Panamax vs. ground loop.

[Davemcc]

I've got the Panamax M5300EX. It has two loops for satellite lines. Anybody know if that's just some sort of surge protection of if there is any ground loop protection in there as well?

 

[highfigh]

I've got the Panamax M5300EX. It has two loops for satellite lines. Anybody know if that's just some sort of surge protection of if there is any ground loop protection in there as well?

You could check it with a multi-meter- cut a short coax cable that you don't need and bare the center conductor. If you measure continuity and it's low resistance, it's not isolated. Usually, if a surge protector has anything for coax and/or phone, it's protected but you may want to contact them to find out if it's isolated.

 

[j_garcia]

I think it depends on where the ground loop is. I have a 5100 and in my previous place I still had a ground loop issue with the cable until I got the cable company to fix it.

 

[highfigh]

I think it depends on where the ground loop is. I have a 5100 and in my previous place I still had a ground loop issue with the cable until I got the cable company to fix it.

A ground loop is a difference in electrical potential, relative to the neutral or ground, between two or more pieces of equipment. Electrical potential is voltage- potential energy. If voltage flows between the equipment, it has a ground loop. If EVERYTHING is powered by the Panamax and no voltage can be measured between any pieces of equipment, it shouldn't have a problem if "the system" is seen as what's in that room or even in the house. If "the system" seen as everything inside AND outside and the voltage is between the cable feeds amplifier and the cable box, a conditioner won't help unless it isolates the grounds.

The easiest way to find whether the cable feed is the culprit is to cut a section of coax and bare the center lead, as I have posted. If the noise is there when the shields are grounded but it's clean when the shield's ground connection is lifted, the cable system has grounding issues. An isolation adapter that screws onto the cable and cable box will work in this case.

 

[Alex2507]

An isolation adapter that screws onto the cable and cable box will work in this case.

... but not the Calrad one from BJC as it doesn't allow enough bandwidth to pass to support HD and IIRC that is only mentioned in the piece of paper that you get after you buy one or in my case two ... just sayin'.

I'd love to stand corrected on this because in the world of wire there ain't a lot of good guys.

 

[j_garcia]

A ground loop is a difference in electrical potential, relative to the neutral or ground, between two or more pieces of equipment. Electrical potential is voltage- potential energy. If voltage flows between the equipment, it has a ground loop. If EVERYTHING is powered by the Panamax and no voltage can be measured between any pieces of equipment, it shouldn't have a problem if "the system" is seen as what's in that room or even in the house. If "the system" seen as everything inside AND outside and the voltage is between the cable feeds amplifier and the cable box, a conditioner won't help unless it isolates the grounds.

The easiest way to find whether the cable feed is the culprit is to cut a section of coax and bare the center lead, as I have posted. If the noise is there when the shields are grounded but it's clean when the shield's ground connection is lifted, the cable system has grounding issues. An isolation adapter that screws onto the cable and cable box will work in this case.

And what I meant by that is, if it is between two pieces of gear, the Panamax should take care of it as long as they are both plugged into it, AFAIK. The cable is a separate story, but even with the cable running throught the 5100 in my case, the hum was still there. Disconnecting the cable made the hum go away, so there was no question that was the answer. Since I did not have HD there, I used a cheap isolation x-former and it solved the issue until Comcast fixed the feed in the building.

 

[highfigh]

... but not the Calrad one from BJC as it doesn't allow enough bandwidth to pass to support HD and IIRC that is only mentioned in the piece of paper that you get after you buy one or in my case two ... just sayin'.

I'd love to stand corrected on this because in the world of wire there ain't a lot of good guys.

If it's for cable TV and you would be using pay per view, isolators often don't work because they need to communicate bi-directionally.

 

[Davemcc]

The buzz comes through when I use the Fireball music server, which in on a different household electrical circuit than the rest of the system. I'm going to guess that since the sat. is plugged into the Panamax with the rest of the system, the solution is going to lie in moving the Fireball's power cord to the Panamax with everything else.

On the other hand, I see that Monoprice has a line-level RCA ground loop device. That might work better because the subs are on different circuits as well but the RCA signal cables are daisy-chained between them.

 

[highfigh]

"The buzz comes through when I use the Fireball music server, which in on a different household electrical circuit than the rest of the system. I'm going to guess that since the sat. is plugged into the Panamax with the rest of the system, the solution is going to lie in moving the Fireball's power cord to the Panamax with everything else."

Or, possibly by reassigning that circuit to the adjacent breaker and the other to the breaker formerly used by the Fireball. They alternate the hot connections and it can cause buzzing when they're on different 'phases".

"On the other hand, I see that Monoprice has a line-level RCA ground loop device. That might work better because the subs are on different circuits as well but the RCA signal cables are daisy-chained between them."

If that device is a small black box, it could be the same as the Eb-Tech Hum-X. Shop around.

 

[Davemcc]

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10844&cs_id=1084402&p_id=6909&seq=1&format=2

 

[adk highlander]

On the other hand, I see that Monoprice has a line-level RCA ground loop device. That might work better because the subs are on different circuits as well but the RCA signal cables are daisy-chained between them.

Dave I use one similar that I picked up online between a computer in another room and my setup downstairs. It improved the issue about 80% but did not get rid of the hum completely. I have a much longer RCA cable (+25ft) that is in close proximity to power wires that could be causing the additional noise.