One test to do I just thought of. Get a multimeter, set it to DC and check your amplifier output with no signal. Should be a few millivolts.
Focal Kanta No. 2 Speakers hum with speaker with speaker cable disconnected
Hi folks,
I'm a new member, and I couldn't find a solution for the specific issue I'm having on google. I'm thinking maybe someone here has any ideas on this weird issue.
As the title states I've stated noticing a hum emanating from the speaker's mid range woofer, specifically the left speaker. I only noticed it after upgrading my phono stage, which had a hum issue from the get go (not a ground loop or line hum evidently). Took about 2 months for my dealer and Pass Labs to send me a replacement unit. Long story short, same hum is still there, so it obviously wasn't the phono, though rotating the phono 90 degrees relative to the speaker reduced the hum. Did a bit of cleaning last week and noticed that the left speaker was humming at a very low volume, only noticeable when your ear is close to the woofer. The preamp, phono, power amp, and turntable are all turned off, yet I'm getting a hum that's unexplainable.
I disconnected almost all of my components' power and interconnect cables (Pre/Pro, Phono, DAC/Streamer, Turntable power supply) one by one hoping that any source of interference/hum could be identified. I also disconnected a separate power strip that powers the Router, TV, Philips Lights, and Apple TV with no change in the hum. For reference, my audio gear is fed by a Puritan Audio PSM 1512 mains purifier, pretty clean power.
For some reason I decided to disconnect the speaker cables to switch them around and there I noticed that the speaker is still humming very faintly with no speaker cable connected. My thinking at that stage that it might be some sort of wireless interference, so I unplugged anything that has bluetooth/wireless functionality. All of the audio components were disconnected from power as well. I noticed then that it's the exact same hum that the phono has been plagued wit all this time, but amplified at a much higher level. Maybe the phono cart is picking up this minute hum and sending it to the phono. I left the speaker for an hour to see if it discharged any of the crossover components that might be causing this, nope, still humming. 6 month old speakers so I'm thinking it's unlikely a bad cap, although possible.
I'm really out of ideas on how to sort this out. I did experiment with grounding wire paths, and ground lift adapters/DC blocking adapters when I thought the issue was with the phono stage, was not successful. Anyway any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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- 27 posts total
- 27 posts total