Close to giving up (Buzz/Hum problem)

If you have got a tech to come out you are at least making progress.

 

It was always on my mind and I decided it would happen since the beginning (unless I could fix it obviously). I just haven't called one yet because my audio gear is not where it's supposed to be. I'm remodelling the room it will be in and I want to finish it and set everything up before I call the tech.

 

Just a quick update. I tested for continuity on all the cartridge cables like @meanoldman suggested and everything checks out. All 4 wires have continuity with the corresponding RCA output.

I guess I tried everything I could have tried so far and the buzz persists when no homemade fixes are applied. As I stated yesterday, right now I have a wire running from the ground screw on my Denon receiver to the ground spike on the outlet and another wire wrapped around the left turntable RCA glove and the other end wrapped around an unused RCA input on the receiver. That was the only thing that helped reduce the buzz and I can say that it's around 10% of what it was originally so pretty good.

I'm still not happy with it, I do not consider it fixed and I will call the tech to my place. Mainly because I don't know how the buzz will sound once I upgrade my amp/pre-amp. I will keep you updated with any news that should be expected in one to two weeks.

Thanks a lot for all your help, everyone!

 

Hello everyone!

First of all, I'd like to apologise for not updating you for so long about this issue, but I honestly (almost) gave up/conformed. But now I have some news and I'd like to let people know how I (think) I fixed it for anyone that is looking for a solution to this problem (all these threads seem to die without anyone saying they managed to fix it).

I ended up not calling the tech. I never accepted that as a solution and, looking back, I honestly hated how I was treated at the store where I bought the Planar 1. They pretty much told me they would charge me the tech's work and I know he'd probably get here and tell me I'd need to find an electrician (which I ended up realising that would be correct). I ended up running the Planar 1 with the cable running from the amp's chassis to the ground prong on the outlet for quite some time.

Last week I decided to upgrade my cartridge and the official/exclusive Rega importer in my country had the one I wanted available so I decided to visit. I told him about the issues and he immediately told me to take the TT to the store so he could have a look. I did that, he connected it there and... you guessed it, no hum/buzz! I was expecting it so I took three tracks recorded directly from the Tape Out of my receiver. 15 seconds of silence so he could hear the buzz. Tracks were as follows:

Pioneer TT (separate ground) + Receiver = Very very slight buzz (I'd consider it normal)
Reloop TT (separate ground) + Receiver = No buzz
Rega TT + Receiver = Buzz

As soon as he heard the difference he considered it unacceptable and proposed to install a separate ground cable on the Rega. In the meantime (this all went down in another city) I decided to test it at my dad's home. No buzz as well so I could scratch the possibility that those outlets with filters they had in store could be the reason for no buzzing and that also made me realise the issue was definitely at my place (and my friend's place as well so it seems -> where I tested the TT when this thread was active).

So I got home, connected everything and the buzz was even worse! Unlistenable. After about 3 minutes of cursing and punching a few things, I decided to try another thing. With everything connected, touch different screws on the receiver with the ground cable. That helped A LOT so I decided to choose one, unscrew it and screw it back in with the cable attached. There was still buzz though, so I decided to apply the old method on top of this one. Ran a speaker cable from the ground screw on the receiver to a ground pole on an outlet and NO ****ING BUZZ GUYS! NO HUM, NO BUZZ, NO NOTHING! I ramped up the volume to 100% and I can't even hear a slight buzz.

So yeh, there is clearly a problem at my place and I'll probably still call an electrician because this could be having a negative effect on other things like the electricity bill, but this chapter is closed I think. I'd like to thank everyone that helped me here, you guys were awesome

 

I forgot about this thread, sorry for that.

Youre just in time though, my RP1 thats been pretty silent now over the year has started humming again, I assume its because of heaters turning on or something because it only seems to happen during winter times.

But Im a little confused, did the guy fix a ground cable for your Rega?

 

No need to be sorry at all

I also definitely noticed a change between summer and winter time. During this time, I realised I had two types of noise. A low pitched buzz like the sound you'd identify with electricity and a high pitched continuous beep. During summer, both noises were a lot better (with the homemade fix with speaker wire applied). As soon as it started raining, both noises became worse again.

