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Hum after replacing tonearm cable

After replacing my entry-level tonearm cable with the high-end one there is now a very audible hum once the turntable is on and its motor is spinning. Moving the turntable around, away or closer to the phono stage or rotating it 180 degrees or upside down did not make any difference on hum. It is consistant regardless where the turntable is or how far or close it is to preamp or amp. The hum is equally loud in both left and right channels. Is there anything that could be checked or done to fight the hum other than switching back to my entry level tonearm cable?
esputnix
esputnix OP
19 posts
 
1. Disconnecting tonearm ground wire from the phono stage did not make even a bit of the difference. With or without the tonearm ground wire bolted to the Ground Post of the phono stage makes no perceivalbe difference in anything. I wonder if this a Ground post or a tonearm ground wire that doesn't ground at all. Should be any hearable difference in hum when we connect/disconnect the tonearm ground wire?

2. The tonearm is SME 4. It looks silverfish plastic (I think it is painted magnesium). I guess I should be able to connect a ground to it safely... Thank you for your suggestions!  
luisma31
516 posts
 
Check the new cable continuity with a voltmeter?
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,500 posts
 
Where is the Turntable plugged into?
petg60
1,486 posts
 
What happens if you swap back the old cable?

G
mastering92
870 posts
 
what do you mean by high-end cable?

I suspect it is not 100% compatible or the new cable you bought has a design defect. If possible, switch back to the original cable and test it. Then power down (for about 5 minutes) and test the new cable. This is so you can figure out if there is intermittent failure or consistent failure in the new cable.

At any rate, you could always flag to the manufacturer and get your money back.
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