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
If I understand when only the pre is connected to the amps you have the hum. Have you tried listing the ground on the pre only? Another thing I would try to further what cleeds is saying is to turn off all circuit breakers in the house except the one for your system to insure it's nothing else in your home (yep you'll have to reset all you digital clocks). If the hum is gone with all the other breakers off add everything back one at a time. If still no hum turn on the breakers one at a time until the hum comes back. Then turn off that breaker and continue to turn the rest of the breakers only to insure it's not from multiple locations.

Also if you have a volt meter measure the voltage between neutral and ground. I get 0.15 VAC. I would start when all your breakers are off except at the system with nothing connected. Keep measuring as you turn on the breakers too.
Not too sure if this will help since you said you unplugged the sub.  My hum problem was coming from the Sunfire True Sub.  Try to carefully tighten up all the nuts that make ground contact to the plate on the amp. Especially the contour and volume pot nuts. I now these hums can drive you crazy!  Good luck!
Again, thanks to everybody for taking the time. Here are new data as of this morning:

@cleeds I never think of my video stuff as a separate system, but it obviously is. I ran the preamp through a Meridian 551 integrated amp and then to a pair of Totems. All but dead silent, so it doesn't seem to be a noise problem with the preamp itself.

@almarg I was so hopeful it was the XLR/RCA adaptors, as Al suggested (the easiest fix, after all). Alas, unplugging them changed nothing. While I was at it, I switched the amp runs from the RCAs  to the XLR/adapter outputs. Again, no change.

@xti16 I did try lifting preamp ground only, with and without using the Hum-X on the preamp. Slight changes, nothing significant. I'm resisting the circuit-breaker dance for two reasons: first, see data below. Other circuits don't seem compromised; and, second, the breaker box is three stories down and while I'm in decent shape, I am no longer 25 years old. ;)

Okay, here are some more data.

Plugged the amp and preamp in two other parts of the house, using the same cabling each time. Here's what I found:

Location 1: Recent construction, new electrical service 2004.
Wiring is correct.
No hum at all.
Neutral/ground voltage: 0.1VAC

Location 2: Original construction, 1936 wiring but service upgraded, probably 1990s. Not the same circuit as #3 below.
Wiring is correct.
Barely audible (acceptable) hum
Neutral/ground voltage: 0.0VAC
Hot/ground voltage: 0.8VAC
Yes, those are right; I measured several times and re-checked wiring

Location 3: Listening room
Wiring is correct
Hummmmmmmmmmmming bird Farms, may we help you?
Hot/ground voltage: 0.9VAC

I'm now wondering if it's something to do with the circuit that feeds the listening room — but, again, that's just logical speculation, blissfully free from the constraints of actual circuit knowledge.

Anybody see anything helpful here? Thanks again!
Oh, and @mcroth — thanks for the suggestion, but you're right, when the sub is totally unplugged the hum is diminished slightly, but still pretty audible from several feet. I appreciate your raising the idea!
Hot to Ground 0.8 and 0.9VAC? Looks like an open ground. What's Neutral to Hot?