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Is mild hum normal?


Klipschguy

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Yes, that is it, except mine has the walnut cabinet with the slant legs.  And yes, I recently moved and my current listening room is almost as quiet as a recording studio; it is really quite remarkable.  What you said originally is resonating with me:  "all transformers hum" - especially in dead silent rooms.

 

BillyBob,

I will try the cheater and see what happens.

 

Islander,

I will try your grounding trick as well.

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If you are experiencing transformer hum/vibration you might want to check into this unit from Emotive. I had a friend with a Pass Labs amplifier that experienced transformer hum/vibration (that even varied in intensity at times) and it eliminated his issues completely. 
 

If you have multiple equipment with transformer/vibration  I would suggest plugging them all into a AC strip and then into this unit since it only has 2 outlets itself.

 

 

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Looks like they are having a 20% discount and free shipping at this time also. 

 

https://emotiva.com/products/cmx-2

 

 

miketn

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If you plug EVERYTHING into the same strip it can cause issues. I spent a day experimenting. This is what reduced my hum to nada. I use two power strips. On one I put my tv, music server, turntable, my cd transport, turntable light, and on the other strip amplifier, sub amp, preamp, phono preamp, DAC. This system went from hum to silent.

 

 

 

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A 20db room is pretty freaky I bet.  Would love to hear your setup.  Im in a second story room in my home and have mine down in the lower 30 db range with around 150sq foot of panels on the walls.  Nothing like a well treated room to hear every bit of the content. 

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44 minutes ago, seti said:

If you plug EVERYTHING into the same strip it can cause issues. I spent a day experimenting. This is what reduced my hum to nada. I use two power strips. On one I put my tv, music server, turntable, my cd transport, turntable light, and on the other strip amplifier, sub amp, preamp, phono preamp, DAC. This system went from hum to silent.

 

 

 


my understanding is the op doesn’t have hum coming through the speakers but is a mechanical hum/vibration in the power transformer themselves. This is different from a ground loop issue if I have understood the situation correctly and is why I suggested the Emotive unit as a possible solution. 

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2 minutes ago, mikebse2a3 said:


my understanding is the op doesn’t have hum coming through the speakers but is a mechanical hum/vibration in the power transformer themselves. This is different from a ground loop issue if I have understood the situation correctly and is why I suggested the Emotive unit as a possible solution. 

 

I heard hum and went down the rabbit hole..

 

All transformers hum or have potential to hum as they all vibrate.. I made a jig to clamp down transformers. I've cured it sometimes with my funky clamps but also with putting rubber washers under the transformers and really clamping them down.. This can be a bugger. I work on one amp that it was so bad I couldn't get it to go away no matter what I did to it..

 

 

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27 minutes ago, seti said:

All transformers hum or have potential to hum as they all vibrate.. I made a jig to clamp down transformers. I've cured it sometimes with my funky clamps but also with putting rubber washers under the transformers and really clamping them down.. This can be a bugger. I work on one amp that it was so bad I couldn't get it to go away no matter what I did to it..

 

If one has the end-bells detached, you can sometimes get away with using a small piece of wood tapped into the winding/core area...depending on the transformer.

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  • 4 weeks later...

OK, I bought and tried the Emotiva unit. Although the unit is very nicely built and packaged, it did nothing to change my hum issue. Conclusion: my hum problem is not due to DC offset. 
 

So...I opened up my Mac equipment to take a look for mechanical issues causing the hum. In the preamp, I noticed if I put pressure on the main transformer cover plate, the hum would stop. After a little experimentation, a 3/4” strip of rubberized cork gasket material down the center of the cover (held firmly by the cover and 2 screws) dropped the hum to almost inaudible. You cannot hear it unless your ear is closer than a few inches. Warning: beware of electric shock when dealing with an open component that is plugged into the wall! We all know what happened to Marvin in the movie Home Alone 2. 
 

In my power amp it took another solution. Manipulation of the transformer cover yielded nothing, BUT loosening and retightening the main transformer mounting bolts did the trick. Again, the transformer is inaudible unless your ear is closer than a few inches. BTW, the mounting nuts were loosened and retightened with the unit unplugged. 
 

These transformers are quiet. Thank you for all you help!
 

Andy

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