Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater power conditioners

Jay, there now appears to be two conflicting observations: the success of the cheater indicates a ground loop, with the cable TV connection being the most likely suspect; the fact that the hum only begins after the amp is on about 20 minutes would indicate that it's defective.

I'm not sure that it is defective, let me refrase my previous post. if i plug the amp into the outlet closest to my equipment the hum begins as soon as the amp is switched on. if the amp is plugged into another outlet on a differant wall the hum begins after the amp is running for 20-30 min's. i will try rotating the plugs a little later today. thanks for all the responses, i owe every one a beer.

Ok, so i just spent some time unplugging/plugging things in and out. NO LUCK. I can not rotate the plugs as the surge protector only accepts the plugs one way. i tried disconecting the main cable feed where it enters the house before the splitters, NO LUCK here either. i guess i could try the transformers from parts express and attempt to lift the ground. if that doesn't work i will buy the power conditioner because that worked for one of the reviewers over at hometheaterspot as his parasound amp's had a humming problem. wierd that I can't isolate the source of the hum... do you think i'm doing any damage to the ADCOM buy using the cheater plug? the surge protector it is plugged into has a 3 pronged ground plug. thanks again.

Jay, the 20 minute delay on another outlet is totally puzzling, so no further comment. If you disconnected the cable feed and still got the hum, it's been found not guilty and there'd be no purpose in getting the cable isolation transformer. Since you mention splitters, apparently it's connected to several TVs; if any of them are grounded(3-prong plug in separate outlet) and are also connected to the other components with an interconnecting cable(wire, of course, an optical connect won't form a ground loop), this can form a ground loop. If you didn't already do so, disconnect their power cords(even if they're turned off) to check for hum. Yes, it'd sometimes hard to trace the loop, but disconnect everything until you get to the point where it's gone.

No, using the cheater can't possibly damage the equipment, but it could possibly damage you. If the amp isn't grounded through its power cord then it's grounded through any interconnect which runs to a component which is grounded. This may or may not be an adequate ground, although you read of some who use the cheater plug except on one 3-prong grounded component, and rely on that for the entire ground.

500: try disconnecting your tv cable at your HT location. Sounds like you have several tv's hooked up and you want to minimize the possibilities.

Good Luck!

i've unplugged washers, dryers, heaters, cable boxes, tv's, subwoofers etc.... pretty much eveything i own and no luck. i orderd the isolation transfer because it was only 10 bucks and figured what the hell. i was going to place it between the the splitt cable wire and my cable box unless you think i should place it on the main wire before the splitters. if that doesn't work i'll get the power conditioner and hope the filters in that unit work.

Hey Rat, if I recall you have a Tripplite Isobar HTPowerbar10 surge/conditioner, how do you like it, I'm thinking about getting one?

Sir: you have an excellent memory! I have 2 of them. One is in my HT room with all the cables/ power running through it and the other is in the wife's study where she has her computer and TV.

They seem to work just fine!!!!

I would recommend them to anyone.

"Sir: you have an excellent memory!" thanks for the vote of confidence , actually I used the search tool to see if anybody has discussed this model in the past. It seems to have some faithful followers over on AVSforum. I would be using to protect my HT equipment.

Randy

Axiom 60's 150 350 4-Qs8's
Denon 2805
Sanyo Z2 Projector
Panasonic S97S DVD
Samsung HD Tuner

Jay, if you disconnect enough(of the AV equipment), of course connecting cables as well as power cords, the ground loop has to eventually be broken. I assume that you don't mean that there was still a hum if nothing was connected except the plugged-in Adcom to the speakers with wire.

If you get the cable isolation transformer it should be placed on the main cable feed before any splitters, etc. The idea is to isolate the ground on the cable line(but, as already mentioned, if there's a hum with the cable completely disconnected, that can't be it). Unless the amp has a defective power supply section(apparently not, if a cheater plug stops the hum), it's definitely a connection problem that has nothing to do with filtering of the power supply.