Insane ground loop; anybody wanna try?


I have a ground loop that's been killing me for weeks. I've tried several things to limited or no success. I've written to Mike Sanders at Quicksilver, but I'm a little chagrined to keep asking him questions that aren't really the fault of his gear.

Anybody want to have a go at solving this puzzle? It's driving me nuts, and I'd be grateful for any help.

Relevant equipment:
Rowland Capri preamp
Quicksilver Silver 60 mono amps (EL34)
Sunfire True Sub

Amps, preamp, and sub are all plugged into a Monster 2000, so everything shares a common wall outlet.
Plugging the amps into separate wall outlets has little effect either way.
Amps are damn near dead-quiet with no input, so it's shouldn't be the transformers or the tubes.

Amps plugged in to the preamp (shielded DH Labs RCA cables) hum, and the sub does too. Swapping cables has no effect.
Unplugging and reconnecting sources (a turntable and a Mac Mini via a Schiit DAC) has no effect.
Unplugging the sub has little effect (except it eliminates the hum in the sub, haha).

Lifting the ground on the amps reduces the hum — by about half, but definitely not completely.
A Hum-X has no (or very little) effect, whether placed on the preamp, an amp, or the sub.

For obvious reasons I don't want to lift the ground on the amps permanently.

I'm not an electrical engineer, but I'm a logical guy.

Ideas? I'm open to any with two requests: First, if you don't know something for sure, please say so. I don't want to play in electron traffic because somebody just guessed at a solution. And second, if you disagree with somebody, don't call him names, okay? There's more than enough gratuitous meanness in the world right now without insulting people over stereo equipment. Thanks.
pbraverman
Very puzzling!

Have you tried your preamp in another system to ascertain that it's not a problem with it?

Lifting grounds is a good diagnostic tool - obviously it's not a safe remedy - and if that doesn't cure the hum, then it's likely the hum is caused by something other than a ground loop.

Do you have any other equipment near the audio gear that could be causing the hum? Are dimmers turned off, LED lighting turned off, CATV disconnected from your gear?
Thanks to both of you for trying. I haven't tried the preamp in another system because I don't have a second one, but I'll rig something up in another spot and report back. Good suggestion.

No dimmers, LEDs, TVs on the same circuit.

Dill: I inserted the Monster because of the hum, hoping it might give everything a single ground spot. D'oh! :)

Thanks again. Keep 'em coming. This is a pain!
What about some history? Has this combo ever been hum free together? Is this pre new to you? Did you changed anything at all before the hum started? Sorry, I know these are basic questions, but if you're at all like me, you'll be searching down rabbit holes for days, just to realize the answer was right where you had started.
Unplugging the sub has little effect ....
Is the sub connected at speaker level (to the amps) or at line level (to the preamp)?  And if the latter, is it connected to the preamp via XLRs, while the power amps are connected to the preamp via RCAs as you stated?

In any case, if you already haven't, try disconnecting the sub from whichever component(s) it is connected to, in addition to unplugging it from the AC.

Regards,
-- Al