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Hovland HP100 hum?

I have a Hovland pre and VTL ST150 amp. Connected to the Alto Utopia Be speakers through synergistic research cables all around. The hum from the Hovland is too much. I can hear it from my listening position. I am using cheater power plugs, so I dont think it is the earth connection.

Any advice or ideas? I think I read about the Hovland hum in some of the reviews.

Thanks.--Michael
mihalis
jwmazur
191 posts
 
Good choice with the VTL. I had mine with MB250's.

I only had hum when I had the blue illumination going. When I switched the lamps off it was gone. Alex Crespi, of Hovland, said that it was electrostatic noise, not hum, and that they were working on it. That was over two years ago.
holzhauer
201 posts
 
Does a tv cable connect to your system somewhere? That could be a ground path that is not stopped by the cheater plugs.
kooby
1 posts
 
I have an HP-100 that had a wicked hum, and I was first advised to float the grounds. It worked wonders - hum disappeared whether I had the blue light on or off. The second suggestion I was given was to check interconnects.
mihalis OP
61 posts
 
Thank you all for the advice so far. I have unfortunately done the following:
-changed interconnects--> no effect
-turned on/off the light --> no effect
-disconnected all TV/cable related cables from anything related

And the damn thing is not going away. I just printed some literature on this and will try some more. Maybe my sourround amp that is racked between the two (VTL/Hovland) is causing some magnetic problems.

Thank you for the feedback though. Greatly appreciated.
Michael
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