I'm having a strange and unbelievable persistent hum problem in my first vinyl setup. Help?

I'll run through this chronologically:

Christmas day I got a new ProJect Debut Carbon DC and an Onkyo TX8050 stereo receiver, and ran them into my Tannoy 501A powered monitors I've had for over a year. Things worked well and sounded just alright, because of the less than great phono stage of the Onkyo.

As a result I returned it in favor of a Bellari VP130. The Bellari was alright, it sounded much better. This state of contentment lasted a couple days before I noticed that I was hearing more ticks and crackles then I remembered on quiet portions of my records. I also noticed the setup seemed to be almost statically charged as it ticked whenever I touched metal on either the TT or preamp.

Next comes the beginning of the real issue. I really wanted to find out why I was getting all this static, and it seemed like it was a grounding issue. So I tried to make sure everything was grounded properly, even grounding to the house (connecting a speaker wire from the ground screw of either the TT or pre to a screw securing an outlet into the house). Nothing made a difference. That is until a strong hum started after nowhere after disconnecting the "house ground". That hum is what I'm dealing with a week+ later.

About a week ago I got Crutchfield to send me a brand new Debut Carbon DC, since touching a cartridge screw changed the hum and made it seem like an internal TT grounding issue could be the problem. It came in, I set it up, and lo and behold a huge hum remained.

Then I figured it must be the preamp at this point. If i hadn't mentioned, I checked the grounding of the outlets in the room, and they were all perfectly fine. So I return the Bellari, and order a Cambridge Audio Azur 651 P. That came in the mail about an hour ago. Finally excited to be able to listen to records again, I unbox it, set it up, turn it on and... enormous hum (which seems to be stronger in the left speaker than right).

So that brings us to the present where I'm a confused and frustrated newbie who doesn't know what the hell could be going on and just wants to enjoy his new hobby. If any of you guys have any insight as to what could possibly be causing this problem, I'd love to hear any ideas. I've now tried connecting the preamp through a receiver into different speakers, with no improvement. Also the cables are new, and worked before. So like I said I'm very confused and out of ideas. Thanks a lot all.

 

Sounds like the arm has an internal ground issue...either as a result of its cost-saving design or possibly it suffered some damage. To double-check, does wiggling the rca connectors do anything at all...add or decrease the hum?

 

The only constant seems to be your speakers. Disconnect all sources, got hum? Different source, Got hum? I would avoid grounding things to electrical outlets as home audio has grounding schemes that may be incompatible with this practice. In fact "ground loops" are the nearly the inevitable result. The additional surface noise you heard on your records may be attributed to the higher resolution phono preamp. Are you cleaning or brushing your records.

Questions: How did you connect your 501a? Are you using RCA to XLR or 1/4' jack? Do you control volume from the back of the speakers?

Unfortunately the sum of your audio choices makes this problem more difficult.

 

Hm well the fact that the first TT didn't have the issue right away, and that it seems that many people have a Debut Carbon they are happy with without such a problem make me a little confused as to how the issue would end up being an arm issue. As far as the RCA's, I'm having a hard time being able to tell if wiggling is making a difference because touching them causes changes in the hum.

 

Turn off any aux heaters and see how that effects it.
-Bill

 

I thought it might be speakers too as they were the only constant, but I've since tried connecting the setup to a receiver with entirely different passive speakers hooked up. The problem did not change. But I am using RCA to 1/4 inch unbalanced for the Tannoys when I am using them.

 

Your answer may be here (Mixed in with some threadcraps and grumbling ), I remember reading about hum issues with this table a few years ago, something maybe with the motor, worth a shot-
http://www.avsforum.com/forum/173-2...ting-hum-pro-ject-debut-carbon-turntable.html

 

I have heard about those problems but was under the impression that the updated DC version of the table was specifically supposed to fix this problem. Nonetheless, I'll look into that.

 

If it makes you feel any better, I am having exactly the same problem with entirely different equipment. It is maddening at best!

 

I'd hate to say it does, but misery does love company . Maddening at best is right. Good luck though man, hope we can both figure it out.

 

It's my weekend project!!!

