Do power conditioners help with unwanted hum/noise

You may want to try this before you spend much $$$.
I had a sporadic hum that I thought was in the AC line. I ran a new AC outlet back to the circuit breaker but it didn't cure it. I discovered the cause by accident when I disconnected the cable wire from the back of my TV and from the wall to rearrange some wires. The hum disappeared completely.
It comes back every few months but I just disconnect the cable line and reattach. It must build up a charge over time. Worth a try.

Tobias: I'm glad to hear of your results. I've been advocating isolation transformers for several years now and have helped others find suitable models for their given installation. Lak and Psychicanimal can testify to the benefits involved and i'm certain that others can too. That is, when the iso's are properly selected and installed. You might want to do some further research on the subject in the archives before investing more money into various iso's as some surely work better than others. Some iso's are more prone to introducing problems into the system, both due to poor design and improper selection for the intended application. Sean
>

There are some other solutions for cable connections--like the "magic box" or somesuch. If you think the hum might be system related (i.e., post power conditioner), could you try unplugging other components to see if it goes away?

Edesilva: The "magic box" is basically an impedance compensated isolation transformer and that is why they work as well as they do : ) Sean
>

Sean, thanks much for the tip. I have done a bit of research here and lurked eBay. The best kind appears to be what's called an ultra isolation transformer with very (high? low?) internal capacitance, on the order of 0.0005 pF. I have a 220V three-wire line (2 hot, 1 neutral, and I can run a dedicated ground) ready for use as the new audio circuit, so what I need is bucking and isolation.

I don't know if single transformers exist which can do both jobs, but that might be the ideal solution, if I could find it.

My problem is my relative ignorance in the domain. I can wire up a house and build an amp kit but I don't know enough to ask all the right questions of an eBay seller, or recognize that a tranny has the right taps by looking at it and its specs.

Could you possibly suggest a basic reference on the subject?