Humming Issue. Help!

[saman239]

I'm having a humming issue. I hooked up a grounding wire from receiver to preamp, no change, I have a Rega Planar 1 which doesn't have a grounding post. I also have a crackle turning up the volume. When I take my preamp out of the equation and plug my record player directly into the preamp on my receiver the humming is still there but there is no crackle turning up the sound now. When I unplug my preamp the humming disappears, it doesn't if I unplug anything else, expect the receiver obviously. I have no idea how to fix it, is my preamp faulty? I am lost on what to do.

 

[Gray]

I'm having a humming issue. I hooked up a grounding wire from receiver to preamp, no change, I have a Rega Planar 1 which doesn't have a grounding post. I also have a crackle turning up the volume. When I take my preamp out of the equation and plug my record player directly into the preamp on my receiver the humming is still there but there is no crackle turning up the sound now. When I unplug my preamp the humming disappears, it doesn't if I unplug anything else, expect the receiver obviously. I have no idea how to fix it, is my preamp faulty? I am lost on what to do.

First check that all the wire colours correspond to any coloured markings on the cartridge pins.
Then get back to us. Advise on the make / models of your cartridge, preamp and receiver.
Apart from Covid, there's not much we can't sort out.

 

[saman239]

I have a Rega Planar 1 fitted with a Goldring E3 cartridge, a Yamaha CR-600 Stereo Reciever and a Behringer PP400 Phono Preamp. Double checked all the cartridge pins, they are fitted correctly. Thank You.

 

[Al ears]

I have a Rega Planar 1 fitted with a Goldring E3 cartridge, a Yamaha CR-600 Stereo Reciever and a Behringer PP400 Phono Preamp. Double checked all the cartridge pins, they are fitted correctly. Thank You.

Does the mains plug to your turntable have an earth lead in it?
There are two phono inputs on the back of you receiver, have you tried the other pair?
How are you connecting the phono pre to receiver?

 

[saman239]

I do believe there is an earth lead plugged into the Rega but I do not know for certain. Just tried both phonos, both hum, I have the preamp connected through an RCA lead into 'Tape PB'.

 

[saman239]

Also, I touch the end of the ground post on my receiver to and with my other hand touch the tonearm, hum nearly disappears. Tried running another copper wiring from receiver to tonearm, no success

 

[Al ears]

Also, I touch the end of the ground post on my receiver to and with my other hand touch the tonearm, hum nearly disappears. Tried running another copper wiring from receiver to tonearm, no success

Interesting, try connecting the phono preamp to the Aux input.
If you can open the mains socket from the turntable and disconnect earth wire or, if using the phono preamp disconnect the earth wire in the mains plug to that. It may be you have too many earths.

 

[saman239]

I believe I know what you mean. The earth wire in the plugs? Unfortunately there are no screws to take apart the wire. However, there is on the stereo receiver and discovered something which may be of interest, there is no earth wire hooked up to the plug, only live and neutral.

 

[saman239]

This is the plug

 

[saman239]

Also, I put the phono into the aux and it does hum

 

[Gray]

The Yamaha has a 2 core mains wire, it doesn't require an earth, so don't worry about that.
Also, if any electrical item is earthed in its mains plug, it needs to be, for safety.
Let's try a process of elimination:

The TT connected direct to the Yamaha hums.
The TT connected via the Behringer hums.

That suggests all is not well with the TT.
Is your TT located well away from all sources of electromagnetic interference? Being too close to the mains transformer within the receiver (for example) could cause hum issues.

In your original post you said 'When I unplug my preamp the humming disappears'???
Let's get that out of the picture. Disconnect it completely.
Now, we haven't established quite why your receiver has 2 phono inputs. I know you said it hums in both but, to save us looking for the manual, do you know the difference between the 2 inputs? Is one MM and the other MC?

 

[Al ears]

The Yamaha has a 2 core mains wire, it doesn't require an earth, so don't worry about that.
Also, if any electrical item is earthed in its mains plug, it needs to be, for safety.
Let's try a process of elimination:

The TT connected direct to the Yamaha hums.
The TT connected via the Behringer hums.

