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Hum with Ypsilon MC26L SUT that goes away with touching

I need help solving the hum problem.

Ikeda Kai cartridge -> Ypsilon MC26L SUT -> Ypsilon VPS 100 -> Cary SLP 05 -> Cary CAD 211FE monoblocks -> KEF Blade.
ICs between MC26L and VPS100 Stage 3 concepts RCA
ICs between VPS100 and  Cary SLP 05 Stage 3 concepts XLR
Cary SLP 05 and Cary monoblocks Shunyata RCA
Cary monoblocks to KEF Blade Shunyata speaker cables.

Connected ground from tonearm phonocable to SUT grounding post ->I hear 60 hz hum
Connected ground from tonearm phonocable to SUT grounding post + connected  SUT grounding post to VPS 100 ground ->I hear 60 hz hum (slightly decreased)
Connected ground from tonearm phonocable directly to VPS 100 ground (I read in the forums to try this) ->  I hear 60 hz hum
If I touch the body of SUT (metal) with one hand and touch the metal frame of the rack that sits directly on the floor, the hum disappears in all the above situations.

I used two shorting RCA plugs into input loading of SUT with tonearm cable connected to input-> No Hum 
I used two shorting RCA plugs into input of SUT without tonearm cable-> No Hum
I used two shorting RCA plugs into output loading of SUT -> No Hum

Any help in solving this hum problem is greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Kanchi
kanchi647
willy-t
159 posts
 
I feel your pain and had the near same problem.Turn the power off at the breaker box then run a separate wire from the turntable ground  to the ground post in the wall socket 
then you should have a true uninterrupted ground
also you may want to make sure all your interconnect wires are properly attached to the end connectors.  I had an rca that the connection was broken on which caused a hum like you described
The ground directly to the outlet ground should work.  Good luck
Willy-T
Ag insider logo xs@2x
rauliruegas
13,103 posts
 
Dear @kanchi647 : two things, first and to avoid ground loops we need to have a dedicated true ground connection ( this means a 2-3m. cooper solid tube underwround and touching a combination of salt and other ingredients and then atached to it a heavy cooper wire/cable. ) that will be connected directly to the phonolinepreamp and all electronicswill be be grounded to this item and your TT/SUT/TOnearm must has a ground wire to the phonolinepreamp. 

The second thing you need to do it’s to take out your cartridge and clean perfectly its output pin connectors and when you reconnected to the tonearm wires stay totally sure that the tonearm wire connectors makes a tigth connection into the cartridge output pin connectors.

Yes you have to clean any single input/output connector in your system and that at each connection it makes tigth connection.

Now your Kai cartridge has a low output level of 0.19mv along very low internal resistance of 2.5 ohms.
For me that cartridge will be better served with an active high gain phonolinepreamps than a SUT but this is only additional of what I writed here and obviously does not helps to your today issue.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.


kanchi647 OP
70 posts
 
Update:
the hum disappeared after I replaced the Stage 3 concepts analord  interconnect from SUT to Ypsilon VPS100 with Ypsilon interconnect.
i also made my own IC using helix design from http://www.image99.net/blog/files/category-002a002a-the-helix-image-interconnect.html
and the Hum disappeared.
can anyone explain why the hum disappeared with just changing the IC?
 Thanks 

uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
It's already been mentioned but very likely one of the internal RCA connection on those ic was broken.
Had it happen myself.
Open them up and take a good hard long look at soldered connections.
At least you have solved the mystery!
lewm
13,178 posts
 
Also, many audiophile single-ended, RCA-terminated ICs are built such that the shield is only grounded to one end.  The manufacturer will typically mark the cable for polarity. In such cases, it could make a difference which end is connected to the input vs the output side, in terms of hum and noise.  I take it that BOTH the Ypsilon IC and your home-made IC cured the hum problem.  Did you connect the ground conductor and the shield to BOTH ends of the home-made cable or just one?
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