Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater ADA Noise Floor

My building has lousy grounding.

I also added new receptacle{PS Audio} with an extra ground line to the receptacles box. For me these made a great difference, especially on my noise floor.

Sadly there's no easy fix for such issues. Only process of elimination. Sometimes multiple fixes are necessary.

Yes, industry learned a hard lesson when business systems installers grounded to the nearest fire sprinkler systems and that industry moved away from having the water supply heads loaded with water at all times...bad things happened man, bad things!


If you can - and certainly for new builds/construction - I generally recommend dedicated circuits with isolated grounds be receptacle. The cost at build is negligible and can be worth cost later


Agreed...but that is part of the fun isn't it? LOL

Couple of random thoughts;

- Did you have this issue previously - you mentioned hiss but not hum?

- Is it possible to check the ground at the receptacle?

- You mentioned isolating to the Denon, but have you removed all inputs (dvd player and all cables) from the Denon and checked? I would also remove the trigger and check for the hum. If you find the hum is gone, begin adding the cables back and see when/if it returns.

- is the dvd player connected to the same receptacle as the denon and amp?
- Do you have another set of RCA cables to test with? Highly unlikely, but I have experienced stranger things....

Ironically enough if you check out new Axiom vids. on You Tube. There's some new releases staring Andrew.

One regarding XLR vs RCA. In the vid. he mentions how a subwoofer connected to a different outlet can lead to issues. Also why not to use a balanced to non splitter. {It just cancels the balanced connection}.

Have you tried unplugging your Sub. yet Bman?

What do you hear in the three speakers connected to the ADA when you remove each RCA cable from the ADA?

That's a nifty device. Have you tried plugging the ADA into the same (duplex?) outlet as the Denon?

Possibly to long.

I have some of the Prime cables as well, quite nice. If you contact them about it there is a lifetime warranty. Though 6 foot is a little long for most basic applications that don't require such length.
Last year I decided to try Blue jeans LC1 much thicker with very large connectors. Seem really good but much higher price compared to P.C. brand.

Glad it was a minor fix as opposed to major overhaul.

Way to stick with it and work out the root cause. With that out of the way, how does the whole thing sound?

It was the stupid RCA cables after all!

These could be the same cables I bought from Prime Cables about a year ago. One was bad, didn't work at all. PC promply replaced it no questions, otherwise the rest of them(6) were fine.

Brendo, I can't hear a difference between my 12 ga Home Depot cable and my Monster Cable with M80v2. But I can hear a difference with M5 and M100v4. Monster sounds better. You'd have to hear it to believe it.

The bulk Home Depot speaker wire that I've seen is copper-clad aluminum, so that might explain it.

That may be the case now. Mine is just over 12 years old and I can attest there is no aluminum. Even if it was, why the difference between the v2 and v4? I'll tell you why. v4 is vastly superior. Let me say that again. v4 is VASTLY superior. It can't, just can't get any better except with a digital cross-over.

As for sound quality you probably wont be able to notice a big difference. Just a little peace of mind with big burly connectors and better length. {Axiom fam. are big advocates for letting you know cables are snake oil} They've done multiple testing's with the N.R.C. and their findings have shown no one can truly tell the difference.
Luckily majority of these companies produce so many that if anything they'll replace or refund promptly no question.

bman, I think when your TV wasn't wall-mounted, it interfered with the "early reflections" curve that Axiom designed to. This curve is responsible for image width, stability and timber. The curve is taken from 40 degrees to 80 degrees across (also 50 degrees up and down but that's not relevant here).

I've always wondered though what level of engineering goes into the on-walls and in-walls. How is the family of curves adjusted for these models? Are new curves taken? If so, how do they account for the wall?

Likely Axiom will remain guarded around these questions. Although the science and characterization methodology around the parametric curves are well-established, there are nuances to testing and interpretation, as well as extension to non-traditional speaker designs, that are company secrets.

Anyway, you have a great system there and it will bring you all a lot of enjoyment. We are extremely fortunate to be part of a minority on this planet who can enjoy high fidelity so we should be very grateful.

bman, you sure are taking a keen interest in all things audio, eh? Have you always been like this or has something changed?