I had this problem with my Spectron Musician ii and subwoofer amplifier, and it did end up being a result of DC in the line. As far as a I know, the only company selling a solution right now is Channel Islands Audio. It is a two outlet box called the XDC-2, $299. It solved my problems completely. Call them and tell them what you have, and they can recommend the proper configuration.
Getting Rid of Transformer Hum
I just picked up a Proceed AMP5 the other day. Upon hooking it up to a power cord, I noticed an annoying pulsating hum that sounds like a lightsaber match in Star Wars. This hum is coming straight from the amp, not the speakers, so it's not ground loop. There is nothing hooked up to the amp besides the power cable. What's interesting is that the amp is even though there is a standby mode, the amp was definitely turned off!
I noticed, though, that the hum got louder as the voltage from my wall dropped below 115-ish. Lowest it got to was 109 when everything was turned on, including a halogen lamp. Well, I turned off the lamp and all the lights in the house, and unplugged them -- helped the voltage drop but didn't eliminate the hum.
Am I completely lost on this amp? Or is there a way to take care of this problem without investing thousands more on some power regenerator? Another poster mentioned a similar problem solved by tightening a "chassis ground screw", but I have no idea what/where that is.
Help!
I noticed, though, that the hum got louder as the voltage from my wall dropped below 115-ish. Lowest it got to was 109 when everything was turned on, including a halogen lamp. Well, I turned off the lamp and all the lights in the house, and unplugged them -- helped the voltage drop but didn't eliminate the hum.
Am I completely lost on this amp? Or is there a way to take care of this problem without investing thousands more on some power regenerator? Another poster mentioned a similar problem solved by tightening a "chassis ground screw", but I have no idea what/where that is.
Help!
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- 17 posts total
Read this article. It's written so a layman can understand it. Essentially, there are two causes of transformer hum: magnetostriction and DC. Magnetostriction is what I referred to above in which the voltage on the AC line drops more than 10% (or increases more than 10%) from the toroid's voltage rating. |
The irony mentioned by Ngjockey is what confused me. I've since read plenty of articles like the one Tvad provided (btw, thank you), on magnetostriction and DC. However, the consensus seems to be that all quality Toroids and modern electric equipment should be sufficient at removing DC. The ones proposing DC as a main problem all seem to be selling something. Still, there are people as there are here, in this thread, that says an isolation transformer, or a device like the Channel Islands Audio XDC-2 solved all their problems. So here, I'm at crossroads with my wallet since I really don't want to spend colossal amounts of money (to me) on all these devices, which in my opinion, are being marked up ridiculously. I'm entertaining, though, one alternative option. I could try to sell my Panamax "line conditioner", and buy a used voltage regulator, which should take care of magnetostriction, and to my underestanding, DC as well. Are there any opinions on this? i.e. Monster AVS 2000, PS Audio Power Plant... I'll probably end up getting the CIA XDC-2 if it turns out the Monster would be insufficient... |
The CIA XDC-2 can be tried and returned for a refund (less restocking fee) if it doesn't work. That's where I'd start. If you own other components with toroids, and if they don't hum, then you know the problem is confined to the one component. If the CIA device doesn't work, then I'd consider buying a different amp rather than throwing money at a problem that's likely inherent with the component itself. |
- 17 posts total