Check with Equitech tech support. They were very helpful for my questions.
Would a power conditioner stop a 60 cycle hum ?
........had an electrician stop by to see if i can get rid of a 60 cycle/ 120 cycle hum .......all outlets would need to be run off one leg into the box and grounded with a dedicated outlet to stop the noie that I have. The problem is .....the walls and celiing would need to be cut in order to connect the runs and be able to run the one line to the circuit box......that's not going to happen and that will cost a buck or two ....so would good power conditioner with all my power cords plugged into it- and then that one line that does go to the circuit box posibly clear this issue up ....need had a ground lop hum ....what a pain in the rear !!!! Thank you in advance
11 responses Add your response
Is the existing outlet grounded ? IMO, the branch circuit by itself should not be causing a 60Hz hum. You should start with you amp alone hooked up to your speakers and connect your other components one at a time to see which is causing a ground loop. An Equi=Tech conditioner is not going to be cheap, and may cost more than what the electrician would charge to install a new dedicated line or two. Their smallest Son of Q unit (1kW rated) is $1489.00. |
Garebear, I assume all your audio equipment is plugged into one duplex receptacle or maybe 2 duplex receptacles but both are fed from the same branch circuit breaker. Correct? Do you have a CATV box receiver connected to the audio system? If yes that is more than likely the problem. A difference of potential, voltage, exists between the CATV Cable Companys coax shield and the safety equipment ground of the 120V AC power system feeding your audio equipment. If you do have a CATV receiver hooked up to your audio system try disconnecting the Cable Company's Coax cable from the receiver and see if that stops the ground loop hum. If it does buy one of these. A Cable TV isolator. . |
You need to provide more detail, and answers to some of the questions that have been asked, before meaningful help can be provided: 1)What are the components in the system? 2)How many duplex outlets are being used, and which components are being plugged into each of them? 3)If multiple duplex outlets are being used, which of them are on the same leg and which are on opposite legs? 4)Re "the system is on a seperate circuit that my cable TV," are there any SIGNAL connections between the TV or cable box, or any other component that may be connected to them, and the audio system? 5)Have you tried Gbart's suggestion of starting "with you amp alone hooked up to your speakers and connect your other components one at a time to see which is causing a ground loop"? 6)Have you tried temporarily putting cheater plugs (3-prong to 2-prong adapters) on the power plugs of various components, to determine where the ground loop is occurring? 7)Is there a basis for confidence that the problem is being caused by a ground loop, rather than the hum being generated internally within some component? Re your initial question: Would a power conditioner stop a 60 cycle hum ?In general, I definitely would not count on it. However, if the components in the system are presently being powered off of multiple branches or multiple legs, putting them on a single duplex outlet might very conceivably resolve the problem, whether it's through a conditioner or not. You could determine that inexpensively using a simple power strip that provides no filtering or surge suppression, and extension cords if necessary. Regards, -- Al |
...thanks everyone but what the hell is a Hum X from Ebtech. The system is on a seperate circuit that my cable TV, I worked with an electrician who moved the ground wire of the cable to a difeerent part of the circuit box......did not work. I worked with an electrician who moved the ground wire of the cable to a difeerent part of the circuit box......did not work. What exactly did he do? Did he go outside the house, locate the CATV Company's coax cable grounding block and rework where the block is bonded, connected, to the main grounding system of the electrical service of your home? IF,..... the audio system is connected to the CATV system and the CATV company's feed coax cable shield Grounding Block is not properly bonded, connected, to the grounding electrode system of your home's electrical service a difference of potential will exist between the coax shield and the equipment ground used at the electrical receptacles your audio equipment is plugged into. That difference of potential will cause a ground loop hum. SIMPLE TEST...... Disconnect the Cable Company's coax cable from their Cable box receiver. It will take you about 30 seconds to disconnect the coax cable. Check for hum...... |
A $30-45 cable TV ground loop isolator from Amazon does the trick for me. No expensive conditioner solution needed (didn't work in my case anyway). Some brands are way more susceptible than others, btw: My VAC 30/30 is the worst - the hum sounds like speaker short buzzing. Counterpoint SA3000 and SA5000 are pretty bad too - I thought they were broken! Lamms M1.1 are really good. Ditto Ayon CD2 and Sonic Frontiers Line-3. Don't try the Radio Shack hack that somebody suggested on the web. :-) |
