HuddieLedbetter
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I moved houses 6 months ago and although my setup is the exact same gear I'm now getting a noticeable hum on the system -- and if the DAC is streaming and I switch to the phono, I can now hear (with the volume turned up) whatever track is streaming. The only difference in the set up that I can think of is that I'm not 100% sure what plugs in the Panamax MR4300 went to what components -- and currently the REL sub and the Panamax are now plugged into the same outlet. In the previous house the sub and Panamax plugged into different outlets.
I also discovered something very odd -- that if an Apple lightning cable was plugged into the front charging port of the Panamax and I held the lightning connector tip in between my fingers (or pressed with one finger it against the carpet) that it would generate a loud audible hum through the speakers. (when the system was on)
The electrical in the house is only about a decade old and when we moved in I asked an electrician that was doing some work about replacing the outlet with a medical grade or audiophile outlet and he said the current outlet was fine -- and that without being able to change the electrical coming in from the street that I wasn't going to get any material gains. (downtown Boston, brownstone, not much chance of that...)
I would characterize myself as a relative idiot when it would come to anything beyond flipping a fuse in a panel for electrical. For the stereo, I'm probably just above an idiot (?) but that's only because I've had the same gear for a long time and it simply isn't that complicated getting it set up.
For quick reference:
I'd welcome any thoughts -- or if there is a set of steps that I could go through to get to root cause -- otherwise it feels like I'm just going to try unplugging random things....?
Thanks all.
I moved houses 6 months ago and although my setup is the exact same gear I'm now getting a noticeable hum on the system -- and if the DAC is streaming and I switch to the phono, I can now hear (with the volume turned up) whatever track is streaming. The only difference in the set up that I can think of is that I'm not 100% sure what plugs in the Panamax MR4300 went to what components -- and currently the REL sub and the Panamax are now plugged into the same outlet. In the previous house the sub and Panamax plugged into different outlets.
I also discovered something very odd -- that if an Apple lightning cable was plugged into the front charging port of the Panamax and I held the lightning connector tip in between my fingers (or pressed with one finger it against the carpet) that it would generate a loud audible hum through the speakers. (when the system was on)
The electrical in the house is only about a decade old and when we moved in I asked an electrician that was doing some work about replacing the outlet with a medical grade or audiophile outlet and he said the current outlet was fine -- and that without being able to change the electrical coming in from the street that I wasn't going to get any material gains. (downtown Boston, brownstone, not much chance of that...)
I would characterize myself as a relative idiot when it would come to anything beyond flipping a fuse in a panel for electrical. For the stereo, I'm probably just above an idiot (?) but that's only because I've had the same gear for a long time and it simply isn't that complicated getting it set up.
For quick reference:
- PrimaLuna EVO 400 amp and pre-amp. (connected via a Nordost cable that I can't remember the name of... it's blue)
- Technics SL-1210GAE (connected via a Music Hall phono cable to the pre)
- Musical Surroundings Nova III phono pre. (Zu Audio RCA interconnect to PrimaLuna)
- Oppo BDP-95. (Zu Audio RCA interconnects to the Mytek)
- Mytek Brooklyn Bridge (2nd gen?). (ZuAudio to the PrimaLuna)
- Devore Fidelity O/96, ZuAudio speaker cables
- REL Storm III Subwoofer -- connected with Neutrik cable to the speaker taps on the amp
I'd welcome any thoughts -- or if there is a set of steps that I could go through to get to root cause -- otherwise it feels like I'm just going to try unplugging random things....?
Thanks all.