Hope this helps someone with RFI problems


I have been living with a severe RFI, or what I thought was an RFI problem for quite some time. At high volumes, I was able to get an Oldies FM station signal out of my speakers when I listened to vinyl. Moreover, I always thought that the sound was lacking in detail and dynamics.

I tried EVERYTHING. Changed phono stages, bought ferrite clamps, strange paper stuff to put on top of my equipment, cable wraps, I even used tin foil over cabling. Changed the location of my equipment numerous times. Bought new cables, etc. I was even considering selling my tube based system and going solid state.

Some things worked alittle, some were a total waste of money and time. Was eventually able to dampen the radio station but there was still alot of noise. Needless to say I was aggravated.

On a whim, last week I brought an APC Smart-UPS unit home from work and installed it in my system. Turns out, the radio station and all the interferance was actually coming from my AC. My house is one big antenna.

The detail is stunning, dynamics are incredible. The music sounds like music again. Needless to say, I already purchased a PS Audio powerplant to replace the APC UPS unit.

I hope this helps someone with the same type of problems effecting their system. I really could not be any happier right now as I have been trying to get rid of the noise problems for 2 years.

-Rich
rich62
Rich,
Thanks for the thoughtful, and I'm sure helpful, post for a lot of people. I wonder if there is an easier way of eliminating this RFI without getting an expensive power conditioner?
I am curious, do you have dedicated circuits for your audio? Dedicated circuits eliminated huge amounts of noise in my system and the best tweek for the money. Glad you got results.
Rich, I've had the same problem for years. Mine is pretty low level RFI, but annoying nonetheless. Thanks for sharing your discovery!
Elseb: dedicated circuits would be a great addition. But it is cost prohibitive for me. I live in a stone home built in the early 1930's. Tearing into the walls and running new lines would be far more expensive then purchasing a power regenerator. Plus, there is no way that my wife would go for it (she has been very understanding through this process, but that would set her over the edge).

Sherod: It is not just a power conditioner. I have used several power conditioners on my system which have not made a substantial improvement in limiting the noise when listening to vinyl. I needed a conditioner with an on-line uninterrupted power supply and an isolation transformer because my AC was so horrible. Unfortunately, these types of units are expensive.

Therefore, anyone with a problem similar to mine should borrow an APC UPS unit from a computer setup and place it in their system to determine if the AC is the cause of the noise and RFI in their system. In my opinion, it is the cheapest way to figure out if you should spend the $$ for an expensive power regenerator/uninterrupted power supply unit from PS Audio or APS or similar company.

For me, the most aggravating part of this hobby is trying to figure out what equipment will improve the sound of my system before I shell out the money. For the most part, if you have a nasty RFI problem, you essentially have to purchase and try everything that supposedly corrects the RFI noise to see if it actually works. I must have wasted hundreds of dollars (if not thousands) on pointless tweeks and conditioners before I stumbled on the real reason for my problem.

Rich