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reducing noise/hum?

post #1 of 6
11/6/11 at 8:23pm
Thread Starter 

My current setup is as follows:

 

PC - FLAC and APE

Line6 UX1 - as my sound card

Little Dot MK3 - headphone amp and pre-amp for speakers

Nikko NA-60 - Integrated Amp

Dynaco A35 - speakers

 

its not a big issue but whenever i am listening to music through my speakers (without the LDMK3 as a pre) i have the volume at about half way i can hear some noise or humming in the speakers that i cant seem to ignore its not a problem when I'm using the LD as a pre-amp since i lower the volume on the amp and control it on the LD, i want to able able to raise the volume a bit more since it's quieter then you would think even at half volume.

 

im pretty much convinced there is something that is causing interference to make my speaker have this humming/noise in them, just wondering what are good ways to lower interference or EMI to reduce the noise/humming issue in the speakers.

 

on a different note, the tubes on the LD amp how much up-time can they handle? is there a max recommended up-time for tubes in general?

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post #2 of 6
11/6/11 at 8:26pm

Ground loop.  And the Nikko is a great blast from the past.

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post #3 of 6
11/7/11 at 2:48am

Be sure all the cables are connected to the same outlet (respecting the max power drain of the outlet, of course).

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post #4 of 6
11/7/11 at 1:00pm
Thread Starter 

yeah i had the amp connected to a separate outlet then the rest of the gear which was in a surge protector, after having everything on the protector it seems like the noise was reduced, the noise/hum is less noticable then it was before.

 

note.

 

had no idea what a ground loop was, have looked it up and now i know.

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post #5 of 6
11/9/11 at 4:46am

I've had hum from my Dell Inspiron 14 when using its wall wart. Switching to battery power eliminated the hum; but,.since battery power is not viable, I now use my X-FI HD's USB to optical S/PDIF converter to connect to HT control amp's DAC. Since the Toslink connection is not electrical there is no hum. In fact my speakers are black as night, black as coal silent, even between material at roof shaking volume. The only noise I ever hear now is the tape hiss and the silent groove crud from the analog media I've digitized.  My speakers are so quite, you'd suspect the system was unplugged. It's a very satisfying experience to know all the money I spent on my HT  has  had some benefit, low noise being one of them.


Edited by sterling1 - 11/9/11 at 4:53am
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post #6 of 6
11/9/11 at 5:50am

You need a ground loop isolator.

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