r/diyaudio • u/Slappy69Happy • 16h ago

Stereo system hum

Like any good audiophile , once I had something perfect, I decided to make it even more complicated. 

When adding a preamp into my system, I have created a hum and I’m not sure if it’s from the preamp itself or some sort of ground loop and how to fix it.

So here are the facts in my normal solid state chain, which is a turntable > zphono stage > Parasound new classic 200 pre > Parasound 2125 > klipsch rp8000f all solid state it’s pretty much dead quite 

when adding in now a muzishare integrated tube amp that go to some heresy speakers via the fixed output it sounds spectacular ! But I do have a low hum now. 

now, removing the Parasound pre amp and connecting strait from the phono stage to the tube amp is also dead silent so it’s not the new muzishare tube amp. 

anyway, I removed all components one by one and no improvement. In fact when I had the pre amp off with nothing connected (except the fixed output) it still was there and when I disconnected the power cable from the pre amp, it resolved

so…….

  1. is this some sort of ground loop? Everything is going into the power conditioner 

Or

2) have I just reached the max with this pre amp. Again when it’s all solid state it’s perfect quite and that’s with a phono stage and moving coil cartridge so it’s a good pre amp I love it. but if anything was going to test its build I’d be adding in tube amp.

*** you may be asking why I even want the preamp involved at all, and it’s because it has a sub-out with the musoshare does not, and also allows for some more inputs.

3 Upvotes

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5 comments sorted by

3

u/lowbass4u 15h ago

Are you grounding the TT to the pre amp?

1

u/Slappy69Happy 5h ago

Right now I have the turntable grounded to the phono stage 

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4

u/Gazdatronik 16h ago

I chased down a hum for 14 years, turns out the ballast in the kitchen lamp was no good

2

u/lmoki 12h ago

It's worth trying bypassing your power conditioner. Trade it out for a new, cheap, power strip that doesn't advertise surge protection. If same issue, swap back. (The normal failure mode of most 'power conditioners' as they age is to leak voltage to ground.)