 

How are you grounding the ProJect? IIRC the ProJect doesn't have a captive arm lead but has two RCA sockets at the back. It also has a little screw terminal got an earthing lead (provided with the TT I assume...). It is massively I portant to ensure that this earthing lead is connected to the terminal on the rear of the TT and to the similar screw terminal on the back of your amplifier (or phono stage). You may very well have already done this but your post isn't clear...

 

One other thing... Carefully check your cartridge connections to make sure you have the four small wires plugged into the corrct pins on the rear of the cartridge body. Get one of those wrong (or too loose) and a strong earth hum will be the result...

 

There is a ground screw on the back of the turntable, between the two RCA sockets. The phono pre also has a ground screw on the back of it. These two are connected via the pronged grounding cable that is a part of the RCA's that came with the TT. Is that correct? And as for the cartridge connections, they appear to be normal as they came from the factory, but is there a way to make sure they're tight enough (I don't see why they wouldn't be) without risking damaging the fragile components somehow?

 

This part of the AVSforum link seems most relevant:

EDIT: another source of hum is the low quality RCA cables delivered with the unit that do not fit tightly on the plugs. Changing to tighter fitting cables made another major improvement. Between the neoprene washer which eliminated audible hum standing next to the table and reduced hum through the tonearm, and improved RCA cables which eliminated any hint of hum through the tonearm you can make an audible improvement in the TT for very little money.

I don't know the Carbon personally, but know of folks who have the cheaper Regas that had the RB202 variants...very susceptible to hum because the wiring was poor quality. Have you tried a better quality RCA? Interesting that the motor could be a culprit...I would not think that with the way touching your is making it better/worse.

d

 

Bold!

 

Tried new RCA's with speaker wire as grounding wire, no luck. I'd be a bit surprised if both units had just poor quality wiring considering it's a popular unit with this problem coming up rarely with the new DC model. Also the fact that this hum started in the system randomly after several days to a week of no hum at all is still the strange thing.

 

Sorry, came from the article.

 

Report back when solved.

 

I really hope that day even comes haha. I'm still completely baffled, I've tried pretty much everything I've been told here and over at reddit.com/r/vinyl, but this problem doesn't seem to be going a way. The fact that it came on suddenly and is persisting through all equipment I try is beyond me.

 

Have you tried disconnecting the ground wire from TT to PRE?

You should try it to help diagnose the problem.

 

Just went ahead and tried it, just makes the buzz/hum even louder. Is that indicative of anything or just normal?

 

Got a friend with a turntable who can bring it over and try in your system? Obviously, connect exactly the same way.

 

1. Is the Bellari phono stage plugged into the same outlet as your receiver, etc.? You want all the components to be following a single ground path, so if they're not already, try plugging the turntable, phono stage, receiver, and speakers all into one good power strip (or two power strips that both plug into the same wall outlet).

2. Another potential source of the problem is if the ground post on the phono stage, or one of the RCA input jacks, has a fault or break in its grounding pin on the inside of the component. That can create a ground loop. The fact that there's more hum/static in one channel would make me wonder a bit if this could be a faulty grounding pin on an input jack.

By the way, attaching a ground wire to the screw on an outlet doesn't actually ground anything. Hunting down the source of a ground loop is a massive PITA. You really have to rule things out by changing one thing at a time. But the fact that this hum started only after you introduced the Bellari into the system between the TT and the receiver means it probably is related to that link in the chain one way or another.

 

I remember with my previous table (Pro-Ject Xpression II) I had an annoying hum/buzz problem. Drove me mad. Long story short, it turned out to be a number of things:

- the dimmer light switches I had throughout the house, coupled with my music room LED lights.
- a faulty PSU connecting my phone system at the other end of the house.

I replaced the dimmer switches (they were useless with the new globes anyway) with normal switches and replaced the faulty PSU. The hum/buzz all but disappeared.

I was left with a very minor buzz that was only audible with the volume on full AND if I was touching the tonearm, but that disappears whenever I connect my amp to my DAC, which is connected to my computer on the other side of the room. So it's a grounding thing, but as a) it's largely inaudible during normal play and b) it completely disappears when I set up my system for needledropping, I'll live with it.

Not sure if this little anecdote will help at all.