2. home-theater
  3. 1274585428

Signs of poor electricity in home...?

Ok folks I know pretty much that all homes have crappy power for electronic gear. However my dilemna is that I have continued to have a buzz type sound come from my spkrs whenever amp is powered on. This is the same case with three different amps and a recvr. I just completely disconnected everything and have all the gear everywhere in the living room. This was no small task.
Nht Controller
Nht Power 5
Nht Power 2
Oppo 83
Toshi HDDvd
AudioControl Bijou EQ
Panamax 5500ex
Nht A1 x 2 for bi-amping mains.
Nht X2

I use Signal pwr cables and my own custom made.
Signal, Bluejeans, monster ic's
PS Audio powerport

I have eliminated any cable combo as the culprit and have it narrowed down to the fact that with an amp plugged in, powered on, and just spkr cable connected to a spkr I get this slight buzz/hiss type noise. I mean nothing connectected to amp but what I said...electricity...and spkr cable direct to spkr. It is not the hmmmmmmmm of 60hz...it's a hiss like white noise makes when a tv channel would sign off-air if you are old enough to know what I mean. Anywho...it's bugging me to pieces. I have went to the breaker box in garage and eliminated it being the fridge in neighboring room, etc. Even with the Panamax it still gets noise to the spkrs mid/twtr...mainly mid. Volume has little or no effect on it if you are wondering.

So????? Dirty house power and what do I do. Would having a seperate/dedicated line help? I don't have dimmer lamps or any other of the typical buggers in the ac chain. No tv either as I have a Pj setup which plugs in where I use to have a ceiling fan and installed box/receptacle to pwr it.

I don't hear it if source is playing but sitting idle all 5 spkrs doing this is annoying. Suggestions please.
mnnc
mnnc OP
175 posts
 
Visiting the thread has me wondering more now...I am going to unplug the cordless phones, microvave oven, and satlt boxes tomorrow and listen to what happens.

I unplugged the modem/router and it made no difference. Also tried the fridge and no difference. Just unplugged freezer in garage and no effect. That only leaves the phones, microwave, and satlt tuner/s. Better not mess with that now...wife is watching her shows and I need micro wav to warm up my java...hehe.

We do have a couple giant towers, cellular I guess, less than a mile as a crow flies. My sons rig has only the slightest bit of this noise and in order to hear it you must crank the volume up to refernce level or so without any souce playing. I put together a 5.1 system in his room a couple yrs back for his b-day and he does not have this issue using a little Denon 5.1 recvr/tv/xbox, etc. That little rig will blow you away in his 10x12 room.

Anywho...I'll continue troubleshooting tmrw while home alone and follow-up. Thanks again.
coxhaus
231 posts
 
I would install an eight foot copper ground rod. Attach it with lightening ground wire and clamp to your main breaker box. This can be bought at Lowes or Home Depot for less than $50.00 bucks. Having a good earth ground helped me with a noise problem at my old home. I installed one when I moved into my current home. It is real easy just use a garden hose to soften the soil as you drive the rod into the ground. When you get the rod low you switch to a sledge hammer to finish.
mnnc OP
175 posts
 
Coxhaus...I'm thinking about what you suggest and it reminded me that the direct tv gnd lead from the dish/cables tie in to the main somehow outside near main breaker box and my ac repairman showed me it contains a main switch/brkr from the street and two more...one for the compressor and one for blower unit.

Explain a bit more if you would please what you mean by clamp to main brkr box...? Clamp to what part...there is 220v in that booger somewhere...yikes. Thanks.
docrobbi
37 posts
 
DC current can ride along on your ac lines and cause noise in the system. I had that problem. Channel islands audio makes an outlet that can eliminate this problem.
chatta
314 posts
 
I normally use an AVR for all my audio gear, i usually hear noises when there's low voltage.
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