Would XLRs resolve my hum issue? (Marantz and Emotiva)

[mywhitenoise]

I currently have a Pioneer VSX-52 connected to an Emotiva XPA-5 amp. After introducing the amp into my setup, I gained a hum that's been driving me crazy ever since. I've tried to find the ground causing it, but no luck. Would adding a pre-processor with XLR inputs solve the issue (specifically a Marantz AV-7701 OR 7005), or is there a cheaper and better alternative?

I'm not sure who I'd have to call to have this sorted out. Thanks for any advice.

[Josh]

Unless you are running long lengths of cable between your Pioneer and Emotiva, probably not. XLR is overkill for any setup where the components are near each other. That's not to say I won't be using XLR, but its probably not the solution to your problem.

[rock, stone]

Did you try Emo to troubleshoot? They seem to have a pretty good track record in terms of customer service. Or at least they might help to rule out some suspects.

Good luck.

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by rock, stone

Did you try Emo to troubleshoot? They seem to have a pretty good track record in terms of customer service. Or at least they might help to rule out some suspects.

Good luck.

I did when I first got it, but I'll give them another call to see if they can help.

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

I currently have a Pioneer VSX-52 connected to an Emotiva XPA-5 amp. After introducing the amp into my setup, I gained a hum that's been driving me crazy ever since. I've tried to find the ground causing it, but no luck. Would adding a pre-processor with XLR inputs solve the issue (specifically a Marantz AV-7701 OR 7005), or is there a cheaper and better alternative?

I'm not sure who I'd have to call to have this sorted out. Thanks for any advice.

first, you did not state where the hum is coming from; is it from the amp itself or from the speakers?

if the hum is from the speakers and it wasn't there before you introduced the amp, did you disconnect all interconnects to the amp from the pre-out source, leaving the speakers connected and turn it on, do you still hear a hum from the speakers?

if the above is done and the hum goes away,

[Show spoiler](or if the hum doesn't go away, turn the amp off and disconnect one speaker cable from the amp at a time and turn the amp on when/if the hum stops, take that speaker cable and connect it to a different channel and see if the hum follows the speaker meaning if it now comes out of the channel it was in before it's the amp but if it follows the speaker to the new channel you moved it to, it's either the cable or the speaker)

turn off both amp & pre-out source and disconnect everything from it except the power cord. then, turning power off at amp & pre-out source each time, connect one interconnect at a time. if the hum comes back after connecting one of the interconnects then it's either a cable or the pre-out source and if switching to a different cable doesn't clear it tells you it's not the cable but the source. of course, if you do all the interconnects you use to the amp and if there is no hum from the speakers it's probably one of the inputs you had connected.

try connecting the inputs one at at time don't forget to turn the power off then on each time while doing this. hopefully you will connect an input and turn things on and find the source of your hum.

if none of this works, you can come over to my place and watch a movie once during the weekday and twice on the weekends!

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

first, you did not state where the hum is coming from; is it from the amp itself or from the speakers?

if the hum is from the speakers and it wasn't there before you introduced the amp, did you disconnect all interconnects to the amp from the pre-out source, leaving the speakers connected and turn it on, do you still hear a hum from the speakers?

if the above is done and the hum goes away, turn off both amp & pre-out source and disconnect everything from it except the power cord. then, turning power off at amp & pre-out source each time, connect one interconnect at a time. if the hum comes back after connecting one of the interconnects then it's either a cable or the pre-out source and if switching to a different cable doesn't clear it tells you it's not the cable but the source. of course, if you do all the interconnects you use to the amp and if there is no hum from the speakers it's probably one of the inputs you had connected.

try connecting the inputs one at at time don't forget to turn the power off then on each time while doing this. hopefully you will connect an input and turn things on and find the source of your hum.

if none of this works, you can come over to my place and watch a movie once during the weekday and twice on the weekends!

Hum is coming from the speakers.

I've conducted that test, as well as many others, as far as swapping 3 different sets of RCA cables, as well as getting a replacement amp, and new power conditioner. I'll give it another shot this weekend.

Hum doesn't bother me with movies, I'm concerned about my music!

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

Hum is coming from the speakers.

I've conducted that test, as well as many others, as far as swapping 3 different sets of RCA cables, as well as getting a replacement amp, and new power conditioner. I'll give it another shot this weekend.

i added a spoiler in there that i forgot to put in before, check it too.

since you didn't post them, what were the results of those test?

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

Hum is coming from the speakers.
I've conducted that test, as well as many others, as far as swapping 3 different sets of RCA cables, as well as getting a replacement amp, and new power conditioner. I'll give it another shot this weekend.

Hum doesn't bother me with movies, I'm concerned about my music!

all speakers or just a couple?

[solarrdadd]

another thing, i know how silly this might sound, sometimes that hum was always there but until you put a good power amp in there you don't notice it as much.

same is true with a crappy music source, with a run of the mill system, sometimes you don't notice it. get a really good system, that crappy source will sing til your head explodes sometimes making folks thing the good system is the cause of it.

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by solarrdadd

all speakers or just a couple?

All speakers. I didn't notice a hum at all when I had a test run with the UPA-2, for the fronts (before I traded it in for the XPA-5). I'll give your test another shot when I get home.

[ZoetMB]

1. Disconnect the power amp and plug a set of really good headphones into the Pioneer. See if you hear any hum. If you do, it's the Pioneer.

2. If you don't, plug the Emotiva back in and still listen via headphones to see if there's now hum coming from the Pioneer.

