Low buzzing through speaks

There’s also a Mute Level adjustment (-40 dB, -20 dB). I’d also try adjusting that to see if that makes any difference in this noise you’re hearing.

To clarify, I'd also try turning ON the mute (trying either of the settings), to see if this has any effect on the buzz/hiss you're hearing.

for every -dB of attenuation (5, 10, 20, etc.) that is used, you’ll lose that in volume when playing your system

In almost all cases you'll have plenty of gain to fully drive the amp.

I would hope that both would be 0.0V with no audio playing, or the volume turned all the way down.

That is very seldom the case. Volume potentiometers knock down the preamps full power output. Once the gain drops below the audible range there is no need for further attenuation. That is why the idle hiss can be audible, there is still gain being passed through the preamp.

Wow! Lots of great info @dpop! Thank you again for taking so much time going over these manuals and for being so “invested” in helping. Wish I could repay you somehow…

From what I understand (could very easily be wrong) Transparent utilizes the network boxes on their cables for “calibrating and shielding”. Not sure if they actually do anything but they look cool and it seems they go the extra mile with their cables. Plus they’re local to me here in New England which also attracted me to them initially but the affect they had on my system is when I became loyal.

Thank you for pointing out the volume as I actually do listen quite loudly, so good to know ahead of time about this as that would have completely escaped me and I’d have freaked a bit wondering why I now had to turn up the volume more (64 is what I set the volume at in 2 channel when I listen-if 5 Iron Maiden concerts hasn’t made me totally deaf by now I don’t think this can do much more damage😂🤘🏻). I had no idea or paid any attention to the Volume Limit adjustment. If I recall I think I may have even set that to off? Could be wrong but I’ll certainly try playing with that-great call and great tip!

So tomorrow the ground lift adapters arrive and Friday the 10db attenuator arrives. If neither of these 2 work, next try will be swapping the XLR’s for RCA’s. And thanks for being so proactive I was actually going to ask whether to put them on the Mac or Sim end!

So the Mac is literally double the output gain of the Marantz, so just maybe this is the issue? In relative terms is that a big difference, enough to wreak a little havoc? Keep in mind the Sim is 20 years old. I did just have her serviced and got a glowing bill of health from Sim and I know they “overbuild” their amps but she’s not a puppy anymore☺️…

I’ll also try hitting mute and see what that does. I do have the mute set to “full”…

Yet again thank you so much for being right there every step on this journey @dpop God knows I’d have never EVER been able to get anywhere near as far without you man…

And thank you @russ69!. I know I’d still have plenty of volume to listen as loudly as my Maiden proofed ears can handle! I was asking if maybe I needed the 20db’s if the gain difference was that vast…

You know something @dpop ​​​​@russ69, I was just thinking about all of this and honestly if at the end of all of this my system is still possessed by this evil entity, you all turned this into an amazingly positive experience. Honestly. Regardless of outcome you have turned my shock and horror into a true positive experience. That will be my take away from this. So thank you, sincerely…😊👌🏻

@russ69 ​​​​@dpop just read this in the Titan owner manual:

The gain in each channel is the same among all balanced inputs and among all unbalanced inputs, but NOT the same among balanced and unbalanced inputs. Keep this in mind when level matching, if you are using a combination of both types of inputs.

So it would appear switching to RCS’s won’t make any difference, no?