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Need suggestions please! Electrical noise in my system and it's driving me crazy!

So I have been battling with an electrical noise in my home since I moved in over a year ago. I've had two electricians check it out and have done hours of trouble shooting myself. 

I'm getting a hum or a buzz from anything with a transformer and a buzz through my speakers. Standard driver speakers and my Maggies. The house was built ten years ago and has everything up to code. Underground electrical lines. 2 ground rods outside the house. Just added a ground to all the copper plumbing and gas lines. I have a 200 amp panel in the house and a 100 amp panel in the garage. 

I have a Furman IT Reference 15 power conditioner and it's not doing jack. It's actually humming too. As far as trouble shooting I've mixed and matched equipment, speaker, and cables to eliminate that factor, I've also turned every breaker off one by one to find if it's something in the house that's dirtying up the electrical but even when I only had the one breaker that powered me system on, the noise was still there. 

I'm going crazy because my relaxing time is sitting and listening to my music in a dead silent room with a dead silent background and I no longer have that anymore. I can hear the buz, hum, and even a high pitch noise and it's ruining my hobby. Both electricians I've had in the house have no clue and and think I'm nuts anyway. 

Has anyone had an issue like this before? Could you fix it? How did you fix it? Please help! I'm about ready to sell all my equipment because it's annoying to listen to. 

Thanks,
Brian
gearheadmac
erik_squires
5,268 posts
 
You don't by any chance have multiple ground rods placed far apart?
jea48
2,944 posts
 


When it rained really hard the other night it was noticeably worse.
You said you have an under ground electrical service.
Pad mount utility power transformer? Yes?
If yes,
Front of house or back of house?
By chance have you ever noticed a ground fiber electrical junction box just inside the property line? Sometimes they are flush with the ground and sometimes, often, the cover and part of the box will be above the ground a few inches. Usually the box will be somewhat centered on the property line of two property lots. Some times it might be on your property or the neighbor’s next door property. If you have such a box good chance your electrical service wires are jointed/terminated inside the box. If the connections are not water proof, which they usually are not, and the Lineman that made up the terminations didn’t keep them high in the box just below the bottom of the cover, then the terminations could have been laying in ground water from the heavy rain. Water will seek its’ own level.

I do have internet coming in over Coax wire and then have CATV going into my OPPO 105D but I’ve unplugged it and plugged it back in with now change. I don’t have cable, just internet, so only the OPPO is hooked up.
Unplugged? Do you mean you physically disconnected the CATV Cable Providers Coax cable "F" connector from what ever it connects to?

What kind of neighbors do you have around you? Neighbors that are/maybe fed from the same utility power transformer as you. Any of them running a business say out of their garage? How close are you to any commercial business from your home.

Did you ever contact the utility power company and talk to them about your problem?
normie57
33 posts
 
My home seems to be prone to dirty AC, in the past causing variable and intermittent hum/buzz through my loudspeakers.  I have dedicated 20A lines to my listening room and have tried many line conditioners over 20 years. What proved a near revelation for me, about 3 years ago and still proudly standing, is the Torus AVR 20 balanced line conditioner. It required an electrician (in my case) installing a 240V Balanced AC line to my listening room, but all my upstream electrical issues seemingly vanished without more time consuming, expensive, and potentially nerve racking whole home diagnostics and solutions. My highest recommendation!
dmdalton
3 posts
 
Sorry to read about your noise issues. Perhaps defining the noise will lead you to the issue faster.

Step1: Do you know someone with an oscilloscope? If so I would connect to the ground of your power conditioner or one of your devices and see how many volts and at what frequency (most likely 60 cycles).

Step 2: Measure the noise on the ground inside the 200 amp main panel. If the noise is present, unplug all appliances in the entire house and garage. Also unplug all stereo gear in the entire house and garage. Re-measure the noise. If gone connect one appliance or device at a time.

Step 3: Measure the noise on the ground inside the 100 amp garage panel. If it is there, you may want to disconnect the 100 amp feeds and ground from the main breaker. This will eliminate it entirely from the problem. I suspect they are connected to the bus bars of the 200 amp main breaker. The main 200 amp breaker must be off to do this. Deadly voltage is involved and you should hire an electrician.

I hope thess ideas prove helpful.
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