3. Replace the cables between the Pioneer and the Emotiva.

4. Check a variety of input sources. Try the tuner in the Pioneer.

5. With the Emotiva connected to the Pioneer, leave the Pioneer off and turn the Emotiva on. See if there's hum. If there is, disconnect the Pioneer from the Emotiva again and see if there's hum.

5. Put a ground lifter on the plug that plugs into the mains and see if that makes a difference. If you're already working without the ground pin, but the ground pin back.

Hum is generally caused by a ground loop, but could also be caused by a broken ground connection. That's why when you plug in an audio cable, you get hum until the cable is plugged in all the way and the shell makes contact.

If you have a big, expensive system and you live in a house that you own and you have $$$$, you could make the investment and run an isolated power line with its own separate ground. That's usually overkill, but may be necessary in your case if you can't find the problem.

It's also possible that there's a loose cable or a broken connection in the amp.

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

1. Disconnect the power amp and plug a set of really good headphones into the Pioneer. See if you hear any hum. If you do, it's the Pioneer...

Tried all that, and no resolve. Forgot to mention that I have tried every trick in the book, including buying a Hum-X that I attached to my amp, and my receiver, as well as buying a cheater plug and trying that on both as well, and I currently have this ground loop isolator attached to my front and surround lefts and rights. http://www.monoprice.com/StaticConte...rpath=/Product

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

Tried all that, and no resolve. Forgot to mention that I have tried every trick in the book, including buying a Hum-X that I attached to my amp, and my receiver, as well as buying a cheater plug and trying that on both as well, and I currently have this ground loop isolator attached to my front and surround lefts and rights. http://www.monoprice.com/StaticConte...rpath=/Product

Did the headphones hum, too? I had a bad hum, that came and went. It was the subwoofer cable, a pretty high end one, too. Made everything hum.

More gear strapped on probably won't do anything. Try everything in straignt 2ch mode, no sub, and let us know what the headphone results were. By the way, it doesn't need to be very high end headphones - your hum is obvious, sounds like you could use just about anything that will connect.

Also (this may be difficult, but try) see if you can find out if anything else is sitting on the same power circuit as your amplifier, and turn it off. Television, refrigerator, fan, heater, anything, while you're testing in 2ch mode.

It's something glaring. Once you find it, you'll say, dang, can't believe I missed that...

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

Did the headphones hum, too? I had a bad hum, that came and went. It was the subwoofer cable, a pretty high end one, too. Made everything hum.

More gear strapped on probably won't do anything. Try everything in straignt 2ch mode, no sub, and let us know what the headphone results were. By the way, it doesn't need to be very high end headphones - your hum is obvious, sounds like you could use just about anything that will connect.

Also (this may be difficult, but try) see if you can find out if anything else is sitting on the same power circuit as your amplifier, and turn it off. Television, refrigerator, fan, heater, anything, while you're testing in 2ch mode.

It's something glaring. Once you find it, you'll say, dang, can't believe I missed that...

Hooked up a pair of Sennheiser HD595's, but there was no hum...not sure how that would be an accurate test, though, since doesn't the amp only work with the speakers connected and not the headphone jack that's through the receiver?

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

Hooked up a pair of Sennheiser HD595's, but there was no hum...not sure how that would be an accurate test, though, since doesn't the amp only work with the speakers connected and not the headphone jack that's through the receiver?

All you can do is isolate as much as you can. You're not using the amps with your headphones (nice headphones, too), but you're able to isolate everything at the pre-amp stage, and it sounds like everything is OK.

If the 2CH test still hums, try it one channel at a time - and see if there is any change in humming sound level, too. It really sounds like something is nasty in the wiring, not the gear. A frayed wire shorting a speaker, a break in a wire you can't see because the insulation is still good, a bad connector to a speaker or the amp (these are tough to spot - the assumption is "something that simple can't go bad"), stuff like that.

If you can, without making a mess, go bare-wire for the testing and take connectors off the wire. Then replace them, one by one, each speaker. This really sounds like a wiring headache. Don't make the assumption that it's good because it looks right, it doesn't sound right, so go over it segment by segment.

I'd hate to see you have to replace all that gear, and then find out it wasn't necessary.

[mr.goodkat]

Xlr is better in longer but also it has better signaling then RCA. I'm using emotiva xpr5 and marantz 8801 with blue jeans xlr cables. My speakers are klipsch rf7 with 101db sensitivity, one of the most sensitive speakers and I have no humming although my power in apartment is not the most clean power you can imagine. Isolated cables really do the trick in most cases if the humming is not caused by your power

[mywhitenoise]

Originally Posted by mr.goodkat

Xlr is better in longer but also it has better signaling then RCA. I'm using emotiva xpr5 and marantz 8801 with blue jeans xlr cables. My speakers are klipsch rf7 with 101db sensitivity, one of the most sensitive speakers and I have no humming although my power in apartment is not the most clean power you can imagine. Isolated cables really do the trick in most cases if the humming is not caused by your power

What kind of cables would you suggest?

These are the cables I have connected from the receiver to the amp
http://www.plasma.com/acousticresearch/pr136.htm

and my speaker wire
http://www.monoprice.com/StaticConte...rpath=/Product

[mr.goodkat]

Originally Posted by mywhitenoise

What kind of cables would you suggest?

These are the cables I have connected from the receiver to the amp
http://www.plasma.com/acousticresearch/pr136.htm

and my speaker wire
http://www.monoprice.com/StaticConte...rpath=/Product

I went for blue jeans cable belden 1800f as suggestion and it had huge impact on sound quality.

Speaker cables I'm using calabrine but more neutral cable you get less forgiving sound you will hear from speakers and every glitch will be more noticeable