habersham

I've never opened up the control pod on mine. I bought my 5.1 promedia system probably 7 or so years ago brand new, maybe a little longer. The caps on the board for my amp looked perfect, no swelling at all or any other visual evidence that something was wrong, but they were totally failed after I cooked them in a hot office for a few days with zero ventilation. With how cheap these caps are, I'd do the fix described above regardless just by default. They are absolutely a weak link on the board. It looks like it isn't a cure all for everyones issues, I was lucky. If you have a decent multimeter, check out how to test your capacitors, then regardless of where you run into them, you'll be able to determine if they are viable. This site has an ok primer on how to do that towards the bottom of the page. http://www.ohmcheck.com/capacitor.htm I'm assuming you've eliminated your headphones themselves as a cause of the hum by plugging them into other devices, to include directly into your sound card on the computer. If you've elimintated the amp as a source of the hum, as well as the headphones themselves, and your sound card too, I'd crack that control pod open and start testing it, or if you don't mind extra soldering, just start replacing any caps in there by default. They are cheap enough. That being said, I'd imagine there are other components in the board, and certainly in your 'unique' environment that can introduce hum. Sorry that probably wasn't much help... Anyways, good luck

Update - the parts from my earlier post worked. The migrane inducing hum is now completely gone, what a relief. Thanks again.

Thanks for the great information. I also created a new account just to say thank you. Wanted to pass along where I found mine. I found (hopefully) the correct parts at http://www.digikey.com/ search for part number - P5551-ND Product description is "CAP 100UF 35V ELECT NHG RADIAL" I also found a simular one at radio shack, but it's rated for 80 or so C (it says F on the radio shack website, but that has to be a typo), and I'm going with the advise above and getting one that can stand up to more heat. Also, they are only 30 cents each (+ shipping of course). Please let me know if I ordered the wrong part. Plan B is to take my amp out back and put some bullet holes in it. Thanks, Mark