Speaker Hum Question


I'm fairly new to the high-end audio scene, and just took delivery of my new system last night. I set up the system myself, and it sounds fantastic, and I expect it will get better as everything settles in. Here's my question: there is a very slight hum/buzz (very VERY slight) from the right speaker's tweeter that is present when the source component isn't playinhg, even when the preamp is in standby mode. The noise is not audible or distracting when music is playing. there is no corresponding noise from the left speaker. I do know that the electric line is not a s clean as it could be -- it is not grounded properly. This will be remedied soon, as I am having a dedicated line installed. Could this be the culprit? Is the noise anything to be concerned about, or is it just me being overly paranoid?

System:

Sonic Frontiers Line 1 Preamplifier
Thorens TTA 2300 Amplifier (dual mono, 120 WPC)
Joseph Audio RM25Si Loudspeakers
Sony SCD-1 SACD Player
Jolida Tube Tuner
Audio Quest Viper interconnects
Transparent Plus Biwire Speaker Cables
Monster Power 2000 Power Conditioner
andrewbuck

Showing 1 response by tazuser

Andrew, If your preamp is in standby then its not the preamp.

The focus should be the amplifier. You mentioned that your amplifier is dual mono.
It is possible that the slight hum you hear is due to the output transformer exhibiting vibrations from your AC source. That would explain the reason why you are only hearing it out of one channel and not the other. Its not a big deal at all from the way you described it, but if you feel like playing detective here is what you can do.

listen during different hours over the next week or so. See if the hum goes away during late hours. If it does then its the AC coming into the outlet. You can also try plugging into a line conditioner or a grounded outlet.

Either way I would not classify this as a problem.