What's causing my speakers to hum?

[d1abolic]

The speakers are Paradigm Monitor 7, hooked up to a Denon 3802 receiver. Both brand new. When i put my head close to the tweeter, i can hear a faint hum coming out of it. That's when the receiver is set to -30db. When i turn the volume up to 0, i can hear the hum from my chair. The receiver is hooked up to my PC, but that has nothing to do with it because the hum is there even when the receiver isn't connected to anything. So it's the receiver, the cables or the speakers. I am currently using 12ga speaker wire from Home Depot, with gold-plated banana plugs on both ends. Also tried using my thin old cables, but that didn't change a thing. What do i do?

 

[DaiShan]

make sure that the volum on your computer is all the way up, adjust the level of the volume by the dial on the speakers.

 

[minendo]

I had a similar problem with my NHT speakers. I replaced the speaker cables and it seemed to do the trick.

 

[Platypus]

Interference maybe? Are they close to anything that would interupt their frequency?
Try moving them.

 

[Rallispec]

i have a lot of wires all bundles up together in my room-- and that seems to cuase my speakers to hum.. when i separate the wires its fine, but when together the speakers hum a little.. Just interference i guess- barely noticeable. And i need to have my wires all bundled together or they're a mess and get tangled up.

make sure everything is connected good too-- loose connections could probably cuase humming

 

[kgraeme]

My WAG is that it's a 60 cycle hum caused by ground loop. But that's just what it usually is when speakers hum. Generally, I would say it's caused by the reciever and the computer both being grounded thus causing the loop. But you said it still happens when you disconnect the receiver from the computer. Do you have a powered sub? Those are usually the culprit in a non-computer setup. Do a search on Google for "ground loop speaker hum".

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

it's because they don't know the words

 

[BooneRebel]

<< it's because they don't know the words >>



Oooooh, just beat me to it...

 

[Mister T]

my guess is that your cables are not all shielded...
some kind of interference - you need to buy better cables.

 

[Viperoni]

What are you using as a source?

 

[Howard]

If you disconnect the cables from the speakers, is there still hum?

Stupid question.

 

[kgraeme]

So I saw elsewhere that you feel that your speakers are "breaking in". Does that mean you solved the hum problem? If so, what was it?

 

[d1abolic]

Didn't solve anything. The hum is still there. In fact, i realised that it gets louder, much loder, as i crank up the volume. The loudness described above is at -30db setting. When i bring that up to 0, the hum can be heard from my chair. Got new wires too, 12ga from Home Depot, with gold-plated bananas on each end. That didn't help either. Crap, what do i do?

 

[glen]

ground the reciever

 

[d1abolic]

Should i buy different cables? Sigh, i just got these. I'm guessing it's the shielding on them, or the lack of it.

 

[d1abolic]

<< ground the reciever >>

How?

 

[db]

EVERYONE of the prior posters is in on the scam.
Fact is, you know too much, and aliens are trying to distract you with extranious sh!t.

 

[glen]

I suspect it is your receiver, not the speaker wire

If
2 prong
plug it back in the other way

2 prong polorized
your house may not be wired properly

or 3 prong?
Make sure the ground is a ground

Turn EVERYTHING else in the house off
Only plug in receiver
Listen for hum
Then plug in cd player
Listen for hum
Try a different outlet on a different breaker

 

[beer]

You do NOT want to ground the receiver. In fact, you want no grounded (3 prong) outlets on your audio setup. Why? Ground loops - if you have analog connections with multiple grounded devices, you will have ground loops. That leads to an annoying hum

 

[glen]

You may be correct

 

[thomsbrain]

Sounds like power cable interference. Crank up the receiver and poke around behind it, lifting the power cable away from other cables. I get the same problem running microphone cables (even Monster Cables) into my sound card. I have to keep it at least 6 inches away from that maze of power cables or it hums.

 

[kgraeme]

<< Should i buy different cables? Sigh, i just got these. I'm guessing it's the shielding on them, or the lack of it. >>



Buying new cables at this point isn't going to solve anything other than to alleviate weight from your wallet. The two possibilities:

1. Ground Loop
2. Electrical interference, probably caused by a large transformer.

Throwing money at a problem doesn't work until you know what the problem is. Right now you only know the symptom.

 

[Howard]

<< (even Monster Cables) >>


That's your problem right there.

 

[ATLien247]

I think it could be a ground loop as well...

Also, make sure that your speaker cables do not touch any power cables. If they absolutely must, make sure they cross each other perpendicularly--never parallel.

 

[ATLien247]

Someone else mentioned switching breakers. This might also help...

I had a friend with a similar problem. It turned out that a flourescent light was connected to the same breaker. When the light was on, the hum would appear.