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Need suggestions please! Electrical noise in my system and it's driving me crazy!

So I have been battling with an electrical noise in my home since I moved in over a year ago. I've had two electricians check it out and have done hours of trouble shooting myself. 

I'm getting a hum or a buzz from anything with a transformer and a buzz through my speakers. Standard driver speakers and my Maggies. The house was built ten years ago and has everything up to code. Underground electrical lines. 2 ground rods outside the house. Just added a ground to all the copper plumbing and gas lines. I have a 200 amp panel in the house and a 100 amp panel in the garage. 

I have a Furman IT Reference 15 power conditioner and it's not doing jack. It's actually humming too. As far as trouble shooting I've mixed and matched equipment, speaker, and cables to eliminate that factor, I've also turned every breaker off one by one to find if it's something in the house that's dirtying up the electrical but even when I only had the one breaker that powered me system on, the noise was still there. 

I'm going crazy because my relaxing time is sitting and listening to my music in a dead silent room with a dead silent background and I no longer have that anymore. I can hear the buz, hum, and even a high pitch noise and it's ruining my hobby. Both electricians I've had in the house have no clue and and think I'm nuts anyway. 

Has anyone had an issue like this before? Could you fix it? How did you fix it? Please help! I'm about ready to sell all my equipment because it's annoying to listen to. 

Thanks,
Brian
gearheadmac
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
+1 on the drop isolator recommended by @jea48

I don’t have the Jensen, but I do have an Extreme. When I traced a hum to my cable line, the cable company (Cablevision, Long Island) installed an Extreme drop isolator http://www.extreme-broadband.com/hardware.html and the hum was completely gone.

Edit: My cable company provided the part and installed it free. Also, I was told there is no degradation of the picture/sound quality, nor did I detect any degradation. I think this is one of those "can't hurt and can only help" kind of parts.
nutty
2,946 posts
 
jea48,
By re-grounding-  I removed the old grounding connectors, (both phone and CATV) at the grounding rod and at the exterior (outside) cable junction box. I Cleaned the stake with a wire wheel, (to remove rust or oxidation) and reinstalled new 12 awg solid ground wire and connectors. 

I still had the (((hum))). With the system on and the volumn at a reasonable level, I disconnected the coax from the cable box and the (((hum))) disappeared. 

This was my particular situation. I hope it helps.

N
jea48
4,489 posts
 
nutty
1,213 posts                                                                  09-03-2017 5:10pm

jea48,
By re-grounding- I removed the old grounding connectors, (both phone and CATV) at the grounding rod and at the exterior (outside) cable junction box. I Cleaned the stake with a wire wheel, (to remove rust or oxidation) and reinstalled new 12 awg solid ground wire and connectors.

I still had the (((hum))). With the system on and the volumn at a reasonable level, I disconnected the coax from the cable box and the (((hum))) disappeared.

This was my particular situation. I hope it helps.

nutty,

Thank you for your response.

The ground rod you speak of. Did you notice any other ground wires that were connected to it? Like a larger #6 bare or stranded copper wire?
Just a guess the ground rod was originally installed for the phone and later when CATV was installed the CATV installer used the same ground rod.

Unless the ground rod is fairly close to where the main electrical service of the house is located I doubt the ground rod for the phone or CATV is connected by at least a #6 copper ground wire to the main grounding system of the electrical service.

Many people think, including communication provider companies installers, a separate isolated ground rod is all that is needed to effectively ground their systems to mother earth. It is not though. Electrical safety codes require the systems shall be bonded, connected, to the main grounding system of the electrical service. The main reason all ground rods need to be tied, connected, together is for lightning. You also want all electrical systems grounding connected to one common ground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPWmULYgONA


erik_squires
16,346 posts
 
Coaxial ground isolators are fabulous ideas, I always use one just in case, but easy to test. Just disconnect any and all incoming coaxial leads.

http://amzn.to/2wzJ3Cq

There are also specific one's for satellite antennas, which need power injection. Also, cable/satellite antennas should be bonded to the house ground, a step installers conveniently skip.
nutty
2,946 posts
 
jea48,
The main rod was installed when the house was built. It was installed as the main ground for the home. However as you suspected, it is within a few feet of the main service panel and the Phone and CATV service is all there as well. The main rod is grounded with a large solid wire, 8 or possibly 6 awg. I ran new leads for the phone, CATV within the exterior boxes as well as hard wiring it directly to the main rod. The results were the same. The (((hum))) was present until I removed the coax from the system. 

N


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