That suggests all is not well with the TT.
Is your TT located well away from all sources of electromagnetic interference? Being too close to the mains transformer within the receiver (for example) could cause hum issues.

In your original post you said 'When I unplug my preamp the humming disappears'???
Let's get that out of the picture. Disconnect it completely.
Now, we haven't established quite why your receiver has 2 phono inputs. I know you said it hums in both but, to save us looking for the manual, do you know the difference between the 2 inputs? Is one MM and the other MC?

Looking at the specs it only has a MM preamp inside.

 

[saman239]

Looking at the specs it only has a MM preamp inside.

I attached my ground wire to my receiver last night and the humming got a bit quieter, I then connected the other side to the record player but it just stayed the same. SO it is a bit quieter now but not silent

 

[saman239]

The Yamaha has a 2 core mains wire, it doesn't require an earth, so don't worry about that.
Also, if any electrical item is earthed in its mains plug, it needs to be, for safety.
Let's try a process of elimination:

The TT connected direct to the Yamaha hums.
The TT connected via the Behringer hums.

That suggests all is not well with the TT.
Is your TT located well away from all sources of electromagnetic interference? Being too close to the mains transformer within the receiver (for example) could cause hum issues.

In your original post you said 'When I unplug my preamp the humming disappears'???
Let's get that out of the picture. Disconnect it completely.
Now, we haven't established quite why your receiver has 2 phono inputs. I know you said it hums in both but, to save us looking for the manual, do you know the difference between the 2 inputs? Is one MM and the other MC?

I have no idea the difference between the two i am afraid, ONe is LAbelled Phono 1 and the other Phono 2

 

[saman239]

I attached my ground wire to my receiver last night and the humming got a bit quieter, I then connected the other side to the record player but it just stayed the same. SO it is a bit quieter now but not silent

And by connected I mean I put it around the tonearm

 

[Gray]

Looking at the specs it only has a MM preamp inside.

As we might expect then. Wonder how 1 and 2 differ.
That much underrated item, the instruction manual, no doubt explains.

 

[Gray]

And by connected I mean I put it around the tonearm

Try this (temporary) experiment:
Use a pair of tweezers to carefully swap the blue and green leads on the cartridge pins.
Any difference?
If not, reconnect to correct colours.

 

[Al ears]

As we might expect then. Wonder how 1 and 2 differ.
That much underrated item, the instruction manual, no doubt explains.

Indeed, I find it hard to believe someone would want to connect two turntables to it.

 

[saman239]

Try this (temporary) experiment:
Use a pair of tweezers to carefully swap the blue and green leads on the cartridge pins.
Any difference?
If not, reconnect to correct colours.

No difference I'm afraid

 

[saman239]

Try this (temporary) experiment:
Use a pair of tweezers to carefully swap the blue and green leads on the cartridge pins.
Any difference?
If not, reconnect to correct colours.

When I touched the green end with my tweezers the hum disappeared, I don't know if that means anything.

 

[Al ears]

When I touched the green end with my tweezers the hum disappeared, I don't know if that means anything.

Interesting as the green and blue are ground wires.
Have a read of this:-

Considering Rega: are they prone to hum?- Vinyl Engine

www.vinylengine.com

Do you know anyone with a turntable that you could try join your set-up?

 

[saman239]

Interesting as the green and blue are ground wires.

Ah, I see, do you think they could be damaged?

 

[Al ears]

Ah, I see, do you think they could be damaged?

No sure. Did you have a different cartridge fitted to the turntable before the Goldring? Did that hum?
It may be that the Goldring is sensitive to motor noise.

 

[saman239]

No sure. Did you have a different cartridge fitted to the turntable before the Goldring? Did that hum?

Yea I had the stock Rega one. I can't remember if it hummed as I just replaced it and the last time I used the turntable before I went to Uni in September. The Rega cartridge was damaged whilst I was at Uni by my brother I presume. I could try to it back in and see the results.

 

[Al ears]

It would be interesting to see if it is purely the function of that new Goldring cartridge or not.