to reverse the plug (turn it 180 degrees) and/or eliminate the 3rd ground wire (the rounded metal spade on the plug...as opposed to the 2 flat ones (one wider than the other).
VPI Classic 1. Defective or design flaw
I am the mostly proud second owner of a VPI classic 1, serial number 2187, purchased new from Galen Carol audio in san antonio about 4 years ago, Lyra Kleos front end. There are at least 2 situations where a very loud hum is produced. If you connect the ground wire from the grounding block near the tone arm base to the normal(?) grounding screw on the phono stage and when the power cord is plugged into the Phoenix Engineering speed control products(i have the eagle and the falcon and it happens with both). The table is quite pleasant too listen too outside of these circumstances and i have no problem not connecting the grounding wire but would like to think i did not waste my money on the eagle/falcon units. There is certainly plenty of info on the web about minor hum issues with this line but i have not found anything like this. The speed control units work with no hum on my much older VPI HW19 MK III and that table does not produce any issues when its grounding wires are properly connected to the phono stage. I have 3 phono stages in house, a recent solid state and a vintage and recent tubed unit, the problem occurs with all 3. Any advice or theories would be appreciated. As for now will continue to listen and hope. Thanks, LS