Hello Imdoc, Hope my obsessively detailed response was helpful in your quest to rid the hum. I am a firm believer now-a-days in running things balanced. Took years of trial and error, and a whole hell of alot of gear, cable, and subwoofer swapping. But balanced is the thing for me.
A suggestion for you regarding balanced cables. Before you go out and start dumping your hard earned cash on stuff, try some "professional" grade stuff. For whatever it's worth, I don't have any idea how $90 balanced mic cable from Guitar Center can be referred to as "professional", but I tried some of their "house" brand balanced cables, and also some MOGAMI brand. Didn't set me back much at all, and worked just fine for a long time, (until eventually upgrading to shit that cost 40 times as much for the same length.) Try it out. If it doesn't work out, or degrades your sound at all, you won't feel suicidal for for emptying your bank account. That cheap stuff ain't all that bad sometimes.
As for lights on dimmers- Elizabeth is oh so right. Not all dimmers are created equal, with some of them really causing more problems than they're worth. I have 800 watts of halogen lights on tracks, illuminating various pieces of artwork in my listening room. I too had hum because of them- once. Not anymore. Lutron, and Leviton make something called a (I KNOW I will screw up the spelling on this, but...) Colloidial coil?? something like that? It's essentially a "anti-buzzing" coil that is wired into your electrical supply line, between the dimmer and the fixture, lamp, etc. Works like a champ and completely kills the buzz caused by dimmers, and halogen bulbs. Lamps Plus sells them, or at least they used to. Try your local electricians supply house.
