2. tech-talk
  3. 162300-445

Noise Goblin

I moved into a 44 year home three years ago and it still had the original electrical box.  I had an electrician put the outlet I use for my audio system on a separate circuit.  Even still I was getting some noise through my speakers and when my wife was using the hair dryer in our bedroom upstairs I would get a buzz through my stereo amplifier.

Fast forward:  I just had a brand new electrical box installed with the latest grounding etc.  My audio system is on a separate circuit.  Low and behold this morning I started to hear the buzz through the stereo amplifier again.  I ran upstairs and my wife was using the hair dryer.  I am still getting a slight noise through my speakers. When I turn the volume up the noise gets louder.  

I don't understand how this is occurring.  Not sure what to do.  Are there any electricians or others who have had this same issue on this forum who might have an idea what is going on and how to correct this issue?
thankful
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
OMG your system is not dead silent? You can hear a noise when you turn the volume up? Send it back its defective. Either that, or normal. All depends on how much you have to turn up the volume and how easy or hard it is to hear. If you crank the volume to the most you ever use and can just barely hear it from where you listen that is normal, or certainly nothing to complain about.

My system is way noisier than that. If I spent even half the time trying to track down and eliminate noise that I do working on making the signal better my system would be quieter, yes, but sound nowhere near as good. You have a turntable. Is that dead silent? Is there zero groove and surface noise? I don't think so. Big picture. How bad is it, really?
thankful OP
222 posts
 
The electrical issue and the buzz that comes from my amp when the hair dryer is on upstairs is a mystery to me.  I am going to talk to my electrician again.

In regards to my turntable, when I have a record on but not playing and I turn up the volume up it gets louder-very noticeable. It also gets louder when I am playing a record.

When I am playing movies through 2 channel and I turn up the volume it remains dead quiet.  I have a little $99 Schitt DAC for this purpose.  I am purely analogue for music.  
erik_squires
16,049 posts
 
Ahhhh.  Well, turntable preamps are very high gain devices.  That is, they'll amplify the signal, and the noise, much more than others. You could be picking up EMF, but that usually needs to be closer, or picking up AC noise which the other components reject well enough.

Try a Furman power strip with SMP and linear filtering (they make lots of models without these features) which may clean up the noise enough for you.
speedskater
23 posts
 
How old is the hair dryer?  The old ones are  great source of the 'DC offset' problem. The would put a diode into the AC power line, that resulted in half-wave rather than sine wave power.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
The audio circuit should be on the opposite leg in the box from any motors. Washer, fridge, garage door, hair dryer etc.
Have you checked the service panel? If audio is on the A leg, then the hair dryer circuit should be on the B leg. They should also have distance between them, ie, audio at top of panel, dryer at bottom.



More to discover