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What is causing my speaker hum?

My speakers, Joseph Audio RM22si's, hum (unwanted noise) when the receiver is on. It was the same with my old Infinity speakers. It's there when the receiver (Denon 70Watt x 5 channel receiver) is on, but it's much louder when I'm playing a CD and then pause the CD (using a Toshiba DV333 DVD/CD player). I am using the digital out from the player into the receiver (and therefore using the D/A built into the receiver).

Is this just bad amplification? Could it possibly be bad grounding, and if so is that something I can fix? I don't think it's the CD player, because I'm using the digital out, and when that is paused there should be zero signal sent, yes?

One other very weird side note. Usually it is just white/pink style noise, but one time I heard a song playing. I'm not schizophrenic, there was actually a song playing silently in the noise, different from the one on my CD. Could that be the receiver's tuner leaking out or something coming through the power lines?

One thing I'm trying to figure out is if I buy an amplifier and plug the receiver into that, if my problems will go away, or if you guys think the problem is upstream from the amp.

Thanks,
Matt.
matt8268

Showing 1 response by lornecherry

lornecherry
135 posts
 
damm Kublah ... that was actually quite funny. Seriously, I suspect cable TV, ground loop, or power cords too close to interconnects or speaker wire. You might also have one bad interconnect (that cross talk you complianed about). And it may not be just one of these, rather a combination of all/some of the above(that was case with me). Well, at least you don't have tube noise to worry about!

I like Inscrutable's suggetions for you, as I doubt you're about to invest in a $1200 PS 300 power conditioner a this point. But $75 -$100 for a dedicated power outlet would be a nice start along with what Inscrutable has suggested. --Lorne
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