Why is a 1.5-2 volt AC signal on my Neutral line?

Water your service ground.

or, re-establish a better connection where the ground lug attaches to the ground rod. IOW... take it off and clean it up... then reattach it. This might also be a good thing inside the service panel to do.

An inductor on the neutral line might also help. you can make one by using some #14 or even #12 solid wire by making 10 to 20 loops tightly wrapping from palm to elbow, round and round again, and then using some tape to keep the loops together... open the receptacle and splice in the DIY inductor on the neutral side with a pr of wire nuts.

The more loops, the greater the effect.

There's a difference of potential and I suspect as Al said a poor connection, though in either the breaker box in the home or at the service panel outside on the power pole.

naturally, swapping out the ICs is the easiest thing to do first.

The netral bus bar and ground are tied together in some areas of the country too and loose bars or connections might cause such a thing too. As could plain old corrosion and loosening of the screws on the bus bars themselves.

...and/or in the outlets.

good luck.

Simply_q

it'll sure tell you if there is a weak connection there.

it's certain there's a weak connection, or resistive connection somewhere , if not in one of the devices, then it has to be in the service.

I'm figuring the house is older than the equipment and felt to start from the begining ... at the service pole and follow it back to the outlets being used. Skipping around looking at this or that seldom plays out well.

I've seen far wierder stuff happen.

Jea48

“most cases the branch circuit neutral conductor as well as the branch circuit safety equipment grounding conductor terminate on the same neutral/ground bar in the main electrical service panel.... Sub panels will have them separated on two different bars but they still end up tied together at the main service electrical panel via the feeder neutral conductor and equipment grounding conductor. Both connect together at the main panel.”

Yeah… I know… I said that already. See above. I’ve installed services for both industrial and residential… for years. Years ago.

The OP said this issue happened right after he added another (new?) amp.

Things were ok BEFORE I GUESS.

So one should always look at the last thing (s) which were altered or changed, to find the answer for a problem…. If indeed a problem came as the result of that change. Apparently there is/was an issue following the amps addition to the system.

I had a similar incident a few years back when I added a near new amp, and thereafter a brand new amp. Two in fact. The ‘hum’ I experienced was attributed to the grounding system in my home. Not the amp (s).

Consequently I said what I said for a reason. Maybe we ought to call Ripley’s Believe it or not’, here.

Ultimately I had to lift the ground from the dedicated ckt (s) driving the amp (s). Further, I had to also mitigate the CATV connection to the service ground by use of a transformer as mentioned above, as BOTH ITEMS introduced issues to the system. Even though as the OP said too, my CATV was not connected to my then stereo system.

It is however connected somewhere else.

It was connected to the service ground at the power pole, and et al, above… everything gets tied together there… neutrals and commons.

Sometimes an issue has one thing causing the problem, sometimes it’s predominately one thing that makes you notice it, but sometimes there are also other contributing factors which only raise their heads once the issue is reailized.

The CATV connection outside shouldn’t have matter possibly but it did.

In some areas around here some counties make new construction employ two different ground rods. There’s always the risk then of acquiring a difference of potential there. In sandy conditions drainage is severe, reducing the actual ground rod conduction with the earth itself. Rods longer than the eight foot norm would work better perhaps, but I’ve seen the value of keeping that area surrounding the rod damp or wet. Especially in times of extended drought or no rainfall.

Sometimes electrical issues defie practical or common sense approaches. So I tend to keep a more open mind and not merely stick strickly to imperical wisdom.

When the electrical contractor I worked for got the contract to build the local Honeywell location, we ran across a problem with numerous ground rods and a variety of ckts. All the rods were in one common area. All solid copper. All 10 or 12 ft long. Some of the ckts wound up with hums. Front to back several times we went thru the ckts finding nothing out of the ordinary. By then the surrounding area had been poured and there was no way to remove the rods … only to relocate them. Instead of reworking all the rods with another install, someone, one of the older sparkys came up with the DIY inductor.

We all had a good laugh at his expense when he told us about it. BUT it worked fine after a few tries. I don’t think anyone ever told Honeywell what we actually did to fix the situation though.

So I don’t just make this stuff up. Believe it or not.

Regardless, I hope things get figured out… one way or another.