Another buzz issue

@whiterockman - The problem may be due to mixing isolated components and grounded components.

For example...

• I have a grounded Bryston amp
• a Bluesound isolated (two pin) streamer
• I get a hum when the two are connected and running in my system
• But- if I connect my grounded Simaudio Moon phono stage the hum goes away

So you might want to try this little experiment

• take an old piece of wire 4-5 ft long and strip both ends
• attach one end to a mains ground point
  • I use an old plug, with the wire attached to only the ground pin and plug it in an outlet
• touch the other end to the NEUTRAL on any unused RCA socket on the pre-amp
• If the hum gose away, then make this temporary grounding lead more permanent by attaching the bare end of the wire to the neutral side of an RCA plug and insert it into any unused socket.

Like you I spent a long time trying to resolve this problem until I read about NAIM products

• turns out most NAIM sources are all grounded, but using an ungrounded source with a Naim amp will result in a hum.

Hope you find a solution

Regards - Steve

Thanks for the suggestions. When this problem first occurred I detached the coax (from a TV antennae which I don’t use anymore) and didn’t solve it. I then put cheater plugs on all 3 prong outlets. No luck. I then put RCA “dummy” plugs into everything on the pre-amp not used. I then put RF ferrite clamps on damn near everything. It was then I called an electrician to have a separate, dedicated line put in and had him check the ground outside the house. I’ve used this electrician many times over the years and he is really good and understood my issue so spent a lot of time testing all the electrical. I then had a CEDIA certified installer come out to essentially “rebuild” the system one component at a time. He couldn’t pinpoint the issue but suspected EMI/RF and suggested I use shielded RCA cable. So…I sent all my RCA cables back to the manufacturer to have shielded. No luck and the sound field “collapsed”. They told me this could happen so I have subsequently had them sent back to be “un-shielded”. So, those are the steps taken over the last year. I will say there seem to be days it’s worse and some days better. I will try some of the suggestions here but I have thrown so much time and money into this I almost want to throw in the towel and just live with it. In addition to the suggestions here - some of which I have not tried - I ordered the “faraday” fabric which I posted before. This won’t be in until the end of April though. But is was only $30 so what the Hell… I don’t know I technically adept enough to want to try the suggestion you had Steve about stripping the wire and attaching it to the preamp. My luck I’d have a bad result. That said, I will try several of these steps over the weekend - specifically turning off all the circuits except for the system and changing out where  the subwoofer is plugged in. Currently the sub is plugged into a Panamax (which is plugged into the Furman). I had to do it this way because the sun power cable does t reach the Furman and the Panamax power cable doesn’t reach the wall outlet. I’m thinking a heavy duty extension cord - like for power tools you find at Home Depot - and try using that to extend to the Panamax from the outlet. Anyway, thx for the suggestions and I’ll report back.

Success!!! Thanks for the suggestions. The solution turned out as follows: I had all my amps plugged into a Furman surge protector and the TV and some other ancillary products plugged into a Panamax, both of which were plugged into a dedicated circuit outlet. I eliminated the Panamax and bought a 12 gauge power tap at Home Depot. I plugged this into the Furman and gave me enough outlets to plug everything into the Furman. I then put cheater plugs on ALL 3 prong devices and unplugged the Panamax. That did the trick! Definitely trail and error was involved but this turned out to be the solution! Why the Hell manufactures make ungrounded products - I’m looking at you Marantz! - I’ll never know. Either all components should be grounded or not! Anyway, after over a year the problem was solved and my system never sounded better as the buzz masked all the fine detail and “air” around the instruments! I’m not happy I have high-dollar aftermarket power cords interfaced to a .99 cent cheater plug but oh well. I figure if something electrical goes wrong it will hit the Furman as opposed to the (now ungrounded) equipment plugged into it…

whiterockman

... I then put cheater plugs on ALL 3 prong devices and unplugged the Panamax. That did the trick! Definitely trail and error was involved but this turned out to be the solution ...

The goal is to get all safety grounds at the same potential. Defeating the safety grounds altogether is not really a solution, although it can be a useful diagnostic tool.