Mr. Blorry Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 This post is a bit similar to gto6's about his buzz. Since he's from Buffalo, and I'm from Rochester... Hmm...maybe it's western New York? Anyway, I posted this question under sound cards, but maybe it's more of a troubleshooting deal. I'm trying to run audio out of my sound card into my amp. I use a wonderful Radio Shack 25' mini plug extension cable (I think they're for headphones) and it connects to a mini stereo to twin RCAs that plug into my Denon. At the old place I lived, I got barely discernable hum, but it was there. Now, at this old house, it is louder than the music--in other words, I can't crank the music to drown out the hum--the hum just gets louder! DAMN! I've tried different cable combinations, moving the cable away from power cords, etc. Nothing works. I bought I Monster cable that is supposed to be just for this purpose, but I'm kinda wary that it will suppress this much hum. This cable is 20 feet in length. I also tried putting the PC beside the amp so I could run the little 3 foot cable by itself, and it STILL hummed like a mother! Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns02 Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 Float the ground on your amp at the 120v cord or float the computer ground. The first option is best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Blorry Posted March 10, 2001 Author Share Posted March 10, 2001 johns pardon me for being a dope, but what do you mean by float? I have an idea, but I don't want to look stupider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lerajie Posted March 10, 2001 Share Posted March 10, 2001 Use a power plug that doesnt have the grounding prong.You can buy adapters that isolate the ground or just break yours off. ------------------ lerajie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns02 Posted March 11, 2001 Share Posted March 11, 2001 Ditto lerajie Go to radio shack and buy 3prong to 2 prong adapter. It will have a ground pigtail that you will not use. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Blorry Posted March 11, 2001 Author Share Posted March 11, 2001 Thanks for the advice, but it didn't work Could it be the cheesy extension cable I'm using? I'll be getting the Monster cable tomorrow (12 March), but like I said, I doubt if it's going to alleviate THIS much hum! My amp (brand-new Denon AVR-1801) only has two prong power cord, but I have put the ground tap on it, on the power strip it's plugged into, run the amp to a circuit that's not running any of my gear; I've tapped the wall outlet too. Hmrmph! There's gotta be an answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Blorry Posted March 12, 2001 Author Share Posted March 12, 2001 Wow. What an ordeal that was. I finally figured it all out, and you guys were right, but only after extensive troubleshooting did I find out exactly WHERE the ground taps needed to go. I found that not only did the computer have a bad ground, but the monitor as well! Only when I tapped both of them, did the hum go away! Yes, I got the monster cable which didn't solve the hum, but when I replaced it with the cheesy Radio Shack cable, some of the hum came back (from the rheostat on an equally cheesy torchiere lamp, I'm guessing), so I'm gonna keep the very expensive cable. The electrician comes by tomorrow to fix a few dead outlets, and I'm going to let him know about this--maybe there's a deeper problem because this has never happened with this gear, and it's been in several houses! Food for thought for anyone out there with grounding probs. Sheesh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams Posted March 27, 2001 Share Posted March 27, 2001 I had a similar problem. I added a Carver DD-5.1 to my system and got all kinds of hum. LOUD! Turned out there was 5 volts difference between the shield of my cableTV cable and the power ground. Really, 5v. It was getting to my amp through the audio connections from my VCR and forming a ground loop to the dd-5.1. everything I had was 2 prong so the 5 volts at the cableTV cable had no where to go... before. I broke off the 3rd prong on the DD-5.1 power cable and all is well. Just thought I'd add this for anyone else who might be reading this with a hummm. The reason you had to remove both the monitor and the computer cable grounds is that they are tied together through the VGA cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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