I've never had any hum or buzz problems, but I follow this:
Ideally the system should only have one ground point via the mains plug, be it amp, preamp or source. This way there is no "earth loop" via the grounds and your house earthing. As all earths are carried to the all three components via the interconnects to the ones that aren't.
Myself I like the one earth to be at the poweramps end because it's the least sensitive component and any rf gets dumped to it. Others like it to be the preamp because it's in the middle and represents "star earthing".
Cheers George