Popping from light switches and refrigerator


Help please! My amp just quit working and no one knows why! Two weeks ago the output light on my pre-amp burned out and there was no sound through the system even though the pre-amp tested fine when I sent it in for repair!

I just moved into a patio home (on a concrete slab) three weeks ago. WHEN the stereo actually works, the CD transport misreads and there's a pop out of the speakers when a light switch is flipped, the refrigerator door is opened or the refigerator cycles on.

I've had an electrical engineer look at it and said it was just line noise. I had an electrian come out last Friday and he couldn't find a reason. The three lines coming into the house were all tight and the breakers were all tight.

The light switches and refrigerator are on four different breakers. The electrician suggested running a dedicated line. The electrical engineer said that that wouldn't help since the switching noise seems to be bleeding through four different circuits now.

This happened (before the amp quit working) with both a tube pre-amp and solid state pre-amp. It happened with both a $2500.00 power conditioner and a UPS unit from my computer.

I lifted the ground on the transport, dac and pre-amp and the popping seemed to stop (for that day). The next day the power amp quit working altogether. I don't know what to do!

Chuck
krell_man

Showing 1 response by krell_man

Thank you all for your thoughts. After talking to about a million people besides your feedback, I started replacing all of the contractor light switches and outlets in this four year old home. This way I can make sure that there are no loose connections there and I know that these new pieces are of a lot higher quality.

The electrical engineer came over and checked the breaker box thoroughly and the ground rod and connection, things the electrician never bothered to do for the $140.00 service run. I bought a PS Audio Power Plant 500, but can't test it out yet until I get the amp back. I'll try it and then the dedicated circuit to see if I can see what's going on.

Chuck