Low Hum with my Event TR-6

[dacaumodo]

Hello

Is it normal that when my Event TR-6 monitors are plugged into the "control room output" of my mixer, there should be a low hum even without any sound coming out of my soundcard ? I also tried the "Main Out" with the same result.

Thanks!

g

[DuX]

You've got grounding problems, man, as 90% of us. Buy a Furman line conditioner or google for "grounding problems" or "ground-loop problem". The main point is - It's solvable .

[dacaumodo]

Thanks Dux, will check this out!

g

[DuX]

I forgot to tell you to try moving your speaker cables and audio cables away from the power cables while listening for the changes in humming - that could be a temporary solution to decrease the hum, but line conditioner is the best solution and it can provide clean electricity for all of your equipment - you can hook-up your whole room to it .

Generally, you get hum when the power cables cross the audio cables. The magnet field around the power cables creates additional current in audio cables and you get humming, so it's best to keep them away from each other and never ever cross them.

Cheers!

[dacaumodo]

Once again, thanks for the tips.
cheers

d

[Chuck E. Jesus]

from another thread, may be helpful:

mr. money: did you try lifting all the grounds (on your audio rig) to one common, and earthing it?

I forgot to mention that my apartment has no true grounds. I called the super as soon as I noticed (discovered by using an outlet-checker), and he sent an electrician over. The electrician installed GFCI outlets, which do not contain a true earth, but rather break the outlet's power supply (like a localized circuit breaker) if the current load produces a fault.

So, my splitter box has a ground-lift, my DI box has a ground lift... but there's nowhere to actually earth the rig.

I've been trying to find a solution for 2 years and the only thing I can really do (that I'm aware of) is install my own ground spike or send it to the copper plumbing... I don't have access to either of those options in this stupid place.

Thanks for the idea, though. If you have any others, I'm all ears.

Greg

"i really think that's your problem...i've never tried, but i've heard if you have no other option, run your ground to any cold water pipe...not sure how you are setup, but if you can get a heavy wire to your bath or kitchen sink, just clamp it on underneath...ground lifts on di's are kind of a cheat, they are really preventing a ground loop, when a good earth ground will actually work better...i'm no EE, but i had a similar problem running off the power in the old house i live in...i was able to run a dedicated ac line and i drilled a hole in the wall, ran a wire to a poll stuck in the ground, and tied all audio gear to one common gound tied to the wire, and it cleaned eveything up noticably-my Yammy bass (single coil) was really noisey, now it's quiet...but if run my computer audio over to my stereo, horrible buzzing! i'm changing that around someday..."



anyway, hope that helps...

[dacaumodo]

Thanks Chuck. Sounds a bit scary though. I feel a bit of a fool, but I think it might actually have come from a bad setting of the speakers' sensitivity. Although all your tips might also help with other noises, and I'm certainly no stranger to ground loop noise problems (especially with a neon in the room - ugh!)
cheers
d

[DuX]

Very interesting, this pipe thingie Chuck, very interesting. [no sarcasm it really is] I haven't thought of grounding in that way so far. Excellent tip!

Cheers!