Static or other weird hum problem


Hi. I have the following problem with my Tenor 300hp. With the preamp on mute, the speakers produce a zzzzz loud noise on frequent intervals. The sound sometimes is of varying intensity and often sounds like it travels through the speakers. As I was installing cables I touched the heat sinks with my cheeks and I felt a constant electricity (not static which would go away with a snap) and when the “surge” happened again the electricity intensified a little (again, on the heat sinks). An electrician and audio guy separately confirmed that they did not think it would be the electricity on the wall, they both thought it is some sort of “static”.
Any advice?
mihalis
Is the noise only caused when you put the preamp on mute and at no other times? Are you certain that the noise is coming from the Tenors and not your preamp? Isolating the source of the noise can be a pain, but the only way to get at a solution.

Some suggestions ...

If it is hum that you are hearing, you may have a ground loop problem. For about a $1 and a trip to a hardware store, you could try a cheater plug on the offending component (converts 3 prongs to 2 prongs), which essentially takes the offending component's ground out of the equation.

Static can be caused by so many things ... flourescent fixtures; refrigerator motors; etc. Does the static go away if you move the preamp (while it is on mute) away from your mono-blocks?

A surge protector, like the ones made by Belkin could help. My wife moved the clothes steamer into our TV room and when the steamer was powered up ... the lights started dipping, the TV had static in the picture, etc. The Belkin cleared up everything.

Regards, Rich
Thank you. I will try this out although I think that it seems to be a grounding problem. I tried my Lamms on and the techician measured 130V on the chassis!!
Best,
Michael