Answering your question, yes, he did. He took the tonearm off, desoldered the internal grounding cable from the blue cartridge cable, soldered a regular copper/speaker wire to the internal grounding cable and soldered a fork connector to the other end. And all this officially so everything is still under warranty.



As you can see, there are now two different cables coming out of the Planar 1.



And this is how I have it all connected now. The grounding cable on the screw on top is the Planar one and the white speaker cable you see attached to the receiver's chassis on top of the Planar's RCAs runs to the grounding prong on an outlet.

 

Thanks.
-Bill

 

Great, finally one of these threads gets a solution and closure, such a rarity ;^)

My hum is quite tolerable so I think I might just skip this, but its good to know that its fixable still.

 

Assuming you didn't take your receiver to the dealer or your father's place I think the solution proves it is the grounding regime on that oldish receiver. I assume it's double insulated and has a two pin connector? The Rega has to ground through something. I think trying a Rega phono stage was suggested before. I think you are wasting money on an electrician and I don't see how this affects electricity consumption. Looks like grounding the receiver casing properly solved the issue here.

 

I did take the receiver to the dealer and the results were the same he had with his own receiver. No buzz/hum at all. I didn't test the receiver at my dad's, but his is an old Yamaha from early 2000s with two pin also and it worked without any noise. Thirdly, my receiver also didn't make any noise in the original dealer where I bought the Planar 1.

So I guess there is some kind of an issue at my place. I'm also basing myself on the fact that the electricity bill shoots up 3/4 times during winter time with no palpable reason (heating is gas, lights are LEDs) so maybe there is actually an issue somewhere.

 

Faulty meter?

 

If the meter was faulty, it would still provide bad readings during summer, there must be something making the bill go up so much during winter. Oh well, that will only be detected by the electrician when I decide to hire one.

 

I take it you use more electricity in winter by a fair amount? Maybe when more power is drawn at a particular time the meter becomes inaccurate. Do you use electric fires or fan heaters more or more use of the oven? Logically the wiring can't draw power. It's either incorrect meter readings or a something attached to mains. Is your power shared with another property or connected to another unknown to you?

 

I can't say I use more electricity in winter by a fair amount. I do use more electricity but not 3/4 times more. Nothing that justifies such a huge difference. We're talking €25/30 during summer and €120/130 during winter.

Heating is gas sourced so no electrical heaters during winter. Oven is about the same.

My power is not shared with anyone else.

 

If you live in an apartment, which was created by converting a larger space into a couple of smaller ones, etc, then you might share a circuit with a neighbor without realizing it. If they have an outlet on the other side of a common wall, they may have found a cheap place to plug an electric heater in.
-Bill

 

@KT88

I understand that it might happen, heard some horror stories myself, but I live in a 4 fronts house hence why I'm so sure my power isn't shared.

 

If your gas heating uses radiators/pipes, these will probably be fed by an electric pump although the increase you mention seems very high. Do you use something like a tumble dryer to dry washing in the winter or maybe an electric hob/oven more frequently as these are all high consumers of electricity?

 

Sorry to be a total dummy, but how did you attach the speaker wire to the grounding prong on an outlet? Can you provide a picture of that too? Thanks, and glad you found a fix!

 

I do use a tumble dryer, but I don't use it more often in the winter than I use in the summer. The oven is about the same as well. You might be on to something regarding the boiler. We're talking about a boiler being active a lot more to keep the water at 75ºC due to the heaters being on. I wouldn't say that's the only culprit but it definitely means a higher power consumption.

There needs to be something else, though.

We're all dummies until we ask

Post #15 on this thread. There are pictures of the connections.

 

Ah, I see. OK. North American outlets don't have that, I'll have to figure out a work around. Been having the exact same issues.

 

Thanks to Socalguy, my dimmer hum is gone! I took his advice and bought a Furman M-8 filter/power strip on Amazon yesterday. On sale for $58 and I got it today and bam! I'm golden.

I was all prepared to put in a dedicated circuit. I'm planning electrical work anyway as part of a remodel so I will have that circuit put in also but I don't know, it may not improve on this low-cost option. Thanks a million!