Ground loop with Miyajima Premium mono

Lew,

you can do the same thing with interconnects that a mono switch will do. so it's not a limitation not having a mono switch.

you simply have to rid yourself of the ground loop.

Thank you to all for the debate.
One thing is interesting: the same cartridge work fine
throught a EAR 88PB phono stage,without hum problem in
stereo connections.Different construction on phono stages?
Perhaps dual mono or balanced inputs are implicate?

you can do the same thing with interconnects that a mono switch will do.

Mikelavigne, please explain. Do you mean by using a Y-interconnect or Y-connector? Otherwise, offhand, I don't see how.

Thanks.

ok. Robin said, due to the fact that both sides of the cartridge use the same mono signal; when connecting two stereo outputs it "can" cause a ground loop. this does not always happen. in fact; i've had it when it did not cause a ground loop....and i don't know why it does not always happen.

but if it does; then you get a sum'ing interconnect (where you have 2 rca inputs into one rca output) and plug that into one side of your preamp. and then use the mono switch on your preamp to get 2 channels of mono. you have then defeated the ground loop.

if you don't have a mono switch then you get a splitter (an interconenct with a single rca input and 2 rca outputs) plug the suming single output into the splitter and plug one output from the splitter into each stereo input. you now have a mono signal out of each input (just like a mono switch).

the most elegant solution is to get a friendly cable maker to make you the suming and splitter combo piece and eliminate the extra connectors. it's a simple thing to do.

My phono and line stages are fully balanced, so perhaps this would not be an issue for me. Balanced lines typically are less subject to ground loop problems (he said, with his fingers crossed). I would not want to have to build a Y-connector using XLRs. Also, in all cases the use of a Y-connector adds physical connectors into the phono signal path and might slightly degrade sound quality. Not good for those of us like me who suffer from audiophilia nervosa.

In the last two days, I purchased a bunch of very early 50's jazz LPs, all mono, so my appetite for the Miyajima is even more whetted.