2. amps-preamps
  3. 1360464989

Another question for ya Al

Or anyone else. So awhile back I had a ground loop hum / hiss that was slightly irritating and it went away when I switched to xlr's, from rca's, between my amp and pre amp, but I may be using this amp for center channel duties and only have an rca output for my center channel and now the hum is back. Anyways, when I posted my hum question awhile back I got a few people suggesting that I buy a cheater plug that takes the ground out of the equation so I just unscrewed the ground out of my p.s. audio power cord going into my amp and the hum is gone, but I'm wondering if this is a. bad for my amp, or b. dangerous for me as I already have wicked static electricity and am worried about electrocuting myself on my amp (trust me, if you saw the sparks I'm shooting, you'd ask the same question).

Thanks for your input everyone!
:-)
128x128b_limo
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Hi B,

Using a cheater plug does create a risk of shock and fire. Assuming that the equipment is in decent physical condition, the risk is extremely small, but it cannot be said that the risk is zero.

See this thread for extensive discussion of this question.

Also see this paper, and consider the possibility of spending $200 or so on a Jensen transformer, which would be an effective and risk-free way of resolving the problem. If you want to go that way, give them a call for a specific model recommendation. Their model PI-2RR, which is similar to the PI-2XX shown near the bottom of this page except that it has RCA connectors instead of XLRs, may be a good choice.

Best regards,
-- Al
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b_limo OP
2,275 posts
 
Sweet. Thanks Al! I, along with many others here, I'm sure, appreciate your willingness to share your expertise!
Bruce
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