Catharsis147 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 Well, spoke to Joe from Emotiva this morning and gave him every scenario I ran. He said it may have to do with my Onkyo receiver, as when I talked to him, I told him that the hum comes from the RCA cables only when they are connected to the TX-RN809. He then stated that over the past month, the calls coming in about hum have been mostly from Onkyo customers. He said try grounding the amp and the reciver using a wire or a screw. I will be doing that tonight and will report. He was very nice and did not in any way seem to be BSing me. On a side note: I figured the RCA cables I was using (monoprice) were the problem, so I replaced them with Blue Jeans Cable. Same problem, but I am keeping those cables. Solidly made (and in the USA), and much more flexible than the monoprice ones. Also, even though they did not 100% fix the problem (but did decrease the hum), those Harrison Labs attenuators a bought I highly recommend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 if the noise goes away if you use a cheater plug on the pre-amp, then you need one of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catharsis147 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I have not tried using a cheater plug. I will do that, too. What is that schematic of, or more to the point, what does it look like and where can I buy it? Forgive my ignorance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJCarney Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 Question for you. How much were your blue Jean cables? I love monoprice but I don't live the stiffness of the cables. Also what did the attenuators actually do gor the noise and did it hurt the sound quality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catharsis147 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 The Blue Jeans are a lot more than the monoprice ones, and I am only keeping them for aesthetic reasons (not that anyone sees cables, I realize how insane that sounds). $130.65 shipped for 4 pairs. That is a lot, but obviously the sky is the limit with cables (though at least Blue Jeans do not sell you snake oil. They are actually very very very well made). I do not even know what they sound like yet...bought solely for trying to resolve this problem. I will let you know how they sound. Attenuators basically lower the gain from the amp. I got -12db attenuators. They actually improve sound quality, at least from what I could tell. The noise floor drops quite a bit. Regarding our good friend "hum," it makes it much less perceptable. It is still there, but much quieter. They will not solve the problem, but I love what they do to my system. Thos were around $125 shipped for 4 pairs from parts express.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I have not tried using a cheater plug. I will do that, too. What is that schematic of, or more to the point, what does it look like and where can I buy it? Forgive my ignorance. It's an adapter that fits on the end of the power cord, between the cord and the wall socket. It takes the 3 prong cord and eliminated the ground prong so there's only 2 prongs that go in the wall. They're about a dollar at the hardware store. HERE'S some pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I have not tried using a cheater plug. I will do that, too. What is that schematic of, or more to the point, what does it look like and where can I buy it? Forgive my ignorance. the schematic is four 15amp or more diodes. in the way they are wired, it creates a virtual cheater plug during normal conditions, which behaves like a traditional cheater plug. BUT, during a fault condition, unlike a cheater plug, it will behave like a normal 3 prong outlet. The trigger point is the sum of the series forward voltage drop of the diodes. If you go this route, radio shack can sell you the diodes and a metal case, home depot can sell you the stadard 3 prong out let. get someone with electical know how to wire one up for you as an extenstion cord. use it on the preamp if the traditional cheater plug solves the problem. do not leave the traditional cheater plug in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest " " Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 I have not tried using a cheater plug. I will do that, too. What is that schematic of, or more to the point, what does it look like and where can I buy it? Forgive my ignorance. the schematic is four 15amp or more diodes. in the way they are wired, it creates a virtual cheater plug during normal conditions, which behaves like a traditional cheater plug. BUT, during a fault condition, unlike a cheater plug, it will behave like a normal 3 prong outlet. The trigger point is the sum of the series forward voltage drop of the diodes. If you go this route, radio shack can sell you the diodes and a metal case, home depot can sell you the stadard 3 prong out let. get someone with electical know how to wire one up for you as an extenstion cord. use it on the preamp if the traditional cheater plug solves the problem. do not leave the traditional cheater plug in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuBXeRo Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 i bought 2 more emotiva x series rca cords. I like the quality of their x series stuff, stuff cords with a tough exterior. I will commend them, their banana plugs and connectors are the best value and quality components. I bought 6 of the connector kit to add to them 6 i already have. Blue Jeans is supposed to be really good. I personally hate the layout of their website and its one of the reasons i havent bought from them. My other reason is that i am not a fan really of their lack luster looking connectors. Just a personal opinion and sometimes looks arent everything right? Monoprice is great IMO especially if you are just starting out. In the end though, none of the plans i have for things involves using their connectors. I am still using their HDMI cords because i find myself going through them quite often, far more than id like to admit for one reason or anything. Not knowing where things go in the future, my cables are still long. I will shorten them as short as possible at some point and really design furniture around my needs to make everything work the way i want it too. I am a nut amongst nuts here. I am just lucky that i found my issue and was able to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catharsis147 Posted December 28, 2011 Share Posted December 28, 2011 AH! Thanks. Joe said to ground the reciver to the amp though using a wire or screw. I also read somehere else that losening the chassis screws of the Onkyo might help. Heck, I will try it; it cannot hurt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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