Hi guys, this is my first post and it might seem a little rediculous...
Ever seince I've moved into my new home, I've had a little more hum from my stereo than usual. The hum comes from the transformer and can be heard a little via the speakers and does so even with no RCA cables attached (just being powered with no signal connected). The hum is constant in volume so at moderate volumes its totally inaudible but at very low volumes I can hear it.
The hum is present in my Threshold amp, SAE amp and Soundcraftsmen amp. Also the intensity of hum varies from time of day and sometimes its pretty bad and even has a slight buzz you can hear in the speakers.
Had an electrician come by and he said he couldnt find anything wrong with the house wiring and said that maybe its the power coming from the city to the house which might be a bit dirty in this area. Called the power company and pretty much they told me to go jump in a lake.
Ok so at this point I'm contemplating getting a large Astron 50A 13.8VDC linear power supply and putting it it in adjacent room and running a pair of 4AWG cables into the music room and powering two Orion HCCA car amps I have. I'm thinking this way maybe there will be no more 60Hz hum or buzz and as far as I remember, those Orions sounded pretty neutral and quiet and had excellent control over the speakers (at least when they were in the car).
Is this a very insane idea or can it work?
PS. I tried one of those bullsh*t monster power cleaners for $600 and it did nothing...so took it back to the store.
It does sound like you have serious power quality issues. IF that is the case. there are two semi-practical solutions: (1) use a power re-generator device to produce clean power - very expensive; generally in the $2k+ range [and] (2) use source, pre-amp and amplifiers with switch mode power supplies; these should filter the power enough to remove any line quality issues.
Your car amp solution may work, but only if your sources don't have the power line noise issue also. If you go the car amp route, I recommend going with a power supply that uses a switch mode power system with heavy output filtering, as this is more likely to filter the line better and be immune from 60Hz hum. One popular example for audio purposes(
audio display boards, car and boat shows, etc.) is the Cascade Audio Engineering ASP-55. It is such a unit, and it provides up to 55 amps continuous. It is also smaller, weighs less and is more energy efficient as compared to the type you listed. They are not cheap, usually selling for about $300. On eBay, the cheapest a new one will go for is $280 plus shipping.
-Chris
