I have a buzz


Howdy, I recently began to put together a better two channel system. I had a Cambridge Audio 840a that I really liked. Then I moved up a bit to the Musical Fidelity A5.5. And here's the thing. Neither produced any buzz. Well... I had heard the Cambridge 840w and 840e and loved them and really wanted separates. When I had a chance to get them I did. So I hook them up and the amp is producing a very slight buzz through my speakers (I alternate between a pair of modded Klipsch Chorus and Klipsch RF-83.) I disconnected the preamp and the buzz was still there. I tried reconnecting everything and the buzz is still there. I even turned all of the lights in the area off and on and it didn't make a difference. And by the way, I don't have cable. So I have two questions:

1) What might I do to fix this? (Could a power conditioner make a difference?)
2) Can it harm my gear?

Thanks for the help.
chipbyrd

Showing 1 response by newbee

You probably have a ground loop. Assuming that is correct you need to identify the source. I suggest you not only disconnect but unplug everything connected to your amp (except the speakers of course). Turn the amp on. Any buzz? I suspect not, but if you do its likely something is wrong internally.

Assuming there is no buzz, plug in a component (do not connect it with IC's). No buzz? If not the turn off amp and connect IC's. No buzz. Repeat process with other components until the buzz appears.

When the buzz appears attach a cheater plug to the PC on that component replug in in and see if the buzz goes away. If it does you are in hog heaven. It is not unsafe to operate your system so long as the amp is fully grounded.

If nothing eliminates the hum and the hum is really low in volume, i.e. heard only with your ear at the speaker grill, you might have just heard the amps noise threshold. This is not uncommon with very efficient speakers and its not a big deal.