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Analogue question

As everyone else in the world this lockdown has been a change in "normal " behavior but has given many of us audiophiles plenty of time to listen to "our music " . Since I am planning to downsize my living space I have been going through various pieces of equipment to determine what I will keep and what I would let go . 5 days ago I have come across a maddening problem with my analogue set-up ! Everything sounds great until I want to play a record and before I even place the needle in the grove I get a serious hum through my speakers ! I originally suspected I was getting acoustic feedback because my amp was close to the speakers . Yesterday I moved all the equipment to a distance of 6-10 feet from the speakers and still get the hum when I switch to analogue. Starting to wonder if it is coming from the turntable itself but before I take the time and energy to reset a new rig thought I would post a question on this forum. Any help would be greatly appreciated . Set-up is as follows : Dual Golden turntable w/ortofon red cartridge , McCormack UDP player , Forte 2a preamp feeding Forte 4A amp , speakers are Vandersteen 1C , interconnects KimberKable Heroes ,speaker wire Nordost Blue and Tice power conditioner . 
wazoo
smatsui
167 posts
 
If your new location setup puts the components closer to your WIFI router or extender, your components may pick up the noise from it.  This happened to me twice in both of my systems.  Simply unplug or move your router/extender further away from your system.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,446 posts
 
Wazoo. You said the noise picks up when you play the record. Put the cue arm up and move the tonearm across and over the record. Does the hum increase as the arm approaches the motor? If it does you have a shielding or grounding problem with the motor. Grado cartridges will do this on some tables.
wazoo OP
10 posts
 
I switched the tt power to a separate outlet that is on it's own line and still get the hum. Going to try and replace the phono cable and start all over again .
boomerbillone
348 posts
 
Hello Wazoo.  With time, the connections to the phono cartridge itself can oxidize. Slide all four of the connections to the cartridge on and off 10 times (one at a time) and see if that helps. Replacing the cables from the turntable to the amplifying device was a good idea.
pgaulke60
294 posts
 
Recently My turntable was making a similar hum and the meters on my Phono PreAmp were going nuts.  Turns out it was the WiFi Satellite that I had placed near my equipment.  I had a satellite so that I could plug in Ethernet cables directly and didn't have the dropouts of WiFi with my streamer or TV.  Evidently the WiFi Satellite caused a bunch of gain that interfered with the system. I moved the Satellite into a room behind the system, a good 15 feet away and ran Ethernet through the wall and it solved the problem.  I am also told that if your turntable cables run parallel to any power cable that can cause similar issues.
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